Twitter can seem both foreign and intimidating. It has its own terminology (Tweets, Retweets, Followers, Feeds) and just seems less intuitive than email, but it really just takes an hour or so to learn your way around. Here are a few simple tips for getting started with Twitter:
Begin Slowly
You don’t need to be a Twitter wiz from the outset. In fact, if you try out the system and don’t enjoy using it, there’s no reason you need to continue. So just give it a try with no pressure. You don’t need to get good at it quickly. Just give yourself time to get acquainted with the system.
Start with Your Friends
When you first sign up for Twitter, the system will allow you to determine which of your friends are already on Twitter. It can do this by importing your contact list from your email or your Facebook account. Begin by reading through your Twitter feed, which is the scrolling list of most recent tweets. At first, this will just consist of your own friends. If you want to see more from a certain person, just click on their name to see their individual feed.
Getting Followers
Reading other people’s feeds is half the Twitter experience. Eventually, you will want your own followers and your own tweets. Again, take it slowly. Don’t feel as though you need to get many followers all at once. In fact, unless you’re deliberately trying to get followers, your followers will mostly be your close friends. Once you’ve gotten the hang of reading tweets and Twitter feeds, then you might want to invite your list of friends to follow you and your tweets. Once you’ve invited your friends, wait a couple days for them to respond.
Putting Out Your First Tweets
What you should tweet depends on what you want to tweet about.
If your Twitter is primarily people who are close to you and you want to stay in touch with your life, then tweet about whatever is going on in your life. On the other hand, if your Twitter has a purpose, for example, if it’s for a project, then send out tweets whenever you have something that’s relevant to the topic to say.
You now know the basics of how to follow your friends, read tweets, read your Twitter feeds, get a few followers and send out a tweet. The rest is up to you. Learning Twitter can take anywhere from an hour or so to a few days.
There are many ways to use Twitter: just for fun, for a project or even for business. The most important thing is that you start slowly. Remember, there’s no pressure – learn at your own pace.
