IntroductionTwitter is a great way to share, find and network with people across the world.

GeneralSetting up a twitter account and what its all about...http://digitalunite.com/guides/social-networking-blogs/twitter/what-twitter

1. Finding people to followThe easiest way to find interesting things on Twitter is to use the Twitter Search box. Its at the top of every page on Twitter.

As you type in a search term, Twitter will generate suggestions for you. Press RETURN to get the full search results if nothing tickles your fancy from the drop down suggestions.

You can search for people directly if you know their username or search based on a hashtag.

For example, try these searches: @angleseycouncil, @DC_Wales, #lovelibraries #libraries and see what you can discover

2. The Results Page and How to FollowFrom the results of searches you can just click on a person or a tweet to see their profile. Then just click the ‘Follow’ button to follow them:

Once you have a few people you are following their tweets will turn up on your timeline (the ‘Home’ tab). From there you can talk to them publicly (using the @username reply), send messages privately (using the DM construction), Retweet their content (RT) etc

3. Sending/composing TweetsGo ‘Home’ and click on ‘Tweet’ button in the right hand corner (the button that looks like a quill and paper). You are now ready to send your first Tweet:

4. @RepliesSpeaking directly to another Twitter user:By using @username you can directly address another user publicly.

Sending this Tweet will show up on the recipients timeline under the ‘@Connect’ tab. The ‘@Connect’ button shows all interactions between yourself and other users on Twitter.

You can also ‘mention’ multiple users in the same Tweet:

Another way to ‘mention’ or engage with another user is to ‘Reply’ to a Tweet. On your timeline if you hover over a Tweet that interests you, you can ‘Reply’ to that Tweet. Replying will automatically add the @username to your Tweet. In this way you can engage in conversation with specific users or groups of users

5. ReTweeting (RT)As well as using the methods above to find people and conversations to engage with, it is also considered good form to ‘Retweet’ other users. A Retweet is a means of forwarding somebody else’s Tweet to your followers. The original Tweeter is notified of this and thus builds kudos for your online profile.

Just hover over the Tweet and push the ‘Retweet’ button:

‘Retweets’ will appear in your ‘Notifications’ tab: Retweeting others will help you build your audience - if you retweet then you’re more likely to

be retweeted….

http://webtrends.about.com/od/twitter/a/Twitter-Rt-Retweets.htm

6. MT/HT/QT - quoting and the importance of crediting sourcesSometimes when retweeting we’ll want to add a little bit of extra content thats not in the original Tweet but we ALWAYS need to credit the source (the original Tweeter).

To this end the approach on Twitter is to use MT (Modified Tweet), HT (Hat Tip) or QT (Quote Tweet). This allows you to reference the source of your Tweet:

Whoa / MT @Pogue: Wow--check THIS stat. Only 15% of Ebay listings are auctions these days! (rest are "Buy it now".) http://j.mp/19noibZ

Yes, please! MT @YahooSportsNHL John Tortorella's greatest media rants during his time as Rangers coach. http://yhoo.it/175JpjL

This is a more advanced feature of Twitter and more info is available via these links:http://socialmediacertificate.net/2011/02/rt-mt-ht-via-the-importance-of-giving-credit-on-twitter/http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2008/08/twitter-101/http://twitter.about.com/od/twitter-glossary/g/Whats-Mt-On-Twitter.htm

7. Direct Messaging (DM)Sometimes you will need to send another twitter user a private message. To do this use the Direct Message tool (DM). DMs can be accessed from every twitter page - next to the search box is an envelope icon. Click it to reveal your DMs.

DMs work in exactly the same way as @replies - you need to start your message with @username to make sure it gets to the right user(s).

Be sure you’re using the DM tool (not public @Replies) to send private messages:

8. HashtagsHashtags (#hashtag) are used on twitter to follow specific conversations. The hashtag is like a keyword that identifies a tweet as being part of a wider conversation.

Because of the amount of info flying about on twitter, hashtags are a really useful way to help you filter the ‘twitterverse’ and focus on your interests.

Hashtags can also be a great tool to help you and your organisation promote your own services, highlight issues and campaign.

Using a #(hashtag) in Tweets makes those Tweets searchable and in this way you can follow a conversation on Twitter that may have many participants.

The site hashtags.org offers an overview of popular hashtags being used on Twitter. Try entering one of the hashtags into a platform like Twitterfall to see conversations unfolding in real time.

Some info on #hashtags ● People use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword or phrase (no

spaces) in their Tweet to categorise those Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search.

● Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets marked with that keyword.

● Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet – at the beginning, middle, or end.

● Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.

More info on hashtags:http://killerinfographics.com/using-the-right-hashtag.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Hashtags-With-Twitterhttp://techforluddites.com/the-twitter-hashtag-what-is-it-and-how-do-you-use-it/

9. Using Lists - Filtering and managing the twitterverseThe twitter universe is huge. Very huge….

This coupled with the instant nature of twitter means that it can often appear overwhelming to a new user especially in terms of tracking conversations and being able to manage who you’re speaking to about what.

Fortunately there is a neat tool within the twitter site that can allow us to group people together and filter our main timeline in order to focus on particular groups and conversations.

In order to do this we can create a List:

To create a list in twitter just head to the ‘Me’ Tab:

You can now see the lists you have created, the lists you have subscribed to and the option to create a new list. Click on ‘Create new list’

You can now create your list.

PrivacyLists can be private or public. Public lists are displayed publicly in Twitter and can be a good way of building an audience - you can subscribe people to your list and they will be notified. Public lists are a good way of building brand identity and organising public conversations for your network.

Private lists are a good starting point for organising your OWN twitter use. Private lists allow you to filter conversations and users around a specific topic/theme so they are easier to follow on your timeline.

Save your list and then you can start adding people to it based on their username, a hashtag or a general search.

Do a search and click on an interesting profile you think is relevant - this is EXACTLY the same as finding people to follow from earlier but this time we’re going to add them to our list:

The beauty of these lists is that once you’ve created one you can easily add people to that list from the main twitter timeline (the ‘Home’ tab) by clicking on their profile and adding them.In this way Lists can really help filter twitter and allow us to focus in on relevant users and conversations.Currently, each Twitter account can create up to 20 lists, and each list can include up to 500 users.

More about lists and how to use them:http://mashable.com/2009/11/03/twitter-lists-faq/http://personalweb.about.com/od/howtotwitter/a/Twitter-List-Tutorial.htmhttp://www.poynter.org/how-tos/digital-strategies/198495/8-tips-for-using-twitter-lists/http://sproutsocial.com/insights/4-unique-ways-brands-using-twitter-lists-engage-followers/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/blogcollegeofjournalism/posts/How-to-track-a-company-or-subject-using-a-private-Twitter-list-https://support.twitter.com/articles/76460-using-twitter-lists

10. Content - pics, video and Vine‘A picture paints a thousand words’ and this is true online as much as offline. The use of rich content (photos and videos) on twitter is now a given and can really help you to engage with your audience.

To add a picture from your device (via twitter.com)

The instant nature of twitter is best served visually through a mobile device where you can usually post a picture/video direct to twitter from the camera on your device. There are many reasons to think about how you post rich media content to twitter but I will not be covering mobile devices here.

Have a look at these resources to get more info:https://vine.co/

http://blog.gremln.com/2012/04/17/picture-perfect-the-importance-of-images-in-social-media-marketing/

ConclusionsThere is a lot more to twitter than this very brief introduction but the best way to get involved in twitter is to do and learn as you go. Don’t be scared as the twitter community is always very helpful.

Any more info you can get in touch with us via @DC_Wales