Tweet! Tweet! Getting

started on TwitterPresenters:

Ingrid Thomson @ingridthomson

Jeremiah Pietersen @Jermy_Pee

#liasa2014

Image: http://mashable.com/2014/03/27/billboard-twitter-real-time-music-chart/

Outline of Workshop• INTRODUCTIONS

• PART 1: Twitter 101 – What is twitter, lingo,

anatomy of a tweet, navigating Twitter

• PART 2: Getting you started - Account Set-

up

• PART 3: Twitter 102 - Useful Tips for Tweets,

Lists, Tools, Conference Tweeting,

• PART 4: A Surprise!

What is Twitter?

• Twitter is a social network which allows users to

exchange public messages of 140 characters or

less, known as Tweets.

• It’s easy to tweet, via devices such as :

• Tweets can be text-based

• Or contain multimedia such as images or videos or

online links

So how does Twitter work?

• Twitter is a conversation in a 140 characters.

• You tweet - your tweets are seen by other Twitter users who follow you.

• You see the tweets of others whom you follow.

• 271 million active users (worldwide) are tweeting regularly

• 9,4 million active users in South Africa *

* SA Media Landscape 2014 Report

Reasons people say they can’t

• You can’t say anything in 140 characters

• Who wants to hear about my breakfast?

• What a waste of time !

• I don’t have time to Tweet

• I don’t know anyone who tweets, so why

should I?

• I tried it once, but I didn’t see the point

So what do people tweet?• Business news

• Observations about life

• Interesting things to read

• New blog posts

• Inspiring thoughts

• Professional News

• Workaday life details

• Business issues and challenges

• Family life details

Good reasons to Tweet• Personal - Professional vs Individual

• Corporate - Branding/Commerce

• Connecting with your peers

• Keeping up to date - with the news,

• Share what you are doing

• Get real-time information and more specific information

• Passions and hobbies

• Interesting links – pictures, videos

• Ask questions

• Doesn’t mean that you would be friends with celebrities, but you can follow them (@TrevorNoah anyone? )

• Takeaways from professional learning

Your Twitter Goals?• For business communication (if you are tweeting as

an organisation - to build community with your users, vendors etc )

• Build your personal brand

• For keeping in touch with your peers or to keep an eye on your competitors

• To market the organisation – reaching out tto the community

• To drive traffic to your website or blog

Any other ideas?

http://www.peterdaviespr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/copy-of-twitter1-500x373.jpg

Anatomy of a Tweet

Reply:Click to reply to

a tweet

Favourite:

Click to store tweet in your list of

favourite tweets

More:

Use this to embed tweet in a website,

or to report or block a user

Retweeted by:appears when someone has

retweeted the tweetUser name

User handle

Time of tweet

Retweet:

Sends tweet to followers

Navigating Desktop Twitter

The Lingo• Not twittering,

• HT hat-tip

• Tweet

• Mention

• Reply

• Retweet

• Favourite

• #hashtags

• Follow

• Follower

• Trends

• Direct Messages

#hashtags• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouX

A

Follow or be followed• Follow users and organisations that will add value to

your Twitter feed

• Users interact on Twitter by means of following one

another

• Follow count does not necessarily mean you have a

wide reach

• Retweets expand reach and draws more followers

• #teamfollowback

WORKSHOP• Set up your account

• Sign up

• Profile – background, bio, photo,

URL, location

• Settings

• Following/Followers

• Your First Tweet

Getting Started -Workshop

• Sign up for a twitter account at

http://www.twitter.com

• Choose a Twitter handle

• Profile settings : Upload a profile image and write a

bio (160 characters). Profile pic needs to be in jpg,

gif or PNG. Max size is 700KB. Dimensions 81 px by

81 px.

• Header image: Dimensions 520 px by 260 px

• Can customise the background of the profile page.

TWITTER 102

http://cdn.techpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/itsop3-500x402.jpg

Do this … • Create an informative profile - Be easy to find

• Tweet regularly - Observation ; a link with a

comment; a video; Even photos or insights;

Tweet someone

• Think before you tweet

• Learn the lingo

• Engage with your followers/community

• Do a Shout Out to followers who Mention You

• Do ask advice - ask your followers questions

Some more tips • Only tweet about your library one time in four....

• Analyse your tweets

• If something is important, tweet it four times

• Use hashtags

• Ask questions

• Get retweeted and your network will grow

• Put your Twitter handle everywhere

• Use Bitly to shorten URLS https://bitly.com/shorten/

Don’t do this … it only annoys

• #Don’t #overuse #hashtags

• Don’t auto-tweet (too much)

• Don’t protect your account

• Don’t be negative or share spoilers

• Don’t use poor grammar or spelling

• Don’t overtweet

• Don’t repeat yourself

• DON’T SHOUT - WRITE YOUR TWEETS IN CAPITAL

LETTERS

Some examples of tweets

I have a little list!WHY?

• Lists are groups of Twitter accounts

• Curated group of Twitter users

• Create your own or

• Subscribe to lists created by others

• Lists are for reading tweets only

Adding someone to a list

Our Favourite Tools • Hootsuite

• Tweetdeck

• Tweetstats

• Favstar

• Storify

Tweetdeck

Conference Tweeting

Our conference hashtag is

#liasa2014

Reasons to Tweet from Conference

• For those not able to attend. If you're the only person from your work attending, your colleagues could follow your tweets and still feel involved in sharing knowledge.

• For presenters too, Twitter can provide useful feedback on sessions by highlighting the key points that attendees tweeted about.

• Meet up with fellow Twitter users at conference – extending your professional network

Tips for Conference Tweeting

• Three basic types of tweets during an academic conference:

o Live tweeting a session / paper

o Continuing a discussion after a session / paper finishes

o Asking for / giving advice about sessions / papers worth attending

Add value! If you're live tweeting, don't just report verbatim - add opinion or questions or counter examples.

Tips for Tweeting conference

• Knowledge: each tweet should be a piece of knowledge;

a fact, a joke, an opinion.

• U - Useful: each piece of Knowledge should be useful to

your audience, not just useful to you

• D - Desirable: each piece of Knowledge should be

desirable; it should have something which sets it apart from all the other merely "useful" tweets

• O - Open: be open and honest about who you are and

which organisation you represent

• S - Shareable: your Knowledge should be shareable; things

you'd be happy having attributed to you and which you

want to be passed around.

Tips for Tweeting from a Conference

• Learn who the presenters are + find their handles

• Tweets need to be short, accurate and include the hashtag (need to have room to RT + Comment)

• Can try to write-up pre-build tweets based on abstracts

• Tweet with pictures

• Tweet professionally

• Strive for context. Sound-bites don’t help those following the conference from afar.

More Tips ….• For the purpose of archiving, please include the conference hashtag

in your tweets.

• Respect those who do not wish to have their presentation tweeted.

• Cite the source of your tweets; give the speaker credit.

• But also avoid flooding your followers with tweets; hit the high points

• Avoid negative comments; be critical, not unconstructive.

• Retweet relevant or useful posts.

• Sit near the back of the room so others aren’t distracted by your typing/texting

And now…

Battledecks!Volunteers?

Rules• Each contestant will present on Twitter: best

practices

• There are three sets of five slides each

• You have 12 seconds to complete each slide

Time’s up!Get ready next contestant

Time’s up!Get ready next contestant

Time’s up!

http://padlet.com/jeremiah_pieter/liasatwitter