What it is, how it’s used, and why it can be effective

for and

TWITTER:

W H A T

DEFINITION

http://tweeternet.com/

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows you to answer the question, “What are you doing?” by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called “tweets,” to your friends, or “followers.”

H O W

the TWEET

“Tweeting” allows you or your organization to share what you are

doing or what is on your mind in real time.

the MENTION

You can use @ in a tweet to mention someone, ask them a question, or point them in the direction of a cool website. Using the @ symbol is also a great way to reply to tweets by other people.

@

the HASHTAG

Hashtags, or “#” symbols, are used in tweets to mark keywords or topics, thus making them more accessible in the Twitter Search bar at the top of your home page.

the RETWEET

Retweeting allows you to pass on an interesting tweet from someone you follow to everyone following you. It’s a great way

to spread the word!

the URL

Use websites like bit.ly, tinyurl.com, and goog.le to shorten URLs so that they fall under the 140 character limit provided by Twitter.

FOLLOWING &

FOLLOWERS

You can follow people or organizations of interest to you in order to see their tweets and stay in the loop.

And your followers see your tweets too!

the TIMELINE

Tweets of people you follow show up chronologically in your individual news feed.

the FAVORITE

You can favorite a tweet that you like in order to save it for later.

Once you favorite it, a yellow star will appear both in the upper left-hand corner of the tweet, as well as at the bottom. You can always unfavorite a tweet as well.

W H Y

stay CONNECTED

Follow people and organizations of interest and get real-time updates

Find out what others are reading, doing, and saying

SPREAD YOUR

MESSAGE

Communicate and collaborate with others doing work in similar fields

Post info about events, blog updates, and pictures/videos

CASE STUDY

The organizers of the most recent WiserJakarta event made use of Twitter both to effectively advertise prior to the event, and to

disseminate information, pictures, and blog entries after the event had taken place.