#twooc day nine user guide february 2015

#twooc

@lizcable @TrinityVisionUK 105

Day NINE

Twitter – Advanced Features

The small print:

All this material, whilst given freely for this course, is for your use only, and not for dissemination to anyone else, even inside your own organisation. Please do recommend that your colleagues sign up for the course so that they can participate too at http://twooc.wordpress.com

http://twooc.wordpress.com/

#twooc


DAY 9: Outline

Twitter – Advanced Features

Activity:

Search for current conversations using #twooc on your Twitter profile, and get a feel for what’s going on in our “classroom”.

Read through the notes for the day and:

o Customise your Twitter background o Create and pin a rich media tweet to your profile o Send a Direct Message o Join in a group conversation in Direct Message o Review your understanding of @mentions and @replies o Mark a tweet as a Favorite o Have a look at an Influencer’s or Competitor’s Favorite tweets to see if this gives

you any insight.

E-tivity:

Invite your colleagues to look at your new profile/background design.

Give feedback on a fellow #twooc er’s profile on Twitter, you may want to use a DM if

you’re being a bit critical

Find a hashtag relevant to your message, and use it in a tweet alongside #twooc.

Tools:

http://www.twitrcovers.com

http://www.storify.com

Resources:

Dimensions guide for Twitter Background:

http://ct-social.com/twitter-header-template-2014

For PowerPoint templates for Twitter background and other social networks:

http://bit.ly/CoverPhotoTemplates



#twooc


Pimp my Profile

You can change both the background image on your profile, and the colours of the menu backgrounds and text by selecting ‘Edit your profile’ from your profile page.

Then choose Design from the menu on the left:

You can see I have tiled one of my blog logos across the background of my screen. However, as well as looking pretty awful (in this case) this change is only seen by me. Twitter no longer lets you change the way other people see your profile except through the Cover image and the Profile Image. So you need to make sure they do all the talking for you, and this “pimp your profile” section is no longer as exciting as it used to be.

However, now you are a little bit more familiar with twitter, and what you are hoping to achieve. Take some time today to perfect your cover picture so it says everything you want it to. I’ve put some of my favourites on the next page for your inspiration.

There are several places you can go to online for cover images to use, such as:

http://www.twitrcovers.com/

Or Twitter keeps a Flickr gallery of suggestions here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/twitteroffice/sets/72157643560484885

Or you could create your own from scratch using the correct measurements:


Or use a PowerPoint templates for Twitter:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/twitteroffice/sets/72157643560484885



#twooc


#twooc


Direct Messages

A Direct Message is a private message sent via Twitter to one of your followers. (This is different from @mentions and @replies.) In turn, people you follow can send you a private message. You cannot send a direct message to a user who is not following you.

How to Send a Private Message via the Web:

1. Log in to your Twitter account.

2. Click the [Messages] button on the top menu.

3. You'll land on a page showing your Direct Messages history, grouped by conversation.

4. Click the [New Message] button, highlighted below.

5. As you start typing the name of the recipient into the “Enter a name” box, Twitter brings up matches to help you find the right person. This is why you should choose an easy to remember and spell name – no punctuation symbols or numbers.

6. This is where Twitter’s new “Group” Direct Message Feature kicks in. Once you choose a name, it goes to the stop of a list with a big blue tick next to it:

#twooc


7. Now you can keep adding names to the list, up to a maximum of 20. Press [Next] when you have finished adding names, and then you can write your message.

8. You can also send pictures in your messages:

Hints & Tips:

There is an account limit of 1,000 Direct Messages sent per day. Once you reach this limit, you can’t send any more Direct Messages for the day.

Sending duplicate Direct Messages to multiple accounts may be flagged as spam activity and can result in you not being able to send a Direct Message for a short time. You may need to wait at least 30 minutes without any attempt at sending a Direct Message before you’ll be able to do so again.

If you see Direct Messages that you haven’t sent, it may be compromised. Change your password.

If you’re only experiencing issues sending Direct Messages on the web, make sure your browser is up to date.

#twooc


What is an @Reply?

People say lots of things on Twitter, and sometimes you want to say something back. Your reply will always begin with @username (insert username of the person you are replying to). Any tweet that is a reply to you will show up as a Notifications alert at the top of your screen, and from the Notifications screen you can toggle between all Notifications and just Mentions

Twitter calls anything where your username is posted in a Tweet a “Mention”, and these are

found under the Notifications tab on the main menu.

A reply is any update posted by clicking the "Reply" button on another tweet:

Notice that because Mary’s name was included with mine in this tweet, when I press reply, it

assumes “Reply All”, and will send the response to the sender as well as all other recipients.

What is an @Mention?

A mention is any Twitter update that contains @username anywhere in the body of the tweet.

(Yes, this means that replies are also considered mentions.)

Twitter collects these messages, as well as all your replies, in ‘Mentions’ from the Notifications tab on your homepage.

If I see a reply in my timeline, how do I know what message they replied to?

If you click on the tweet the whole conversation becomes visible so you can see the thread of comments that you are replying to.

#twooc


Things to note:

Visiting another user's profile page on Twitter will not display Tweets that mention them.

However, you can search for all Tweets mentioning their username in the search box. Search for "@username" to view results.

People will only see others' @replies in their home timeline if they are following both the

sender and recipient of the @reply.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN @REPLIES AND @MENTIONS.

So if you want to introduce all your followers to say, me, then put anything before

the @ in @lizcable to make sure your followers who DON’T already follow me see

it.

i.e to Tweet:

@lizcable #ff follow Liz for brilliant Twitter advice.

is useless because ONLY people who ALREADY FOLLOW BOTH OF US will see it.

People will see any mentions posted by someone they follow (all mentions are treated like regular Tweets).

People with protected Tweets can only send @replies to their approved followers.

If someone sends you an @reply and you are not following the user, the reply will not

appear on your Tweets timeline. Instead, the reply will appear in your Mentions tab. You can click People you follow at the top of the Mentions timeline to only display mentions from users you are following.

Hashtags

Definition: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorise messages.

Hashtags help you find interesting tweets People use the hashtag symbol # before relevant keywords in their tweet to categorise

those tweets so they can be found more easily in Twitter Search Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other tweets in that category Hashtags can occur anywhere in the tweet Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.

If you were trying to read all the tweets in the world it would be like trying to take a drink from a fire

hydrant – you’d just end up getting soaked. You want to be able to drink from the fountain (so to speak)

but just have a flow of water you can cope with: this is where hashtags come into their own. You can

focus all the tweets just on one area and drink comfortably.

Example: Throughout the course, we have been using the hashtag #twooc (capitalised for readability, not case-sensitive). This has not only meant that we can search for #twooc to see the whole conversation easily, but has also brought it to the attention of other users, who have been asking what it means.

#twooc


Types of hashtag

Event hashtags

These are used at conferences, gigs, festivals and other big public events like the Olympics. I always tweet

at conferences and events using the hashtag because doing this has three effects:

- It enables me to connect with other people I might not know on Twitter who are at the same

event as me

- It means that I have a record when I get home of all the tweets from that event (effectively my

notes from the day). If you want to collect all the best tweets of an event, use a tool like

www.storify.com to find, curate, and share them beautifully.

- It enables those who aren’t able to attend the event in person to engage from wherever they are.

It’s important to find out what the ‘official’ hashtag for the event is – usually the event organisers will tell

you. If the event doesn’t seem to have one you can create one yourself – as long as you can persuade

others to use it as well!

The other great thing about event hashtags is that you can ‘attend’ the events from the comfort of your

home or desk by reading everyone’s tweets who are there experiencing it live! This can be a great way of

attracting followers whenever there is a conference or event with a tweetwall projected to the whole

audience. Your name could end up included in a presentation by the biggest name in your industry - so

make sure you say something relevant.

Television and advertising hashtags

TV hashtags first started life on Twitter when they were created by viewers of certain tv programmes. One

of the most popular is #bbcqt – the hashtag for BBC Question Time. TV producers now suggest the

hashtags for viewers to use and often in live programmes they will read out people’s tweets or show them

as a ticker across the bottom of the screen. The show the X Factor has even started suggesting specific

hashtags about certain performances. I don’t particularly like being told which hashtag to use – it has

made Twitter feel less democratic.

Twitter is now also being referred to in commercial

breaks on Twitter – advertisers are encouraging

people to tweet with particular hashtags related to

their products. A recent one was in the premier of

the trailer for the film Prometheus (see picture that I

took of my tv!) where tweets were invited at the

beginning of the advert break and people’s Twitter

responses to the trailer were shown on screen at the

end of the advert break.

Of course, if an advertiser is asking you to use a

hashtag they are effectively asking you to advertise

for them – so think before you tweet!

Using a TV hashtag can make watching television really good fun – it’s like watching tv with the whole

country in your living room! It provides a running commentary on proceedings. Sometimes the Twitter

http://www.storify.com/

#twooc


conversation can be more entertaining than the programme you are watching, and it’s a great way of

finding people who share your interests and opinions.

Twitter chat hashtags

Another type of hashtag is the scheduled Twitter chat. There are hundreds of scheduled Twitter

conversations on Twitter every week. For a set period of time (usually about an hour) a chat is held on

Twitter on a particular topic. They are often related to certain professions, so, for example, #ukedchat is a

popular weekly conversation on Twitter about UK education. Joining a regular hashtag conversation is a

really good idea as it enables you to:

- Network and connect with other people in your field

- Share your expertise and make yourself known

- Make sure you’re using Twitter regularly (the set day and time really helps you be disciplined)

- Learn and develop your knowledge and skills

- Get ideas for writing blog posts or articles (you could summarise the conversation, for example)

If you can’t find a Twitter conversation for your industry, why not start one?

Spontaneous news hashtags

Hashtags often appear spontaneously when a big news item breaks. This could be in reference to a

celebrity dying such as #RIPMichaelJackson, an earthquake such as #prayforjapan or any other big news

event. Occasionally there are some hoax hashtags like this – so it’s best to do a little research before

tweeting using one of these hashtags – I usually check a news site like Reuters to check the veracity of a

claim or I will make it clear in my tweet that I haven’t seen the news verified yet. You can discover these

kinds of tweets in ‘trending topics’ on Twitter.

Keyword hashtags

Lots of people use hashtags to draw attention to their tweets using them as keywords or tags. So people

might use #marketing, #networking, #nonprofit or #smallbiz. Personally I find this the least useful type of

hashtag but you can search Twitter using these types of hashtags to undertake research and find useful

articles.

Challenge hashtags

You can often see these challenges trending on the Trends List, they are just challenges people set each

other on Twitter. Check out #sixwordshorts.

Celebrity or brand competition hashtags

Theo Paphitis, a business leader in the UK has a weekly hashtag conversation called Small Business Sunday

- #sbs - at 5pm every Sunday evening. He selects 6 small businesses whose tweets he will retweet and

feature on the SBS website for the week - getting a retweet from a big celebrity like him can be a real

boost for a small business.

Lots of brands use hashtags for competitions – you use the designated hashtag for a chance to win a prize.

You may want to set up a separate “competitions-only” account for this sort of thing, otherwise you’ll

drive your followers mad with all the adverts in their Twitter stream.

#twooc


Jokes and asides

Hashtags are also often used for humour. Some people start hashtag games such as #lessinterestingbooks

– with tweets like ‘The grapes of tesco’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Bar’. These can be a wonderful

waste of time! Hashtags are also sometimes made up on the spot and used perhaps only once or twice as

a kind of whispered aside:

‘I kind of fancy Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes #maybeitsjustme #embarrassingcrush’.

It’s unlikely anyone else would use these hashtags but they are a fun way of subverting the hashtag and

making a Twitter in-joke1.

Using hashtags

If you tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your tweet

Don't #spam #with #hashtags. Don't over-tag a single tweet. (Best practices recommend using no more than 3 hashtags per tweet)

Use hashtags only on tweets relevant to the topic. So using #twooc to market your business to other members of the course (except in fulfilling a course activity) is NOT DONE! (We are all following your non-hashtagged tweets already, as we are following each other)

Here’s a conversation I had during a previous course . . .

. . . see how it works?

1 Read an excellent blog post by Susan Orlean in the New Yorker about this here: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2010/06/hash.html

http://twitter.pbworks.com/w/page/1779812/Hashtags

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2010/06/hash.html

#twooc


Favorites (American spelling!)

Favorites, represented by a small star icon next to a tweet, are most commonly used when users like a tweet or wish to save it for later. If you've marked a tweet as a Favorite, you'll see it as a gold star on the tweet. Toggle it on or off as you please.

You can access a list of your own favorites from your profile, and you can look at other peoples’ favorites on their profiles – a great way of following their train of thought.

Recently, people have started using Favorites as if they were “likes” – how you use favorites is up to you, but I use it as a bookmarking tool which is what it was originally for.

Note: If you favorite updates from users with protected profiles, the update will not appear in the favorites tab on your profile page unless the viewer is an approved follower of the update's author. For example:

I follow the protected account @YvonneNolanMET I favorite one of her tweets My followers, including YOU, will NOT see it in my favorites when you visit my favorites

tab on my profile page unless you are also an approved follower of @YvonneNolanMET Similarly, logged out users can not see protected tweets that have been marked as

favorites.

So, that’s it for the day. Have a go at exploring hashtags, using favorites, and pimping your profile.

We’ll be in touch by direct message later today

Happy tweeting,

@lizcable

#twooc day nine user guide february 2015

Documents

Transcript of #twooc day nine user guide february 2015