I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical of The Twitter when it first appeared on the social media scene.
“What’s that you say?” I asked. “140 characters? What can you do with that?”
Turns out: A lot actually.
Twitter is awesome. Awesome I tell you! It is the end of boredom, it is an incredible way to feel instantly connected with faraway people (even celebrities and other people you don’t know), it is the Great Font of Interesting Stuff.
But it can be intimidating at first.
For those who haven’t checked it out, Twitter is basically a stream of posts by people you follow, all less than 140 characters. And you Tweet short messages to your own followers. It’s pretty much that simple.
So! Here are a few tips on how best to use Twitter:
Pick a Good Username
This is, admittedly, not that easy now that there are millions of people using Twitter. But your username is you on Twitter. It’s how people communicate with you, it’s how you’ll be identified. So don’t go choosing @LoserMcLoserMan and be like, “Oh, well, I’ll go changing that later,” or “I’ll just go by my display name.
You can’t. You are @LoserMcLoserMan forever. (Ok, well, according to the comments section you can change it but still.)
So choose wisely, and since every character counts, err on the side of short. The people who want to mention you will thank you.
Follow Interesting People
The best way to enjoy Twitter is by following very interesting people. You can always check out Twitter’s Who to Follow suggestions to browse by your interests, you can search for your favorite celebrities, or just see who is being retweeted a lot by your friends and follow them. Your Twitter experience is really only as good as the people you follow and interact with.
Once the number of people you follow grows to a certain point, you can create lists like “Friends” and “Celebrities” and “Reality TV Stars” so you can keep things manageable and quickly check in on the people whose Tweets you don’t want to miss.
And, ahem, shameless plug and all that, I’m on Twitter here.
Tweet What You’re Best At
For the most part Twitter is super easy. You just write something short, hit Tweet, and there you go. Boom. You just told people about how you saw a cat jump in a toilet. And the Internet thanks you.
But to really build a following, it’s important to be useful in some way. Some people scour the Internet and find really great links. Some people participate and organize chats. Some people are funny. Some people are clever. Some people are interesting.
But as always: just be yourself. You’ll have the most fun that way and it’s really the most effective way anyway.
Use URL Shorteners
140 characters isn’t much, especially when you’re sharing links. So! If you want to share a link, you’ll need to use a link shortener.
What’s a link shortener? It basically turns this: https://nathanbransford.com/blahblahblah into this: t.co/xxxxxx When people click on the short link it opens up as the big link.
There are two main ways of going about the shortening of links. If you see an official Tweet button (like the one at the bottom of this post), you can always click on one of those and they’ll usually use Twitter’s own t.co shortener.
Otherwise, some people swear by bit.ly.
(Wonky explanation for the differences of opinion between t.co vs. bit.ly that you should skip unless you’re really curious: On Twitter.com, the t.co displays as the big link you’re sharing once you post even though Twitter doesn’t count those extra characters toward your 140. So the advantage is that people can easily see what they’re clicking on and may be more likely to click on them. But some people swear by bit.ly because it makes it easier to copy that link into another Tweet. t.co vs. bit.ly is sort of like the Jets and the Sharks of the Twitter world. And there are other rebels out there as well.)
Learn What @replies Mean and What They Do
There is a crucial principle about Twitter that even some relatively experienced Tweeters sometimes miss. And that is the @reply.
When you start a post with @NathanBransford, not everyone who follows you sees that Tweet. Only your followers who follow @NathanBransford see it.
This is a completely genius feature. It means that people only see back and forth conversations that are relevant to them–you only see replies between people you follow. But it also means that if you want to mention @NathanBransford to more than just people who follow me, you’ll have to start with something other than the @. Like a period. Or a word.
Also, as Corinne points out, if you actually click the Reply button rather than simply typing @Corinne, in New Twitter people will be able to easily see the conversation thread.
Have Good Twitter Manners
Sure, with only 140 characters it’s tempting to just grab someone’s link and Tweet it to your followers. But if you use someone’s link it’s important to give them credit with their full Twitter handle, such as “via @colsonwhitehead” or even just “(@colsonwhitehead)”
Also you should be following @colsonwhitehead. That is important. Not because you have to follow someone whose links you used, but rather because @colsonwhitehead is hilarious.
#Hashtags
A hashtag is a word with a # at the front. People use this on Twitter to make a topic easily searchable. You can click on a hashtagged word and see real-time search results of people using that hashtag on Twitter. So if you wanted to have a live chat or if there’s a popular topic of the moment, you can see real-time dialogue. (See Colleen’s comment for more on following chats)
Hashtags have also become somewhat of an inside joke, and people sometimes like to use hashtags at the end of their posts to be funny even when it’s not a popular term. Like #Justsayin.
Re-tweeting
When you see a funny or insightful post, it’s really fun to retweet that post to your followers.
There are two ways to retweet. One is old school, one is new school.
Old school: Tweeting “RT @personsusername Their Tweet”
New school: Twitter has an official retweet button. This will retweet that person’s Tweet to your followers. This is also partly how Twitter’s “Top Tweets” are determined – by the number of people who retweeted them using the retweet button.
Again, there are different schools of thought about this, but I lean toward the new school. It can be a little jarring when someone uses the New School retweet and someone I don’t know shows up in my feed, but it seems to me like it’s the best way of really giving that person credit for their amazing Tweet.
(See sheribomb’s comment for another important distinction on new vs. old)
Have Fun
The best thing about Twitter is the spirit. There’s something about that 140 character limit that makes people witty and funny and wise. You’d think having such a short space would dumb things down, but it’s almost like meter in poetry–the constraint makes people work harder to say things that count.
So enjoy it!
And keep an eye out for hilarious cats.
Please add your own Twitter tips in the comments section, and I’ll add especially good ones to the post!
Any tips on using those hashtag thingys?
I had a twitter once, but deleted it years ago.
I suppose I should get one again to fully take advantage of social networking.
Yes! Please, someone explain Hashtags!
With the new 'real time' twitter stream, is it acceptable or bad manners to repost something a few times over the course of the day?
And could you address retweeting?
Thanks for the post. At first, I honestly thought Twitter was absurd and refused to participate. It was bad enough I spent so much time on the soul sucking Facebook. Eventually, I wised up to all the good it could do for my writing career. My blog's traffic has picked up with the use of Facebook.
Now, as I see how often Twitter is used among friends and celebrities and with your post I feel more confident to take on Twitter. So, I'm going to give it a try. Cross your fingers!
I link mine to Facebook, twittering only when I have something important I like to share–new release, new cover, contest, something fun, and often get comments from Facebook fans both on my blog, in emails, Facebook comments and personal Facebook messages. It's a great way to connect! Best of all, it's automatic.
Thanks for the tip on the @reply. I've only been on Twitter for about two months, and I had no idea that worked that way.
I resisted Tweeting for a long time, but I have to admit, for a humor writer, it is a good vehicle. Plus, I've set it up so my three most recent Tweets display automatically on my blog. It lets me update content multiple times a day.
And who doesn't want to hear my thoughts about eating Nerds for the first time in over a decade?
Wait, don't answer that.
this would really be a big help! thanks! =)
Yes, hashtags Nathan? I have also linked my Twitter posts to Facebook so I can post at both from my phone. And I don't have a smartphone.
Oh, and how do you reply to someone?
Where do people find the time? The tweeting and retweeting and following and checking in to make sure to answer other's tweets to you.
Geez, I feel super guilty right now because I have to leave in an hour and I'm at the Bransford blog instead of stealing 5 minutes to work on my WIP. Not. Enough. Time… If someone can make more than 24 hours in a day, THAT I'll sign onto. Nathan?
Also don't underestimate the power of LinkedIn, specifically if your blog is business-related. I generate a lot of traffic from my connections there. You can easily connect your Tweets with LinkedIn or use HootSuite's "hootlet" feature to send out posts to all your social media accounts at once. Wow, I feel like a dork.
Hey its how I found you, via Rachel G. and I've learned so much just lurking. So eventhough I don't tweet that much, it has benefited me GREATLY! Well said.
I got a blog a couple weeks ago, and told myself I would only post on it when I had something insightful and interesting that would better other people to say.
It has nothing in it.
I assume Twitter would follow the same route.
Everyday may be an adventure for me, but it doesn't mean other people want to tag along.
You can also import twitter code onto a website or blog. I use my twitter account for live instant updates to the front page of my website. (Because of this, I try to avoid mundane things like "going to the grocery store.")
I'm no expert, but I attended a hashtag "event" and understood Twitter for the first time.
Example: You can sit in the "search" screen and search for, say… #askagent during the event time and see realtime questions being posed to agents by others, ending with the #askagent hashtag. You can ask a question addressed to nobody, but with the hashtag it will be seen and agents can reply to you. It is interesting. And you can always see the posts via search. I've also seen #YAlitchat do this too. Find other writers using #amwriting
Hashtags are also a way to add some snark to your post. #justsayin
Peace!
I think if you want people to follow you on Twitter, you need to remember the "who cares?" question before you tweet. Unless you are funny or have an interesting angle, no one cares about how you are stuck in traffic or what you are eating.
Be generous and offer your followers something. Watch the complaining, too.
@readingape
You can actually change your display name if you want to. I've done it several times.
Updated the post to include hashtags.
Thanks for the great article, @nathanbransford! 🙂 I love Twitter too.
I have one bone to pick: I'm not entirely sure it's bad manners to use someone's link without following them. I think accreditation with the username is enough, as long as it's clear how you found the link. For example, if I'm following the hashtag for a conference, and they're tweeting with that hashtag, I think it's okay to use their link without following them (especially if they're tweeting 100 times a day). Also, if I found the link through someone who retweeted it (who you do follow), I would accredit both usernames and be okay with it as long as I'm following one of them.
Re: hashtags: I wrote a little twitter guide once. Here's what I said about hashtags:
#Anything is a called a hashtag. Hashtags are used to label/tag tweets. Hashtags are often used comically to label the content of a tweet.
I'll also add that you can click on a hashtag to see what other people are saying with the same hashtag, so it's great for following conferences, TV shows, etc. from multiple points of view.
t.n.-
You can change your display name, but it's your username that's actually the more important one. You're really @username on Twitter.
You may be able to change it (I haven't tried), but I would still give it a lot of thought.
I don't think the @reply piece is correct…
You ONLY see @reply (such as @NathanBransford) if you follow both NATHAN and the person who wrote the @REPLY.
Thats why you see a lot of people repost what someone replied back to them with, so that their followers know what they're talking about.
HASHTAGS are used to find subjects in twitter and for trending (I think)
If you want #NathanBransford to trend you get a bunch (a few thousand should be good) people to tweet with #NathanBransford in the tweet and it will show up on Twitter trends.
sheribomb-
Oh yeah, I agree, you don't have to follow someone whose link you used. I was just saying to follow Colson Whitehead because he's hilarious. I'll clarify that.
Well, I had a whole brilliant explanation for hashtags, but I see that Nathan already added it.
I love Twitter and I love hashtags! It's my favorite procrastination tool.
#greatpostNathan. I liked your blog. I'm still learning twitter and how to use it and try to link it to my other writing but confess I'd rather write the book.
skepticheretic-
Thanks, I can see how I worded it wasn't totally clear. I amended it slightly.
Okay….this sir was educational. Thank you!!
Email, cell phones, texting, websites, blogs, YouTube, FaceBook, MySpace, (anything I forgot?) and now Twitting…!
There was a time when I thought PAGERS were something special!
I would say, nowadays, email and cell phones are pretty much mandatory. If you want exposure, then, websites and blogs are highly recommended. FaceBook and MySpace I would think are optional methods to advance your platform. YouTube? Depends on what you have to present…and now Twitter?
If I was 20 years younger I suppose. But I think this time, I'll pass. Doesn't mean I won't change my mind. I finally got a cell phone, after all.
Nathan – Thanks for clarifying! I'll have to check out @colsonwhitehead 🙂
Updated to include retweeting
Useful, many thanks. What's trending?
Hey hey all.
As far as interestingness goes, it doesn't have to be something as useful as "Great article on writing: [insertlinkhere]" although I do follow some of those links if they are interesting. But I must say that even if a post is irrelevant, if it's funny/amusing, then it's good in my book.
And cool beans about the @reply! I never knew that. Wondered how that worked out.
@jpcabit 😉
@Usernames can be changed. I have changed my @name twice on twitter. #beforeiknewbetter
@corinneoflynn
🙂
ok thanks Corinne.
Since Nathan says to leave Twitter tips, I wanted to add that you can download a twitter client rather than just using twitter on the website. This really helps if you manage more than one twitter account (such as your personal one and one for a professional blog). I use Tweetie on my Mac and the Twitter app on my iPhone. They're both great because I can tweet from multiple accounts without logging off and on again. Also, Tweetie will give me a notification if I have a new @reply or direct message on any of my accounts, which is very helpful for interacting with other twitter users. 🙂
I don't really have anything useful to add…I've only recently been getting into it. But it's fun and I've connected with so many other writers through it.
Nathan –
You should probably explain how to use Tweetchat.com as well in order to better follow a hashtag.
For example, every Wednesday night at 9:00 PM, @Georgia_McBride hosts #YALitChat. Participants can log onto Tweetchat.com, enter the hashtag only once and then post and read every tweet by every use participating in the chat. It' a great tool!
(BTW? YA writers should join in that chat – it's wonderful!)
Cheers!
Colleen
PS: You can easily change your username on Twitter. But I think it just confuses people.
Okay, I'm revealing that I'm a crazy twitter person, but I have another thing to add re: retweets.
If you use the "new school" retweet feature, the retweet will only show up in the feed of people who are not following the user whose tweet you retweeted. This can be good so you don't annoy your followers, but if you specifically want people to know you like something, especially if it's by a popular user (such as @neilhimself or @wilw), you should use the "old school" retweet protocol.
Personally, I use "new school" retweet if I have nothing to add and "old school" retweet if I want to add a comment. 🙂
These are great tips. Thanks, Nathan!
Things I've noticed not to do:
Don't only retweet. If something is particularly funny, insightful, or interesting, then please share it with the people who might be missing out, but we want to see some original thoughts too.
Don't go on tweeting binges. I used to follow a few people who would wake up in the morning, send out forty tweets in the space of fifteen minutes, and then be silent for the rest of the day. It's annoying when your entire feed is filled with one person.
If you use goo.gl as your URL shortener and you have a Google account, it will actually track (a la Google Analytics) how many times someone has followed your link.
Great tips. Might I make one addition?
When replying to someone, click on the arrow button. Do not just type in their name. Doing the former will allow other people to track the conversation. That way, if you say "I agree!" people will just need to click the Tweet to see what you agree with instead of going to the other person's feed and seeing one statement about cute kittens and another about how Snooki's book is a work of genius, leaving them to wonder which one, exactly, you're agreeing with.
Twitter has easily been the most beneficial thing for me both personally and professionally over the past few years. A great resource indeed.
Great tips, Nathan.
I will say that I disagree on your Retweet preferences. If you hit Twitter's Retweet button, the tweet will not show up on lists that people follow. I almost exclusively view Twitter through my lists and NOT the main feed and those Retweets only show up in the main timeline. If you want people who follow you on a list you have to use the old school RT @blahdeblah in order for them to see it.
Hi Nathan-
Great post! Two things to add: first, if you are, for instance, a YA author and just starting the Twitter, the easiest thing to do is to ask one of your crit partners or writer friends or a forum buddy if they're on Twitter, then see who they follow. I added around 100 names of authors, agents, editors, etc., by just looking at the few folks I knew.
Second, I'd love to hear you weigh in on Tweetdeck vs. Tweetchat vs. other sites that make it easier to follow along.
thanks!
@danaalisonlevy
the problem with the 'new school' way of retweeting is that those tweets sometimes don't show up if you're using a twitter program. for instance i have the google sidebar with a twitter ap on it and i don't see a single one of the new form of retweets. i have to check on my phone's ap or go to the original website.
An addition to the point about Twitter clients: TweetDeck can make an unwieldy Twitter page far more manageable. It allows you to sort the people you follow into columns under headings you name (e.g., Writers, Business Contacts, Personal Friends). You can then catch up on one column at a time if you want–which makes it much easier to track entire conversations–and if you're reluctant to unfollow someone, you can remove them from a column without actually unfollowing him.
Thanks for this! I've been using Twitter for a little over a year, now, and I've been using it with some success as a way of publicizing my blog. Some of the most intriguing writer-marketing type tweets I've seen quote directly from the book as a hook for people reading their tweets. Thanks for the great advice, best of luck!
I'd add three other bits of advice:
1) Take advantage of Twitter lists
In short: organize people you follow by list. E.g., Writers/editors/agents in one, news in another … whatever. Very powerful tool.
2) Strongly consider moving to a third party social media app as soon as possible.
The native Twitter web interface the not nearly as robust as other interfaces like TweetDeck and HootSuite.
The latter, for example, allows you to set up three columns: your main feed, your mentions, and perhaps a list.
3) Find Twitter discussions.
Colleen touched on it. Here is another good list:
https://www.suite101.com/content/twitter-chats-and-hashtags-for-writers-a235486
I recently got a personal Twitter account just to bounce messages back and forth to a few of my friends, and I've found there's a lot more to Twitter than I had expected! I'm glad I can practice with this one for a while. I'd have driven everyone nuts if I had started a writing-related account and tried to gain followers without any idea what I was doing. This post is also very useful and confirmed some of the things I had suspected re: how the system works, so thanks!
Nathan – Thank you so much for this post! I just began using Twitter a few days ago, and what you wrote is extremely informative.
Thanks again!
In my experience, Twitter's been great for learning fascinating tidbits about others who essentially already have a name and following.
I haven't personally had much luck with it for making actual connections with people though. Seems like it would be one of the toughest social media venues to break into in a meaningful way without a presence elsewhere.
It's just kind of a nice bonus on top of other methods. Anybody else have insights on that theory?