Understanding Twitter
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Understanding Twitter
Twitter is an online social media website. Anyone can use Twitter, as long as they have Internet access and an email account for sign up. There are many aspects that make this site interesting and quite unique from other forms of socialization. Twitter is much like a quick wave to a neighbor, to let them know what you are up to, but instead of being person to person contact, it is done online. Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds, due to the number of news organizations, online gurus and celebrities that have taken to it.
How It Works
Twitter works in a very simple way. Individuals sign up for Twitter by selecting a screen name, much like signing up for any other service. There is no cost to using or signing up for the account. Once online, you have the ability to send a Tweet to those who are following you. A Tweet is a short, 140 character long message about what you are doing, thinking, or anything else you would like to communicate.
You only have 140 characters. This can be a good thing, since it makes you condense anything you might have to say into the most concise sentence. This has helped many people because now, they can interact without all the formalities of “hello, how are you” or detailed messages. Rather, you just have about one sentence to communicate your thought. It definitely makes for some interesting conversations, and fun abbreviations, too.
In order for Twitter to work, you have to have people following you. Those who follow you are able to see any of the items that you type into your page. You too can follow others using the software. Interestingly, unless you would like to limit it, anyone can follow you, and you can follow anyone. This is a direct contrast to many other social sites where they want you to be constantly agreeing to follow someone else.
The best way to learn Twitter and to start exploring it is to sign up for an account and to start using it. It only takes a few minutes to set up and once you are set up, you can begin to find others to chat with. Many times, twitter is the perfect outlet for communication on the web. There are no formalities and you can easily chat with new people every day without having to be bogged down by the process.