Module 3
How to use Twitter: Basics
Follow
Simply click the Follow button . If you request to follow an account that is protected, that user will need to approve you before you can see their tweets.
What happens when you request to follow someone? They get a notification and you show up in their list of Followers on their profile. They do not automatically follow you back (like on other sites such as Facebook). They do not have to follow you back. Likewise, when people follow you, you are not obligated to follow them back. When you follow someone their tweets show up in your timeline, so if you follow every account that follows you, whether you like what they tweet or not, your timeline can be filled with stuff you don't want to see. By being selective, you help your timeline show information that is meaningful and interesting to you.
So, who should you follow? Of course, if you have friends & family that are on Twitter, you can follow them. Even if you don't personally know anyone on Twitter, you can find accounts to follow. Do you love gardening? Play an instrument? Like to bake? Whatever your interests, there are probably others who are tweeting about them. This can be very useful professionally, too. Following the right accounts can help you keep up with what's new in your field, and help you network with others in your line of work.
Be aware that others can see who you follow when they visit your profile and click Following. What do you want the world to see about you?
Here's an example of how you can search to find others to follow. I play the violin, and want to follow others who share my interest, so on the Twitter home page I go to the Search Twitter box (on mobile, click the magnifying glass icon at the bottom) and type "play violin". The search results default to show Top Tweets, which you can browse through, but you can also view other tabs such as People. Here are my results:
TIP: A safer way to find good accounts to follow is to click the Following link on a profile that you trust. This takes you to a list of all the accounts that they follow. If any of them look interesting, simply click the Follow button.
The first result, "Violin Monster", is a parody or silly account. This is not what I want.
The next result, "Violin Shack", looks promising. I click on it to see the types of Tweets they post. If I like it, I will click Follow.
I need to check out the next results carefully before I follow them. If I am not careful then I may end up with tweets in my feed that I don't want to see.
Some useful, local accounts you may want to follow:
Mesa Public Schools City of Mesa Mesa Library Maricopa County Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) Your child's school (search)
Unfollow
<<< You can Unfollow at any time. Just click the Following button and when it turns to Unfollow, click. When you see a Follow button then you are no longer following.
You can also unfollow by clicking on the drop-down at the top right of a tweet, then selecting Unfollow. There are other options here that result in not seeing a user's tweets, including Block and Mute.
Users will not be notified if you block, mute or unfollow them.
If you mute an account to stop seeing their tweets on your timeline they will not know you have muted their posts.
If you unfollow an account to stop seeing their tweets they will no longer see you in their list of followers.
If you block an account to stop seeing their tweets they also stop seeing yours. If they look at your profile, they will see this message:
Tweet
Click the blue Tweet icon on the left menu (or bottom right of the mobile app) and then compose your tweet...
NOTE ABOUT EDITING:
Once you have posted a Tweet, you can't edit it. If you want to make changes, you have to delete and repost.
TO DELETE: Click the drop-down at the top right of the tweet and select Delete.
TIP: Before deleting a post, copy the text so you can paste into the new tweet, then correct it. This saves you from rewriting the tweet again.
MENTIONS vs HASHTAGS in Tweets
Mentions are when you include a username that starts with the @ symbol. That user will get a notification.
Hashtags are when you include a word or phrase that starts with a pound sign. These were explained in Module 1. Other users do not get notified when you use hashtags. If you want a particular user to see your tweet, you must include their username (a mention).
IMPORTANT: Hashtags cannot include spaces or punctuation.
Retweet
You can tweet other people's tweets! That's retweeting.
Click the retweet symbol (two arrows) and select Retweet or Retweet with comment.
If you change your mind and want to delete a retweet, just click the (now green) retweet symbol and select Undo Retweet.
Reply
Your tweets and retweets show up on the main page of your profile. Replies are different than retweets and can be seen on the Tweets & replies tab on your profile page. Replies are responses to a tweet. To reply to a tweet, click the speech bubble icon at the bottom left of the tweet. Then compose your reply tweet which is limited to 280 characters.
When you see a number by the speech bubble, that means that it already has replies. To see the replies, click on the tweet so that it opens on its own, outside of your timeline, and then you will be able to scroll down and read all of the replies. Each reply is its own tweet, which can be replied to. There can be threads of conversation within a conversation!
NOTE: When you reply, the tweet will automatically reply to (and notify) everyone who was mentioned in the tweet that you are replying to. You will see their usernames at the top of the tweet after the words, "Replying to..." You can remove usernames of anyone you don't want to include (and get notified) in the reply.
Like
You can "like" a tweet by clicking the heart icon at the bottom so that it turns red. When you do this, the tweeter will get a notification that you liked their tweet.
This tweet will be on your list of Likes on your profile. So liking is also essentially listing the tweets to reference later. Keep in mind that your followers (and the whole world, if your tweets are not protected) can see your Likes.
To unlike a tweet, simply click the heart icon again so that it is empty.
Bookmark
Bookmarking allows you to privately save a tweet to reference later, without publicly liking it. Only you can see your bookmarks and the original tweeter does not get notified.
To bookmark a tweet, click the Share icon at the bottom right of the tweet, then select Add Tweet to Bookmarks.
Click the Bookmarks link on the left menu to view them (on the mobile app, go to Home, then click your profile picture at the top left, then Bookmarks). You can remove one by clicking the Share icon and choosing Remove from Bookmarks.
If you click the 3 dots at the top right you can choose Clear all Bookmarks.
Direct Message
You can send and receive direct messages. These are not public. Select the Messages icon on the left menu (or the envelope icon at the bottom on the mobile app) to send and receive messages.
When you are viewing a profile, there might be an envelope icon at the top that you can click to direct message them, if they allow it. There is a setting to "Receive messages from anyone" that can be changed.
Click (More) Settings and privacy>Privacy and safety, then check (or uncheck) the box next to Receive messages from anyone:
TASK: Module 3 Completion
Open your Twitter account and complete these tasks:
- Follow the instructor, Michelle Aron Lantz
- Post a tweet that mentions @MichelleAron42 and includes the hashtag #MPSParentUniversity
- Retweet at least one tweet of your choice
- Reply to at least one tweet of your choice
- Like at least one tweet of your choice
- Send a Twitter direct message to the instructor, Michelle Aron Lantz, telling her that you have completed Module 3. After Michelle is able to look at your profile (usually within 48 hours) she will reply to give you feedback.
Image credits:
Header image: Twitter-birds-social-media-leader-crowd All other images created by Michelle Lantz