January 20, 2011
Hello, everyone!
Ever since Twitter was “invented” in 2006, I can visualize marketing copywriters singing “This is MY song!” especially since the challenge is how to tell a story in this “conversation economy” in 140 characters. I love it! Of course, I had to learn some basic lessons when I opened my account in 2007, letting my Twitter account languish in “Dream Land” until I decided to finally use my account sometime in 2009.
This posting is for everyone in my life who is mystified by Twitter. These friends are generally over 40 years old and are comfortable with e-mail and Facebook. New terms pop up, such as “trending,” which is gaining a 21st century digital space definition.
intr.v. trend·ed, trend·ing, trends
1. To extend, incline, or veer in a specified direction: The prevailing wind trends east-northeast.
2. To show a general tendency; tend: “The gender gap was trending down” (James J. Kilpatrick).
Right now, I checked my Klout rating as a Twitter user.
This is what my Klout score is for today:
Lorna L. Dietz is an Explorer
You actively engage in the social web, constantly trying out new ways to interact and network. You’re exploring the ecosystem and making it work for you. Your level of activity and engagement shows that you “get it”, we predict you’ll be moving up.
I certainly cannot beat my sister’s record of tweeting her 20,000th tweet a month ago BUT she is a new media publisher. She started increasing her twitter use about six months prior to the May 2010 Presidential Elections in the Philippines.
When a community advocate-friend privately INBOXED me in Facebook, asking me how I created my tweet to alert the Filipino American community about his important community service event today, I decided that I would not re-invent the wheel BUT that I would look for youtube videos that educate and entertain.
Here they are. I will INBOX my friend with my explicit instructions (which I had emailed to everyone in the group last New Year’s Day BUT you know how it is — people are VISUAL!)…
There’s more…
This section about “re-tweeting” confuses many people.
The way I do it, if I have to do it manually: This example has 136 characters. For me to re-tweet it, I had to slightly edit it so I could fit in the name of the source, in this case, @momblogger.
For Re-tweeting, the formula is simple:
Write: RT
Add: a single space
Add: the twitter screen name of person who is the source of your tweet, in this case, the name is @momblogger. Yes, put the AT sign (or @) right before the name.
Let’s read the tweet below.
RT @momblogger Oh i know those cops. Met one in SFO through @radiantview RT @gmanews: Cops from San Francisco http://tinyurl.com/4u9abp7
It says: “I’m forwarding a tweet from @momblogger. She says she knows the cops from San Francisco because she met them through @radiantview — that’s Lorna Dietz’s twitter name. @momblogger is re-tweeting the information from @GMANews and they provided the shortened URL.”
The original tweet from @momblogger, before I re-tweeted it was actually:
Oh i know those cops. met one in SFO through my sis @radiantview RT @gmanews: Cops from San Francisco, scheduled to conduct training…
I found out that my screen name was also mentioned in another tweet. Twitter automatically copies you when someone adds your user name. Twitter calls it a “mention.” In other words, someone mentioned @radiantview. This is how I found the correct shortened link from this person (who I do not “follow”) that was chopped off of @momblogger’s tweet. (After a while, you figure these things out on your own.)
PingSFO
Oh i know those cops. met one in SFO through my sis @radiantview RT @gmanews: Cops from San Francisco, sc… http://tinyurl.com/4u9abp7
Here is another RE-TWEET Lesson:
This next video expands into the use of Hashtags and Direct Messaging (which I use because I do not want to spend on cellphone text messages to my overseas friends). My sister (in the Philippines) and I (San Francisco or Chicagoland) send “direct messages” to each other, real time.
The only caveat I have for those who use direct messages is NOT to use the @ sign because it will show up in the public space of twitter. For instance, if you want to send a direct message to @radiantview and you want to quote @momblogger BUT you want to send a private message:
You would say: DM radiantview Lorna, momblogger is asking why you’re not answering her emails.
By not including @ before the momblogger name, the message stays “private.”
Click on the subject here: HASHTAGS. It gives a very good explanation.
This is it for now. TMI (or TOO MUCH INFORMATION) isn’t good for those who are just starting to get to know Twitter.
Have fun!
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