How to use Twitter...

[dgm458 0]

Can someone explain Twitter to me a little bit? Especially hashtags...how do they work? I need to start using Twitter for work and I'm not looking forward to it.

I searched through the archives on here and I dont' really find what I'm looking for. I have a Twitter account that I created mainly to follow a couple of bands and news sites. However, I've developed 10 followers somehow and my PR guys are telling me that I'm missing a big opportunity if I'm not using Twitter for work.

Any insight is appreciated.

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Failure to prepare is preparing to fail

[quade 4]

Hashtags evolved from people wanting to follow topics. Consider them to be visible metadata about your post and by adding in a hashtag other people who don't know you, but want to follow the topic you're talking about will be able to find them during a search.

Huh?

Ok. Let's say you have 10 followers. Cool. Your "tweets" reach 10 people, but nobody else in the entire world will read them because there's not really a good way to find them and they don't know who you are.

So, if you "tweet":

"The most amazing thing ever tweeted on the planet."

ONLY the 10 people following you will read it.

So, what you really would want to do is add a hashtag that other people are doing searches of. BTW, this counts toward your 140 characters.

So, now you might tweet:

"The most amazing thing ever tweeted on the planet. #porn"

OK, NOW you'll pop up in the results of anybody who has searched for porn or roughly half the population of the planet. Wow! Lots of users, but you're lost in the noise.

So, what you REALLY want to do is choose your hashtag carefully and with a focus so that the people most likely to actually want to read your tweet will see it and it won't be lost in the noise.

More of an art than science though.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[skydiver30960 0]

I used to say that the number to any department in the hospital I used to work at was "0". The happy lady that answered whenever I dialed "0" seemed even happier when given the chance to connect me to anyone I needed to talk to.

In much the same manner: know how to Google? If you do, you know how to do anything else. (Also: )

I'll also add that it makes me grin that your workplace is MAKING you use Twitter while the overwhelming majority of other employers are doing anything they can to STOP their employees from using it on company time....

Elvisio "still ashamed I started FB account a couple months ago" Rodriguez

[dgm458 0]

So, for example...if I'm upset with UPS for misdelivering a package, I could tweet: "Way to go #UPS for dropping my stuff off at a house 5 miles away."

Now that's just an example, but the point is that not only will my current 10 followers see the "tweet" but also anybody who searches the term "UPS" on twitter, right?

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Failure to prepare is preparing to fail

[quade 4]

Quote

So, for example...if I'm upset with UPS for misdelivering a package, I could tweet: "Way to go #UPS for dropping my stuff off at a house 5 miles away."

Now that's just an example, but the point is that not only will my current 10 followers see the "tweet" but also anybody who searches the term "UPS" on twitter, right?

Correct. Well, #UPS . . .

Although in your example the more common form would be #UPSsucks.

So, let's say you're a customer relations manager in marketing at UPS and really want to know what people think of your company, in addition to searching for "#UPS" and "#UPSsucks" you might want to get creative with a few other combinations of swear words and search for them too.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

So, for example...if I'm upset with UPS for misdelivering a package, I could tweet: "Way to go #UPS for dropping my stuff off at a house 5 miles away."

Now that's just an example, but the point is that not only will my current 10 followers see the "tweet" but also anybody who searches the term "UPS" on twitter, right?

Exactly, but even more powerful is to figure out what UPS's twitter handle is (it actually is @UPS) and also do a @ tweet, so it'd be like "Way to go @UPS for dropping my stuff off at a house 5 miles away. #UPS"

UPS can then see that if they look at their @ tweets. Then you'll figure out how UPS uses Twitter ... are they a company that monitors the twitter account and responds and helps troubleshoot? Or do they ignore it?

You've given an example of a complaint, but it can be a great way to call out positive stuff as well, especially people or businesses that you work with. So you could do something like "Really enjoyed the @AcmeTechnology 2011 user conference. I'm excited to see what we can do with the new AcmeAnvil5!"

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[SpeedRacer 1]

Also, if you add #in it will appear on your linkedin newsfeed.

Speed Racer
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[BIGUN 1,297]

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Twitter

Course there's no mention of the infamous "twittercide."

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[dgm458 0]

Quote

You've given an example of a complaint, but it can be a great way to call out positive stuff as well, especially people or businesses that you work with. So you could do something like "Really enjoyed the @AcmeTechnology 2011 user conference. I'm excited to see what we can do with the new AcmeAnvil5!"

I don't plan to use it for complaints but I do plan to use it to get info out to my membership and others that may be effected by the changes in our industry. I'm learning that this may be an untapped resource for news/info sharing.

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Failure to prepare is preparing to fail