★★★ Another (15) Great Status Updates for Facebook ★★★

1. I didn’t fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian. (Courtesy of our Funny Status Updates iPhone App ★★★★★)
2. Where do I see myself in 5 years? I would hope in a hologram but it will probably still be in the mirror. Stupid scientists.
3. I’m always careful to get something every day from the four basic food groups: canned, frozen, fast and takeout.
4. Not feeling in touch with my emoticons.
5. The key to knowing when to panic, is to start moments after someone says ‘OK, don’t panic’.
6. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
7. Bin Laden’s fate was SEAL’d! ツ (Source: Funny Status Update Fan Page)
8. I have high double standards.
9. Sometimes you just have to logout…..
10. They should have captured Bin Laden alive and made him continually go through airport security for the rest of his life.
11. Take my advice: I don’t use it anyway.
12. I flirted with disaster last night. Now disaster won’t stop texting me.
13. Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
14. I have an athlete’s ability trapped in a dumpster’s body. (VIA our Tweeter:@FreeFunnyStuff )
15. Whose idea was it to put an “S” in the word “lisp”?

“Feel Good” Status of the Day: Be tender to the young, compassionate to the aged, tolerant with the weak. For in your life you will be all of these.

REVEALED! THE IDENTITY OF THE AGENT WHO TOOK DOWN BIN LADEN!

Climbin in yo mansion, shootin yo leader up. (Source: imgur)
Funny Video to Post:
Now that is what I call POLE Dancing!  Post that on your Facebook profile page and watch the comments / likes roll right in from all your FB Friends.
Want more funny status updates, hilarious pics, and epic videos?  “Like” our FB Fan Page & Download our 4.5-star Rated iPhone App and visit our new sister website WittyStatus where you can submit statuses and vote on them!

101 Hilarious Funny Facebook Status Updates

Funny Facebook statuses are a great way to brighten up your social networking profile page. If you are looking for Facebook Status then your search ends here, you have landed on the right page. This article is all about very funny Facebook status messages that have been written by real people. You will find here all Funny Facebook Status, just read the full collection of the funny facebook statuses.

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• decided to burn lots of calories today so I set a fat kid on fire!
• One day your prince will come. Mine just took a wrong turn, got lost and too stubborn to ask for directions.
• When someone rings the doorbell, why do dogs always assume it’s for them?
• I speak my mind. I never mind what I speak.
• sometimes, not remembering mey be the better.
• X says my computer just beat me at chess…but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
• X is color blind and trying to solve a rubiks cube… This could take a while.
• X is the girl next door…if you live next door to a whore house.
• What is fat, ginger and pregnant? Nothing..
• slept like a baby last night…. Waking up every 3 hours crying for food.
• wanted to kill the sexiest person alive…But suicide’s a crime.
• X is proud of herself. She finished a jigsaw puzzle in 6 months and the box said 2-4 years.
• People say that love is in every corner……gosh! maybe i’m moving in circles..
• Why is a newspaper ten times more interesting when somebody across the table is reading it?
• Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.
• WARNING: Objects in mirror are fatter than they appear.
• ║▌║█║▌║▌││║▌║█║▌│║▌║█║▌║▌││║▌║ *ZAP* *BEEP* Price: $7.95
• Dear Santa, let me explain…
• I think my girlfriend has had sixty-one boyfriends before me. She calls me her sixty second lover.
• My wife said I’m too immature and if I don’t grow up it’s going to erect a barrier between us. Ha ha ha, erect.
• If guys had periods, they’d brag about the size of their tampons.
• Make love, not war. Hell, do both. Get married.
• Marriage is a sort of friendship recognized by the police.
• Statistically, 132% of all people exaggerate.
• Statistically 5/4 of people have trouble with fractions.
• ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ ٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶
• _̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡
• if only life came with a ◄◄ REW ► PLAY ▌▌PAUSE █▌STOP
• scratch here ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ to reveal today’s status.
• ̿̿̿ ̿’ ̿’̵͇̿̿з=(•̪●)=ε/̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ this is a stick-up… give me ALL yo [̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅]!
• Some people come into our lives & leave footprints on our hearts. Others come into our lives & make us wanna leave footprints on their face.
• The only place you find success before work is in the dictionary.
• Boys are like baby diapers when they get to be filled with shit they are thrown to be replaced.
• i’ve yet to meet a woman who got pregnant from swallowing.
• Cut here —————–✄———————-
• Me and my wife are inseparable. Sometimes, it takes three or four people to pull us apart.
• I speak my mind. I never mind what I speak.
• People who write diet books live off the fat of the land.
• Dance like no one’s going to put it on YouTube.
• Doctors waiting room needs some music. And better lighting. And more women. And a pole in the middle of the room. And a buffet.
• Best Friends Listen to what you dont say.
• Just wanted to let you know that you are my BFBFF… Best Facebook Friend Forever..
• So many stupid people, and so few asteroids.
• X thinks that Facebook is the compost heap for my brain.
• Yes, I know how to shut up. I just don’t know when.
• You miss 100 percent of the shots u never take.
• Me and the gummy bears have a plot to rule the world but shhhhh its a secret.
• I use to be great at wordplay. Once a pun a time.
• Sometimes? Late at night? I rearrange traffic signs. People need to be challenged.
• I guess if you spoke your mind, you’d be speechless, huh?
• X thinks that 100-calorie packs have just enough cookies to piss me off!!
• Alcohol does NOT make you fat…it makes you lean…against tables,chairs,walls, floors and ….Ugly people!!!
• what has two ears and cant hear? —————–.> GRANDPA
• I’m not a racer….But i can fly.
• press the star below and watch it glow
• ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ click star then up arrow to left to reveal status.
• I thinks my neighbor just caught me stealing his Wi-Fi internet.
• Teaching your own mother how to use Facebook is like willingly signing your own death warrant.
• X is wondering why Facebook bothers to give the option of “liking” my own comment? Of course I like my own comments. I’m awesome..
• Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things, and every day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is winning.
• I swear my pillow could be a hairstylist I always wake up with the wierdest hairdos.
• X just received a coupon in the mail: Buy one sock, get one FREE! While socks last.
• X believes that if you tell your boss what you really think of him, the truth will set you free.
• ¡ǝɯıʇ ǝɯɐs ǝɥʇ ʇɐ ʞooqǝɔɐɟ ǝsn puɐ puɐʇspuɐɥ ɐ op ʎןןɐuıɟ uɐɔ
• Smile, it’s the second best thing you can do with your lips.
• oh I’m sorry! i didn’t realise you were giving me a dirty look…i just thought you were ugly like that all the time!!
• wants to merge MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and call it: MY FACE YOU TWIT.
• X says don’t look at me in that tone of voice.
• Is anyone going to put anything funny on here?????
• If women ruled the world there would be no wars. Just a bunch of jealous countries not talking to each other.
• eat eat and eat….but don’t eat my brain.
• I married my wife for her looks. But not the ones she’s been giving me lately!
• a guy knocked on my door today asking for a donation for the local primary school’s pool. I went away and came back with a cup of water….. Is that wrong?
• ʎɐqǝ uo pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ɐ ʎnq ı ǝɯıʇ ʇsɐן ǝɥʇ sı sıɥʇ
• All men are born free and equal. If they go and get married, that’s their own fault.
• too cool for school.
• trying to think of clever things to say after inhaling from a helium balloon.
• the kid next door’s imaginary friend.
• –^v–^v–^v–^v-_____^v–^v–^v– For a second there, I was bored to death.
• definitely not watching what not to wear.
• forcing my dog to learn how to google.
• kissing a girl and may or may not be liking it.
• Got out of jury duty by prefacing every answer with “according to the prophecy”
• X is Loading ████████████ 99%
• Dont you find it Funny that after Monday(M) and Tuesday(T), the rest of the week says WTF?
• U have 10 fish, 5 drown, 3 come back to life. How many fish do you have? Stop counting smart one. Fish cant Drown.
• X went to the book store earlier to buy a ‘Where’s Wally’ book. When I got there, I couldn’t find the book anywhere. Well played Wally, well played.
• Hi, my name is Damimeve. The ‘mime’ is silent.
• I’ve always wondered if film directors wake up screaming “CUT! CUT! CUUUUUT!” when they have nightmares.
• In an interview, “I can multitask housework with facebook!”
• X is coloring on your wall! ((̲̅ ̲̅(̲̅C̲̅r̲̅a̲̅y̲̅o̲̅l̲̲̅̅a̲̅( ̲̅̅((>
• never judges a book by its cover. She uses the paragraph on the back, it tells you what the story is about.
• a day late and a dollar short.
• Insert coin to view my status message.
• If somebody offers you a lifetime supply of candy and there is just one piece, don’t eat it: It’s probably poison.
• We have so much in common. You want to travel,I want you to go .
• happy that you finally broke up with that slut. Now I can tell you VIA facebook update that I boinked her.
• seen pictures of you naked on the internet.
• remembers the day when blackberry and apple were just fruit.
• > $20 in my bank acct. Drinks on you home.
• 20/20 hearing!

Funny Status Updates

Funny Status Updates:

• When I read a really stupid status I think “What an idiot. Why did I write that?” (Courtesy of our Funny Status Updates iPhone App ★★★★★)
• If you stopped trying to save so much money, maybe you’d save some money!
• I’m in love with my bed, but my alarm clock wont let us be together.
• Hey Journey, I stopped believing. What now?
• I love it when the person’s laugh is funnier than the actual joke.
• I’m not single. I’m in a long standing relationship with fun and freedom. ツ (Source: Funny Status Update Fan Page)
• It is well documented that for every minute that you exercise, you add one minute to your life. This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $5000 per month.
• I was thinking of becoming a doctor. I have the handwriting for it.
• The girl with a future avoids a man with a past.
• It is hard to understand how a cemetery raised its burial cost and blamed it on the cost of living.
• Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is a husband!
• My favorite sitcom episode is the one where there’s a huge misunderstanding.
• If you get invited to an AT&T executive’s wedding, don’t go. The reception will be terrible.
• Constipated people don’t give a crap. (VIA our Tweeter:@FreeFunnyStuff )
• I have a hard time grasping the fact that in other countries, peoples thoughts are in a different language.

Cute Picture to Post:

Post that picture with a “How CUTE is this Puppy?” and watch all the LIKES you’ll get on your Facebook wall!
Mixing up Obama & Osama:
Hilarious! Throw that on your profile and get tons of funny comments.
Have a wonderful weekend and please join us Monday for more hilarious content. If you still need more funny status updates, pics, and videos to post:  “Like” our FB Fan Page & Download our 4.5-star Rated iPhone App and visit our new sister website WittyStatus where you can submit statuses and vote on them!

Facebook Now Growing by Over 600,000 Users a Day – And New Engagement Stats

It was just at the beginning of December when Facebook crossed the 130 million monthly active user mark. Today, that number is up to 140 million.
While Facebook has been growing at around 300,000 to 400,000 active users per day for most of the fourth quarter (based on our estimations), its growth rate seems to have significantly increased in recent weeks to 600,000 or perhaps even 700,000 new users each day.
If Facebook continues at this rate, it could add up to 20 million new users in December and reach 200 million active users by March. Keep in mind however that about 70% of that growth is happening outside the United States.

Facebook also released new engagement stats today about the way users interact with different features on the site. Some highlights:

• 13 million users update their statuses at least once each day
• 2.5 million users become fans of Pages each day
• 700 million photos are uploaded to the site each month
• 4 million videos are uploaded each month
• 15 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared each month
• 2 million events created each month
• 19 million active groups exist on the site

In other words, Facebook’s growth is speeding up and engagement is increasing.
We’ll of course continue tracking all the latest Facebook stats for you here on Inside Facebook. To dive deeper on how you can engage Facebook’s 140 million users through guerilla marketing tactics, Facebook advertising solutions, or Facebook Platform applications, check out Inside Facebook’s Facebook Marketing Bible.

A beginner's guide to Facebook for non-profits

I've always been interested in social networking sites like Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn. But lately, I've been spending quite some time on another social site which I've found to be quite worthy of my time and yours. If you haven't guessed it yet, I'm talking about Facebook. This powerful networking service is not just for individuals like me to keep in touch with friends. It's a very effective networking tool for nonprofits to create awareness and connect with their community. In this post, I'll take you through a beginner's guide to get your non-profit on Facebook and ways to effectively use this tool. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of features, but it may help get you started.
So what exactly is Facebook?
FaceBook is a social networking site that allows users to connect and share information. Michele Martin at the Bamboo Project Blog has a good description of Facebook:
" FaceBook is an Internet site that allows users to post online profiles (including photos, information about themselves, etc.) and then connect to other users who share the same interests, experiences, etc. Zuckerberg threw up FaceBook while he was a student at Harvard to provide an online avenue for students to find one another. It has since morphed into a social network for everyone."
Facebook is built around groups and is made up of many networks, each based around a company, region, high school or college. Many nonprofits already have accounts and are reaping the benefits for their organization and their cause. One reason why it's so popular is because it's just very easy to use. Adding friends, updating your profile, changing your status message - whatever you do takes just minutes.
How to get started?
1. Sign up and create a Facebook Account
To get started, go to Facebook.com, click "Register" and fill out a short online registration form. Once you're signed up, you'll need to have a profile to share information and photos about your organization with others. What to include in your organization's profile? Photos, links to your website and videos can all be added. And remember, when creating your profile you can include as little or as much information as you feel comfortable.

2. Find freinds and connect with your community
Now that you have a Facebook account, connecting to people in your community is easy. Start by using the search feature to find friends who are already using Facebook and request to be their friend. You can add just about anyone you can think of including your members, supporters, volunteers, staff and even your board members. Don't worry if you don't have a big list right away. Once you have two or more contacts, you'll be able to expand your social network by locating mutual friends and contacting them.

3. Send and receive messages
Facebook offers a message board feature called "The Wall" that displays member profile pages. You can use it to post all kinds of messages to your network. But be beware: comments can be viewed by all your contacts in your list of Facebook friends.
  
4. Create a group for your organization or event
Just like every other social networking site, you can create and join groups on Facebook. And there's a growing number of groups dedicated to social change. Why create a group? Creating groups allows you to share information about pretty much anything. You can create groups for your organization or event to make announcements, join discussion groups or even to share pictures. There are two kinds of groups on Facebook - open and closed groups. So be sure to create open groups so that people can find it and your members can invite others to join.

5. Upload and share pictures
One of Facebook’s most popular features has been the ability to upload and share pictures. Facebook also offers an unlimited quota with their only restriction being a 60-photos-per-album limit. The process is very simple. Start by creating an album which you can then assign limitations to (e.g. visible to my members only) and upload photos within them. The album is then put into your profile, and other users can see and comment on them. You can also "tag" your photos with the names of people you mention and share the photos via a web link or by e-mail. What’s more is that you can order prints online!

6. Promote your events
Facebook is a great place to promote your organization's events. Simply create the event, add pictures and invite your contacts to join. In addition to groups, you can post details of events in your profile so people can RSVP for an event. You also have the option to leave the event open to people in your network or open for everyone.

7. Promote your blog or newsletter
Facebook also helps you to promote your blog or newsletter. This feature allows you to share information beyond what's in your profile in two ways. You can either post a note on your page or import your external blog. It is a nice way to communicate with your constituents and update them on your organization. You can also integrate an RSS feed in to your blog with notes. When you post it, the note is displayed in your profile and every one of your “friends” is notified and other members can add comments.

8. Keep in touch with your members
Facebook has a feature called "News Feed" that allows you to see all kinds of activity within your network. It's very similar to an RSS feed, in that when you log in to Facebook you immediately receive an update of all of the actions your contacts have taken. And if someone posted a new photo album or RSVPed to an event, you'll be notified right away.

9. Maintain some privacy
On Facebook, you are in control of what information is out there about your organization and who can see it. You can retain some privacy by blocking certain people from viewing your profile or by creating a limited profile to hide  information you might not want to share with your contacts.
These nine points are meant to be a starting point for you to get your nonprofit on Facebook and into the social networking world. There are also many examples of nonprofit groups on Facebook. For instance, UNICEF at Indiana University has a campus group to announce news and meetings and there's also a group for Advocates for Grassroots Development in Uganda (AGRADU), a UNC student initiative aiming to support indigenous grassroots efforts at community building and economic development in Uganda. For more examples of nonprofit related content on Facebook and some helpful tips, read Emily Weinberg's post. 

10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners

1. Set up your profile

The first thing you need to do is to set up that profile. See that bar on top of your twitter page? Click Settings and start filling up your profile. The notable areas in here are URL, bio, picture and design. Put up a link to your site or blog in here along with a brief description. Upload a picture to differentiate yourself from the others and then tweak your Twitter design. Like any other social networking site, it is important to completely express what you are or what you stand for in your profile.

2. Follow people with similar interests

Now that you have a profile, start following people. You can find these people in Twitter directories. I use Twellow and JustTweetIt. These sites can introduce you to Twitter users that have the same interest as yours. Follow these people and observe their tweets. You may also try following who these people follow but read up their descriptions and visit their blogs to make sure you’re still on the right niche. Being on the right niche will make it easy for you to build a community with a similar interest.

3. Get into the conversation

So now that you are following people, you will now see some tweets on your board. Read up on what the people your following are up to and reply if it interests you. For example, a person narrates how he is going to conduct a meeting. You may then reply with ideas. When someone asks a question, don’t hesitate to answer if you know it. Don’t be afraid to interact.

4. Don’t spam

Spam is the cause of many unfollows on Twitter. There is a character limit for a reason. Do not send repeated messages to people. Do not constantly direct message (DM) them with links.

5. Update daily

Alright so you’re blending in the community. Now update daily if possible. I know some Twitter users who unfollow because of inactivity. Reply to people and update people with what’s going on with your life. Soon you’ll be recognized and you’ll get some follows.

6. Find the latest buzz and contribute

Now it’s your time to contribute. Find a topic that will interest your niche and tweet it. Since you have established relationships with your followers (through replies), you will get more attention. It’s a nice strategy to always append “please retweet” at the end of your tweet. There will be some people who will be so interested that they will retweet. There are others who will reply to you about the link you tweeted. But you are not a “nobody” anymore. You are not just talking to yourself. People are now responding to your tweets.

7. Help other people out

The famous saying “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you” holds here. Before you can receive retweets, you must help others first by retweeting their messages. Help the people in your niche. One day you’ll be surprised on how eager they are to help you back.

8. Create relationships

Now it’s time to create constant connections. Soon you will find that some users are more active than others. You will get to talk with the same group of people at the same time every night. But don’t get bored. Interact with these people and create relationships. Ask how they are doing and try to touch on their interests.

9. Integrate Twitter with other social networks

Have a blog? Then post to Twitter when you have a post that will interest your niche. Have a Facebook profile? Then ask people to add you. Twitter is really a vital part of web 2.0. It can serve as the core. It can let you build relationships that can branch out to other social networks.

10. Establish relationships even outside Twitter

Have a lot of friends on Twitter? Then take it to another level. Ask for their messenger and talk to these people on a more intimate level. Call them through Skype or even arrange a meet-up. Twitter can create real relationships.
Congratulations! You are now an official member of the Twitter community. You talk, act, think and breathe like us. Perhaps you find yourself spending every five minutes updating Twitter on what you are doing. But I guess I’ll save Twitter addiction for next time.

How to Use Twitter for Business

People go to Twitter to share what they know and learn in return. Twitter users are hungry for new ideas, opportunities, information, services, and products. If your business is not part of this exchange, you're leaving two huge opportunities untouched—growing your business and improving it.
Business of all sizes use Twitter for a variety of reasons, from marketing to customer service, but for the small- to medium-sized business that's still finding its footing on the microblogging site, we offer these five tips and best practices.
1. Define Your Purpose and Goals

Why is your business on Twitter? If the primary (or only) reason is to drive traffic to your website, you need to rethink your strategy. The Twitter community values interaction with real people. If the only thing you're adding to the conversation is a push to visit your website, you aren't going to have a strong and valuable reputation on Twitter. Some people will still follow you and click your links, but you'll be leaving several unique opportunities on the table, untouched.
Setting Twitter aside for the moment, what does your business or organization need to do better? Some misguided business leaders think they need to be Twitter because "that's where our customers are," and don't see that Twitter is a tool that can help a business achieve its real goals. Is the business growing rapidly, and you need to find new employees or contractors? Is one of your business's pain points that it doesn't listen to its customers or clients? Do you need to improve internal communication between employees? Twitter can help you address those issues and many more—read on to learn how.
2. Assign the Right Tweeters
You've just hired a young, bright intern who's active on plenty of online social networks, which is why her first assignment will be to set up a Twitter account for your business. Bad idea! If you want to really leverage Twitter for your business, you need dedicated employees involved. The intern can certainly help you monitor the account and maybe teach your staff basic Twitter etiquette, but she should not be the sole person behind it.
Knowledgeable. Depending on what goals you've set, you need someone who knows the issues related to those goals inside and out. Let's say your business is growing and you need to hire six Java programmers in the next three months. The person you want tweeting in that case would be someone who codes in Java, not the human-resources manager. If your goal is to better address customer comments—and these will include complaints, questions, and praise—you need someone on Twitter who handles customer service, which in a very small business might be the CEO.
A good listener. The person or people you assign to manage the Twitter account should be as good at listening as they are at speaking and writing. It's very important on Twitter to respond to people who post messages at you (using the @ symbol next to your Twitter account name, and through direct messages that are more like email). I've interacted with several professional businesses on Twitter who have never once answered my messages. I no longer follow them. You don't need to say much to acknowledge another person's existence on Twitter. A simple "@TwitterName It's a known issue. We're working on it" or "@TwitterName Thanks!" is all that's needed.
Trustworthy. Most important of all, put people you trust behind Twitter. It's a powerful platform that spreads information to millions of people very quickly, and one misguided employee can cause disastrous effects. You need to trust the people who represent your company on Twitter completely. Larger businesses may want to have their employees agree to a few basic guidelines for social media, although I personally feel that a contract-style social media policy is usually unnecessary. One of the problem of contracts is that they don't convey trust. The employees representing your business on Twitter need to feel trusted in order to cultivate their voices and write like a human being. Twitter is not an advertisement or slogan—it's a real person talking with a community of other people. Find people you trust completely, and give them reasonable autonomy.

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

First Steps

1. Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
2. Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
3. Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
4. Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
5. Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
6. Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
7. Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
8. Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
9. Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
10. Talk about non-business, too, like @aaronstrout and @jimstorer.

Ideas About WHAT to Tweet

11. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
12. Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
13. When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
14. Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
15. Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
16. Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
17. When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
18. Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
19. Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. – Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
20. Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.

Some Sanity For You

21. You don’t have to read every tweet.
22. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
23. Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
24. Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
25. 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
26. If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
27. If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
28. Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
29. If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
30. Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.

The Negatives People Will Throw At You

31. Twitter takes up time.
32. Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
33. Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
34. There are other ways to do this.
35. As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
36. Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
37. Twitter is just for technonerds.
38. Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
39. Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
40. Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.

Some Positives to Throw Back

41. Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
42. Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
43. Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
44. Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
45. Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
46. Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
47. Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
48. Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
49. Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
50. Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)

What else would you add? How are you using Twitter for your business?
By the way, Jeremiah Owyang has a great post on this, too.

The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.

HOW TO USE TWITTER FOR BUSINESS

Learn more about the How to Use Twitter for Business - Webinar on 10/22/09.
When I first heard about Twitter—a tool for instantly broadcasting the minutiae of your day and following the trifles of others—I couldn’t imagine a bigger waste of time.
Why would anyone care about what I had for lunch, or whether someone was headed off to the gym? Why would any business person add more noise to the signal to noise ratio?
Or—thought I—maybe Twitter is the inevitable conclusion for a culture fascinated by fame, fed by sound bites, and forced to short attention by an overwhelming amount of data.
Well, as is often the case, Twitter is not the end of civilization as we know it; it may in fact be a glimpse into the future of communication. Because, at its heart, Twitter is just a communication tool. Like the Web, and the phone and the telegram before it, it’s just a tool to let one person connect with another.

How Does Twitter Work?

Twitter users--often called Tweeple (or worse)--have 140 characters to answer the question, “What are you doing?” If you join Twitter you can “follow” other tweeple, which causes their updates to appear on your home page. In turn, they can follow you, a form of permission-based marketing. You can also direct message them, but always in 140 characters or less.
Twitter communications can be viewed and updated on the Web, through desktop apps, and on mobile devices. Although I use all three methods, I prefer twhirl, a desktop app that has some nice added features and updates my incoming tweets in the background while I work.
A quick peek at some recent posts--called “tweets”--include what people are having for breakfast, vague unease about a job interview and a complaint that raw vegetables make one’s mouth “itchy.” (Plus a bunch of non-English tweets that may range from the ridiculous to the sublime and back again.)

How Does Twitter Help You Work?

Within this participating audience of exhibitionists are a growing number of people who are using Twitter for business. And I’m not just talking about aggressive Web marketers who tweet every blog post they make and create links to all their online activities. (You can create clickable links in tweets, but they have no direct search engine benefits.)
Rather, there are professionals who are using Twitter as a communications tool. (Imagine that!) Here’s how you might use Twitter for business:
Follow industry leaders who post links to important resources and influence conversations

• Post questions for quick answers and answer others’ questions to establish your credibility and expertise
• Create links to your Web site or blog (don’t over do it!)
• Keep up on the buzz in your industry
• Network with like-minded people.

How to Find (The Right) People on Twitter

The Twitter search box will search matches in others’ profiles, but not in individual tweets. Here are a couple of 3rd party tools that allow for more advanced searches:

• Who Should I Follow?: Finds and suggests like-minded people based on your tweets.
• Summize: Allows you to search tweets for keywords and offers lots of customization tools.

How to Get People to Follow You

The more people who follow you on Twitter, the more influence and networking opportunities you have. Thus, it makes sense to try and build a following. Here are some ideas on getting others to follow you:

• Follow them. There’s an almost kneejerk reaction to follow people who follow you. However, there’s a backlash against people who follow just about everyone for the sole purpose of gaining followers. In short, be discriminating with whom you follow.
• Post some good tweets right before following someone else. I find that if someone follows me and they only tweet about how hungry or tired they are, I don’t follow them back. The same goes for people who haven’t tweeted in a while.
• Complete your bio. People rarely follow strangers, so complete your one-line bio and include a URL in the More Info URL section of your profile. I can't tell you the number of times I've not bothered to follow someone because I didn't know a thing about them.
• Add your Twitter feed to your blog or to other social media profiles. If you have a following at your blog or a lot of connections at Facebook or LinkedIn, you can leverage this audience to increase your followers at Twitter.
• Reply to people you are following, especially if they’re not yet following you. That’s a good way to engage someone and get them to follow you, even if they didn’t follow you immediately. Remember, though, some people have thousands of followers, and may not be able to respond to every reply.

Ideas on Getting the Most Out of Twitter

While the guidelines of Twitter etiquette are still evolving, guidelines from other social media sites can used:

• Treat others with respect
• Participate in the community
• Do more than promote your own agenda.

Professionals and consultants have had the most impact at Twitter; most businesses are still trying to figure out how to use Twitter as a communications tool. If you’re not a one-person shop, here are a few ideas to help get your creative juices flowing:

• A restaurant tweets their daily specials
• A ticket agency tweets about-to-expire tickets
• A realtor tweets new homes on the market
• A chamber of commerce tweets local events and promotions.

For more ideas, or just to engage me in conversation, I invite you to follow me at Twitter. I promise not to tell you what I had for lunch.
Unless it’s really good.

How to Follow Friday on Twitter

Step 1: Understand Twitter

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging site. It allows you to send 140 character messages called "tweets" to a group of people who have elected to follow you and receive your messages. You can tweet through more than 50,000 applications on third-party applications. Twitter was designed to be portable and to work on short message service or SMS.² All you really need to be able to tweet is a basic cellphone that is capable of sending and receiving the widely used SMS text messages. Twitter's portability enables following people on Twitter to be a real-time social activity.

Step 2: Use Hashtags

Placing a hashtag (#) in front of a term allows it to be tracked by other members of the Twitter community. Placing the term #followfriday within a tweet will allow that tweet to be tracked in one of several ways. You can use hashtags.org to track all the tweets that include given hashtags that have been tweeted by users who are followed by hashtags.org. If you follow @hashtags, Hashtags.org will follow you back. Any tweets you make including #followfriday will now be tracked by hashtags.org. You can also go to www.hashtags.org and search for a list of #followfriday tweets.

Step 3: Recommend Users on Follow Friday

In order to recommend a user on Follow Friday, you just tweet their Twitter name with the #followfriday hashtag.³ For example #followfriday @Lons will let your followers know that you think Lon Harris is worth following. You can include more than one user in a Follow Friday tweet, so you could tweet #followfriday @Lons @whitehouse @cnn to recommend multiple users. It's fine to use all 140 characters in your Follow Friday tweet. If you have a number of users to recommend, it's acceptable to do more than one Follow Friday tweet, although you don't want to spam your followers. If you overwhelm them with Follow Friday tweets, they may unfollow you.

How to Block Someone on Twitter

Step 1: What Is Blocking Someone On Twitter

There may be different reasons why you would want to block someone on Twitter. This may include harassing comments that they are making, rude or offensive language that you do not wish to see or any other type of behavior that may make you uncomfortable. In any of these situations, you can use the Blocking feature on Twitter to avoid being subject to this person’s actions. By blocking a follower, you are removing their tweets from your own timeline. You are also removing your Twitter feed from theirs. They may still be able to view your tweets by going directly to your Twitter page, but they will not show up automatically. In addition, they will not be able to send you any direct messages or show up in your list of followers.²

Step 2: How To Block Someone On Twitter

The process used to block someone on Twitter is fairly simple. There are two ways you can block someone on Twitter, either from your page of followers or from their Twitter profile page.The steps outlined here will guide you through the blocking process.³

1. Login in to your Twitter account at www.twitter.com⁴
2. From your profile page, click the Followers link on the right hand side of the page
3. In your list, find the person you wish to block and use the icon on the right side of their profile to bring up the menu options
4. Click the link that states Block “username”
5. You can also navigate directly to their profile page, select the menu icon and choose Block “username”

Step 3: How To Unblock Someone On Twitter

Once you have resolved whatever issue or grievance you’ve had with one of your Twitter followers, you may wish to unblock them. This will once again allow both of you to see each other’s tweets within your timelines, send each other direct messages and see each other in your followers list. To do this, simply follow the instructions that explain how to block someone on Twitter. When you reach the menu, choose Unblock “username”. Once you have completed this, they will no longer be blocked

How to Protect Your Tweets on Twitter

Step 1: Protect Your Tweets

Joining Twitter does not mean you have to make yourself an open book to the world. The first step you can take to protect your tweets is to make your Twitter profile private. On the upper right corner of your Twitter homepage, you will see the "Settings" option. Click on this hyperlink. You will then be taken to the "Settings" page. Just above the "Save" button, you will see a checkbox called "Protect my tweets." After you check the box, your tweets will no longer be available to people who are not your followers. While your new tweets will no longer be available to the public, your old tweets may still be available.¹

Step 2: Remove Unwanted Followers

Since you joined Twitter, you may have had too liberally allowed people to follow you. Even after you check the checkbox option to protect your tweets, your old and new followers will still be able to read your tweets. To feel safe from unwanted or unknown followers, click on the "Followers" hyperlink on your Twitter homepage. You will then see a list of your followers. Each entry would be shown with two buttons. Click on the button with the clock wheel. Use the drop-down menu to block or remove an unwanted or unknown follower.

Step 3: Screen New Followers

After you choose to protect your tweets, people will no longer be able to follow you automatically. They would need to request your approval first. When someone requests to follow you, you will receive a note asking if you would like to allow this person to follow you or not.² Before you allow anyone to follow you, be sure that you really feel comfortable to let this person to read your tweets.

How to Change Your Profile Picture on Twitter

Twitter profile pictures are the images that people will see not only on your profile, but also as thumbnail-size images next to each of your tweets. Since these pictures are so highly visible while using Twitter, users may want to change out pictures now and then, or upgrade to pictures that work better on the social networking site. Some users also like to change out profile pics according to the seasons, holidays, or special events.
This page will explain the process for adding or changing your profile image on Twitter. Or, if you choose to do so, these instructions will also help you to know how to delete your profile image altogether.
In order to add, change, or delete a profile picture, you must first be logged into your Twitter account. Whatever picture you would like to upload to your Twitter account should already be saved somewhere on your computer as either a jpeg, gif, or png formatted item.

How to Post a Picture on Twitter

Step 1: Signing Up for a Twitter-Friendly Picture Site

Sites such as Twitpic do not require you to sign up for a new account—you can sign in using your Twitter account information. Other sites, however will require you to fill out information fields and set up a special account. Once your signed in, you should be ready to begin uploading your photos and posting them on Twitter.

Step 2: Uploading a Photo

Follow the instructions of the Twitter-friendly photo hosting site you have chosen in order to upload a photo from your computer to their site. In most cases, as is true with Twitpic, you will find a large “Upload a Photo” button, or something similar. Click on that button and then browse your computer files to post the photo you would like to share on Twitter.
In most cases, including with mobile uploads, you should have the option to add a message to go along with the photo. This message will appear on your Twitter feed, along with the link to your image. If you are submitting a photo from a mobile upload, usually the subject line of your message will serve as the photo caption.

Step 3: Seeing the Photo Link on Your Twitter Account

Once you have uploaded a photo to a third-party Twitter-linked site, the upload should automatically create a tweet from your Twitter account with a direct link to the photo. Because Twitter does not currently allow for photos to be displayed (apart from your avatar picture), your photo itself will not appear on the Twitter page. Instead, the tweet will look something like this:

How to Follow Someone on Twitter

Step 1: Do a Little Research Before You Follow

When you are considering following someone on Twitter, it's always a good idea to pause and check out their tweet stream before committing to follow them. Some people or groups may post too often for your taste, or some Twitter users may do little more than retweet what other users have already tweeted, creating little to no fresh content. But if you look at a Twitter user's stream and find it interesting, fun, or helpful, then you're ready to add them to lineup of people you follow.

Step 2: How to Follow Someone

There are two basic ways you can start following someone:

1. Visit the user's profile, and click the "Follow" button located just under their username at the top of the page.
2. If you see another user's name and avatar anywhere on any Twitter page, you can let your mouse pointer hover right over the profile pic, and details about the user will pop up along with a "follow" button.

Once you find the "follow" button for the right profile, all you have to do is click it once and from then on you will be following them.

Step 3: How to Follow Someone With a Private Twitter Page

Twitter users have a privacy setting option on their profile page that allows them to keep tweets private. If a user checks this box, then they have made it so that they must be able to approve all users who follow their tweets.
If you find that you are unable to find the "follow" button, check the user's profile to see if they don't have a message stating: "I'm only giving updates to friends." After that message there will be an "add" button, which you can click to get special approval to follow that user.

Step 3: Getting Approval to Follow Twitter Users

Twitter users have privacy options within their profiles to make tweets private, and by selecting this option they will opt to approve every Twitter user who would like to follow them. This may mean that select users will not automatically become part of your Twitter stream once you have elected to follow them.

How to Send a Direct Message on Twitter

Step 1: What Is A Direct Message

For Twitter users, a direct message is similar to an email. Unlike a traditional "tweet", a direct message does not appear to all of your followers. Instead, it is sent to one follower and is only visible to them. Remember, you can only send a direct message to someone who is following you. There are also other features of a direct message. The sender has the ability to remove or delete the direct message. If they do, the message will be removed from your inbox.²

Step 2: Sending A Direct Message On Twitter

To send a direct message from Twitter using your computer, you can follow the steps outlined below.

1. Login in to your Twitter account at www.twitter.com³
2. Using the options to the right, choose Direct Message
3. This will display all of the direct messages that you have received
4. To reply to a direct message, choose the Reply option located on the lower right hand corner of the direct message you would like to reply to⁴
5. To send a new direct message, use the drop down box located at the top of the page to choose your recipient⁵
6. Compose your direct message and send

Step 3: Sending A Direct Message From A Mobile Device

Although the process is relatively the same, sending a direct message on Twitter from a mobile device will require the Twitter application or Twitter mobile application. There are a variety to choose from that are suitable for many different mobile platforms.
To use Twitter from your mobile phone or device, you will first need to download the application if your phone is not preloaded with Twitter mobile. You can do this by browsing your mobile platform's application store such as App Store for Apple products, the Android Market for Android phones and Blackberry App World for RIM devices.^{6 7 8}Once you have downloaded the application and have logged in, navigate to the menu of the application. This will show you options such as sending a reply,refresh your timeline and of course, direct message. Follow the prompts provided in the application to send your follower a direct message.

How to Use Twitter to find friends

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service which allows you to send "tweets" to the rest of the twitter world. Tweets are posts limited to 140 characters which can be about any subject you want to discuss. You can receive and send updates to and from Twitter using a short message service (text), RSS, Instant Messaging, email or through a third party application. Twitter itself is free to use but if you are using a cell phone you may be charged for the text by your phone provider. Twitter users must set up their cell phone for Twitter to work from it.¹
Although many people use Twitter exclusively to keep up-to-date with their friends some users sign up for other reasons. Many businesses and news sources now use Twitter. When a user signs up for business or news tweets, they can see what is happening in real time. Twitter says it is like receiving a newspaper with headlines that are interesting.² Tweets about headlines or businesses may include a URL to a news story or a coupon from the business.
The Twitter service was created by Jack Dorsey in 2006.³ By June 2010, the micro-blogging site processed over 65 million tweets per day or 2 billion tweets per month.⁴ More than 300,000 people sign up for new Twitter accounts each day.⁵

Step 1: Join Twitter

• You can join Twitter for free by going to their sign-up page.⁶ Once there, you will need to do the following:

1. Choose a user name.
2. Choose a password. It needs to be at least 6 characters long.
3. Insert your email address.
4. Type in the words for the CAPTCHA device.
5. Click on the Terms of Service.⁷ It will pop-up in a new window or tab. Read it carefully. Then return to the sign-up page.
6. If you want email updates, click on the box.
7. Click "I accept. Create my account". 

Step 2: Finding Friends During Set Up

• After you accept, you will be brought to a screen that asks Are your friends on Twitter? This will help you find any friends you might have on Twitter by accessing your MSN Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, or AOL email accounts. Essentially, it looks at your contacts and then matches email addresses. It does not work with any other type of email accounts.

• You will need to either:

1. Find Your Friends: Insert your email address and password, and click "continue".
2. Skip This Step: Click on the skip link. This link is not boxed, but appears in blue underneath the continue box.

• Don't worry. If you skip this part, but want to attempt it later, you can. Once you are finished, you will find yourself at the "find & follow" page of Twitter. You're ready to move onto the next step. 

Step 3: Twitter Options

• Once you've signed up, you will be taken to your personal homepage. You will be presented with three options: "Tell us what you're doing," "Find some friends" and "Turn on your mobile phone."

Posting your first Tweet -
The first thing you will notice is the message "What are you doing?" above an empty text box.

1. Type an answer to the prompt in 140 characters or less.
2. Click on the gray update box.
3. You've posted your first Tweet!

Getting Connected -
Clicking on the text "Turn on your mobile phone to update your friends on the go" will help you set up your mobile phone to send and receive Twitter messages.

1. Twitter will ask for your phone number and country code.
2. If you're in the United States or Canada, add "+1" to your nine digit number.
3. Once you have completed that step, you will need to verify your number by texting a code to 40404 in the U.S. 

Step 4: Adding More Twitter Followers

Clicking on the link "Find some Friends and Follow What They're Doing" will allow you to either find friends via your email account or invite friends who are not using Twitter yet to join.
Inviting Friends to Join Twitter

1. To invite friends, click on the gray tab that says Invite by Email.
2. Type in an email address. You can enter more than one email address by separating them with a comma.
3. If you want to see what your friends will be getting, click on the blue text that says "What will this look like?"
4. When you are finished, click on send.

Find Friends on Twitter How do you find friends while you're waiting for your other friends to sign up?

1. At the very top of the page, to the left of the Twitter logo, there is a search box.
2. Type in a word or phrase and see what pops up.
3. Once you've found a friend or someone you'd like to follow, click the gray follow button on the right side of the search result box. 

Step 5: Adjusting Your Twitter Account

• The next thing you will want to do is adjust your settings. Look at the top of the page. You will see a set of words in blue. Click on Settings. From your Settings page, you will be able to change or adjust the following:

Account
Account is the default screen, or the first one you will see after clicking on the settings selection. On this page you can change your name, user name, email address and time zone. You can also add the following information:

1. More Info URL: A link to your homepage or blog
2. One Line Bio: Your life story in 160 letters or less
3. Your Location: It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where you are?
4. Your Language

One of the most important things you can do on the Account screen is protect your updates. There is a "protect my updates" checkbox located at the bottom of a screen. If you click on the box, your profile will no longer be visible on Twitter's public timeline.⁸ This means only people that you approve can follow your updates. If you are a minor or concerned with your privacy, check this box.
Password
This section allows you to change your password. Twitter will ask you to enter your new password twice.
Devices
If you wish to send and receive Twitter updates via your mobile phone, this screen will allow you to enter and verify your cell number.
Picture
This is where you can change your image. The maximum image size is 700k.
Design
This tab allows you to change your page design in Twitter. It allows you to change your background color, background image, text color, name color, link color, sidebar fill color and sidebar border color. All design options, except background image, require you to insert the six digit color value.

Step 6: Setting Notifications

In this part of your account, you can change how often you are notified about new posts or followers by text message, instant message or email. You have several options; some are automatically selected for you.

1. Auto Nudge: This will text message or instant message you if you have not updated your page in twenty-four hours. The default for this is off.
2. @ Replies: This will show you all, some or no replies in your timeline from other people on Twitter.
   • An @ reply (or @reply) is a public Twitter update directed at a certain person. It starts with "@username." For example, to do an @reply toward me, you would type "@darcylogan" along with whatever message you wished to send me.
   • From the Settings page, you have three options which apply to @replies:
     1. See all @ replies: See all of the @replies made by people you follow, whether or not you follow the person to whom the reply is directed.
     2. See @ replies of everyone you are following: See @replies from people you follow directed at other people you follow. (Default)
     3. See no @ replies: Never see @replies on your timeline.
3. New Follower Emails: This box is automatically checked, which means you will be sent emails anytime someone starts "following" you on Twitter. If you don't want to receive emails, make sure the box is not checked.
4. Direct Text Emails: This box emails you when you receive a direct message. It is automatically checked. If you don't want to receive emails, you need to uncheck it.
5. Email Newsletter: If you want email updates, this is the box to check. It is

 

What is Twitter and How Can it Help Me?

Twitter is changing the way that many people connect and communicate online and should be an indispensable part of your overall marketing plan for your Squidoo Lenses, blogs and websites. Twitter is free to join and you can get set up with an account in a matter of just a few minutes.

Twitter has two main components. Just like social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook, you can add "followers" and follow other people as well. They'll receive your updates and you'll receive theirs.

What is unique is that your messages are limited just to 140 characters, which is why some people call it a "microblogging" tool. You have to keep your messages brief and to the point.

Sometimes it's a real challenge to get the point across in the allotted space, but it also leaves room for a lot of creativity! Coming up with ways to say what you have to say in that small space is part of the fun of Twitter. It makes you think about the core aspects of the message you are trying to convey. You may also find, like me, that it helps you write shorter reports and emails generally!

How to Use Twitter

Different social media have different uses, strengths, and advantages. Twitter^[1] could be called a 'real time social networking' site, a place for sharing information as it happens and for connecting with others in real time, often making lasting friendships and contacts.
Learning how to use this fun, free, and useful tool can be a bit intimidating for the beginner, but don't be put off – with a little effort and a lot of innate feeling your way through, being able to use Twitter well can make you 'digitally' famous!

1. 1
   
2. 2
   Work on your pithy 'bio'. Make it eye-catching and interesting. Do it just right and it will help you build up followers; people thinking of following you do read the bios to see if they have reason to follow you. Bear in mind that a bio can be up to 160 characters long, so you'll have to keep it short and to the point. Don't worry about typing your real name or website URL here. That information can be typed into separate fields under 'Settings'.
   
   
   

   Example of a clear and quick bio
3. 3
   Figure out who to follow. You will probably find that you know quite a few people on Twitter. Using the menu tab on your page click on 'Who to Follow', and there are several ways to find people on Twitter, as follows:
   • Use the 'Find Friends' link to find people you know through your various Gmail, AOL, MSN, Hotmail and Yahoo! accounts.
     
     
     
   • Use the 'View suggestions' link for a wide range of possibilities that may, or may not, connect with your interests. (Twitter is also working on personalizing lists of suggested followers, so keep an eye out for the feature.)
     
     
     
   • Use the 'Browse Interests' tab to find people by interest.
     
     
     
4. 4
   Tweet. If you want to let your followers know what you are doing, type it in the 'What's happening' text box and then click on the 'Tweet' button. Note that tweets are limited to 140 characters or less; otherwise, the "Tweet" button will go into a minus.
   • As you type, a countdown is offered to help you keep track of the character count of your tweets. The allowed characters are in gray, then the last 10 go red, and then a red minus symbol appears when you are past the zero (0) indicator.
     
     
     
5. 5
   Check the replies from your followers that are directed at you. Click '@Mentions' to see if there are any replies to any of your 'tweets'. When tweeting, using '@' followed by a username (with no spaces) in your tweet will send a mention to the user you choose. For example, '@username' will send a mention to 'username', and the entire tweet will show up in his '@mentions' section.
   
   
   

   The arrow shows where to click to find these
6. 6
   Send DMs. DMs are Direct Messages. They go straight to the intended person that you are messaging. The DM feature utilizes an inbox and outbox system, but you are still limited to using 140 characters; you are also limited to sending DMs to only those users who follow you. DMs cannot be seen by anyone other than yourself and the chosen recipient, and are thus more personal. To send a DM, go to the page of the follower you're sending one to, and click on the "Message" box.
   
   
   
   • Be aware that some people really dislike DMs on Twitter because they reason that Twitter is an open conversation and a fast one, not a disguise for sending each other private messages. Also, DMs are not appreciated when they involve marketing or advertising.
7. 7
   Use hashtags. Prefacing a word with a '#' will create a hashtag. A hashtag makes a certain word easily searchable. For more info on hashtags see the WikiHow article on How to use Hashtags with Twitter.
   • 
     Some Trending Topics will include hashtags, thus making it easier for users to tap into a Twitter-wide conversation regarding a single matter of interest.
   • A prime example of the usage of hashtags can be seen with Major League Baseball, which uses team-name hashtags (#Mets, for example) to pull together lists of in-game tweets, which they display on their website.
8. 8
   Learn the Twitter lingo and use it appropriately.^[3]
   • Retweet or "RT" - taking a tweet from one user and posting it yourself, automatically crediting the source, so that all of your followers can see the tweet. The original Retweeting style would take a tweet and re-post it via your own account in the following format: 'RT @(username of person who originally tweeted the tweet you're retweeting): (contents of tweet)'. The current system does away with this format, and instead directly re-posts the tweet, crediting the origin underneath. For example, 'retweeted from @username'.
   • Tweet - a Twitter single update of 140 characters or less, which include @Mentions to other users, hashtags, external links, or simply regular text.
   • TweetUps - Using Twitter to meet with other Twitter folks.
   • Trending Topics (TTs) - Trending Topics are a range of subjects which many users across Twitter are talking about simultaneously. Initially, Trending Topics would include the matters of interest people across Twitter had been talking about throughout the entire week, but the refined algorithms made it easier to keep up to date with the latest most-talked-about subject, by only displaying Trending Topics related to things thousands of people across the whole of Twitter are discussing at any one time. Clicking on a Trending Topic in the list will bring up a range of tweets mentioning the matter of interest, and for each Trending Topics, there will be up to three 'Top Tweets'. These are tweets which are relevant to the Trending Topic, that have been Retweeted more than 150 times.
   • Lists - Users can organize the people they follow into 'Lists' of businesses or personalities which are related in some way. For example, a user could list all of the NPOs and charities they follow into a single List, for easy reference.
   • Promoted Tweets - A single Trending Topic which a company or organization can pay to 'trend', as to gain attention and traffic from Twitter users worldwide.
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   Use third-party applications for ease of mobility and account sharing. Third-party applications such as TweetDeck and Twhirl (desktop), Twitter for iPhone (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad), or Twidroid (Android) can help you to manage your Twitter account(s) better. If you have lots of followers and if you follow lots of people, at which point it can be difficult to keep up with everything on Twitter's official website, you might want to try something a bit more advanced like Hoot Suite or Blossome.
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    Look for people from organizations that you are in or for those that share a common interest. There are many business, companies, celebrities, and non-profit organizations on Twitter, ranging from Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) to Greenpeace (@greenpeace).
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    Decide your own style and times for tweeting. Twitter, like many social media applications, can become addicting and time-sucking. Make a decision early on about how much time you will devote to it and about how big your "tribe" of followers will be. Avoid worrying about getting heaps of followers; that's competitive rather than relating and it will end up wearing you out. Instead, focus on quality connections and information-sharing and don't get too upset when someone unfollows you; it happens and you can't change it. If you feel Twitter is overwhelming at any time, simply take a break from it and come back later, refreshed.
    • Anthropological and sociological studies have claimed time and again that we can only cope with being part of a tribe of 150 to 200 people.^[4] Anything more than that and we get confused and lose the intimacy of connection. Keep that in mind when aiming for too many follows!
    • Read How to avoid a Twitter addiction and How to defeat a Twitter addiction if relevant!