Twitter 101

That was super easy! Just go to Settings and click, Click on Design, Click on the background you like, click on Save Changes. That's it! Now you have a cute background.

Now, the next thing is How to Invite Contacts to Join Twitter

Click Find People
Click Invite by Email, and, in the text box that appears, enter the email addresses of the people to whom you want to send an invite.
After you enter all addresses, click Invite OR
Just email people with link to Twitter to keep it personal.

This will be homework for later, because it could take a little time. Let me know if you have any trouble with this.

Twitter Guidelines

1. Whenever you are referencing another Twitter user, use his name with an @ in the front, so they know you mentioned him/her

2. Use hashtags (#) to give context to updates that may not make sense otherwise.

How to Tweet

The entire premise of Twitter is to answer the question, "What Are You Doing"?. To Tweet, type a message in the "What Are You Doing" text box. If you don't have any followers, supposedly, they will come.

Twitter slang and jargon:

AFAIK - As far as I know
DIAF - Die in a fire (extreme anger)
DM - Direct Messages
dweet - Tweeting while drunk
Fail Whale - Whale shows up when servers are overloaded
FTL - For the loss (shows disappointment)
FTW - For the win (shows appreciation or enthusiasm)
FWIW - For What It's Worth
Hashtag - Words preceded by #. Basically, # flag something as a keyword for searches
IMO or IMHO - In my opinion or In my humble opinion
Metrics - A way to measure what the service means for business and individuals as it relates to return on time invested.
Microsharing or Microblogging - Niche of social media that encompasses Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Plurk
Mistweet - Tweet sent in error
Noise River - A large Twitter stream
OH - overheard
@ replies - Public tweets directed at specific people, anyone can see them and jump into the conversation
RT or R/T - Retweet
Tweeple or Tweeps - Twitter community
Tweetup - Pun on Meet-Up
Twitterati and Twitterverse - Fun way to refer to the Twitter world

Twitter/Linkedin

Twitter gives you the widest possible distribution.

Click the Twitter icon on Linkedin page.

Add Twitter account on Linkedin home page (not sure what this means yet).

#in and #Li - Set your Linkedin status via Twitter

You can make your Twitter ID appear right on your Linkedin Profile (to add: visit Edit My Profile and click Twitter account next to Twitter filed) Verify your account and password

#in and #Li hashtags - Provides additional context for your Tweets. Use #in or #Li to publish your Twitter updates to your Linkediin status. Just make #in part of your Tweet, i.e., "Working on a new blog post about design optimization.#in and it will be displayed as your Linkedin status.

These can be added to your Tweets at any time and will override your sharing settings.

If Tweet is personal and your don't wish to share it with the professional crowd, just exclude #in or #Li.

Company Buzz (thru Twitter)

Lets you tract tweets about the companies, products and people you need to follows from your Linkedin home page. You can modify the topics you are tracking and add new ones. Get access to historical data and trends.

Install the APP and instantly see what people are saying

Tweets - With Tweets, you can display your most recent Tweets on your Linkedin profile. Tweets also give you instant access to the updates of people you are following on Twitter and the power to Tweet, reply, and retweet -- all from Linkedin Home Page.

I know I will be exploring more on Twitter. Hope you do too. Let me know what you find out, what your frustrations are, and all the good things about Twitter.

Deb