1. Twitter
What is it?

2. What is Twitter?
A Micro-blogging service…of course!
HUH?

3. Seriously…what is Twitter?
► Twitter is a tool that allows you to share
short updates, 140 characters or less, with
people in your network.
► You can also read others’ updates in your
network as well
► Twitter is based in the social networking
side of applications and has some great
business potential

4. How do I use Twitter?
► You can go to Twitter and simply “surf”
others’ updates. If you were to go to Guy
Kawasaki’s for example, you would see his
latest tweets:

5. How do I use Twitter?
► The best way to use Twitter is to sign up for
an account.
► It is free
► You do not have to tie it into your cell
phone and get text messages
► It is free
► Did I mention…it is FREE?

6. Signing up for an Account
► Prettybasic stuff
► Go to http://twitter.com/
► Click
► Put in some basic info, then create your
account
► Note: Choose wisely of your screen name!
► You will have to verify your creation via
email but it is quick

7. “And They’re OFF”
► You can now Tweet (that is the art of
posting on Twitter) away
► Go on….start Tweeting

8. What can I do on Twitter?
► Simply and basically, you can Tweet
► Tweet about what you want
► Bring value to those that you want as your
audience
 If your audience is your old college buddies, tell
them what you are doing
 If your audience is your customer base, bring
value to them with info about your products,
plans, ideas, specials, etc

9. Twitter Anecdote
► Kogi Korean BBQ truck in LA Tweets its next
stop
► Lines of 300 to 800 people are waiting for
the truck at its stops!
► This has all been done with Twitter
► Here is a link to the LA Times article:
 http://www.latimes.com/theguide/restaurants/la
-fo-kogi11-2009feb11,0,4560062.story

10. I Tweeted, What’s Next?
► Congrats, welcome to Twitter
► Now, you may want to follow someone
► You can choose who ever you want to
follow
► The choices are endless; family members,
workmates, friends, celebrities, etc

11. How to find someone
► Twittermakes it easy, just click the button
in the upper right hand corner “Find People”

12. Follow Someone
► Once you find the person you are looking
for, simply hit the “Follow” button
► Now, when you log into Twitter, you will see
their Tweets as well

13. Someone is Following me!
► Yes, people can follow you too.
► This is your audience!
► Bring them value!
► The more followers you have, the cooler
you are in Twitter world!
 Just kidding. Some do believe this (note the
Ashton Kutcher vs CNN incident). But, what
matters is the value you bring your audience.

14. Twitter Etiquette
► Yes, proper etiquette has even found its
way to Twitter
► Proper Twit-iquette says that if someone
follows you, you should follow them
► You should also send them a Direct
Message thanking them for the follow
► I do not practice this exactly…

15. I don’t want to follow you
► Twitter is free. Therefore, there are people
that use Twitter to promote things you may
not want to see or deal with.
► If you get a follow from someone you don’t
know, don’t follow them.
► In fact, Twitter has this great feature of
being able to “Block” other users.
► I have started using the “Block” feature with
some of the more unsavory Twitter-ers

16. What does ‘#’ Mean?
► The ‘#’, or hashtag, is a tagging system that
was created on Twitter
► It allows Tweets to be grouped into specific
groups
► For example, Tweets concerning Product
Management tend to contain ‘#prodmgmt’
in them.
► You can then search for all the Tweets with
a specific hashtag (more on searching later)

17. What does ‘@’ mean?
► Twitter has spawned a nomenclature all its
own
► When you see the ‘@’ symbol, someone is
mentioning or replying to another user on
Twitter
► It gives you the chance to look that person
up and see if you want to follow them

18. Replies
► When you see an ‘@name’ at the beginning
of a message, the Tweet is most likely a
reply to something before
► Some people have conversations back and
forth in such a manner

19. Retweets
► Retweets are the Holy Grail of Twitter! You can
retweet what others have said that you find
interesting.
► These are signified with an ‘RT’ at the beginning of
a Tweet
► They are generally followed with ‘@’ and the name
of the original Tweeter
► Being Retweeted is the BOMB! You have said
something that someone else in the world found
interesting…who would have thought?!?

20. Twitter Home Page
► Let’s review what you might see on your
Twitter page
► Plain old Tweet from an associate:
► Reply or Mention:
► Retweet (RT):

21. Direct Messages
► When two people follow each other (sounds
like the beginning of “The Talk” with my
kids!) they can Direct Message (DM) each
other
► DMs are only seen by the sender and the
recipient
► Its just like an email, only in 140 characters

22. Searches and Questions
► Twitter is a great resource for searching info on
topics, people, competitors, workouts, whatever!
You can find links to almost anything on Twitter
► You can pose questions on Twitter as well. People
in your network or out (by using searches) can
respond to your topic. Great way to start a dialog
about a topic quickly

23. Celebrities and Twitter
► OK. Ashton, Oprah, Britney. They all
Tweet. But, what are they tweeting about
and do I really care?
► You have to answer that one for yourself!
► I follow two celebrities, Lance Armstrong
(@lancearmstong) because I dig his tweets,
cycling, Tour de France, Livestrong, etc.
The other is Natalie Coughlin
(@nataliecoughlin)…just ‘cause 

24. Basics
►I think we have covered the basics
► Twitter is about getting your name out. It
is another medium to do so.
► Twitter can help build a brand for your
company or product or charity or whatever
► Twitter’s potential in business use is just
being tapped

25. Why do this in PowerPoint?
►Idon’t know. It just felt right. I guess I
could Tweet the whole thing, but then how
much use would it be for those that are not
on Twitter?!?

26. Why did I do this?
►I get asked about Twitter in my daily life
► This helped me explain it to others and
provide a place for them to learn about
Twitter as well

27. Advanced Twitter Topics
► Yes, there are advanced Twitter topics!
► The next few slides will talk about a few
topics such as:
 Pictures and Twitter
 URL Shortners….huh?
 Twitter Clients (other ways of using Twitter
without have to go to the website)
► Thereare more but these should help wet
your appetite!

28. Pictures and Twitter
► You can post pictures via other sites that tie
into Twitter!
► YFrog and Twitpic are just 2 of many
popular sites
 http://www.twitpic.com/
 http://www.yfrog.com/
► You can post a picture, add a tweet and
voila…your tweet includes text and a URL to
the picture you uploaded!

29. URL Shorteners
► OK. You only have 140 characters to say it. You
don’t want to waste that with a HUGE URL.
► URL shorteners (I like http://tinyurl.com/) provide
a way to take a link and make it very short.
► For example, this
 http://crankypm.com/2009/07/guest-post-death-funnel-haw
► Becomes
 http://tinyurl.com/l23wbs

30. Twitter Clients
►A Twitter Client is another system that puts
some more pretty on the front of Twitter
(you know, lipstick on a pig)
► Many clients offer integrated features such
as saved searches, URL shorteners built
right in, integration with picture sites, etc.
► Some even allow integration with Facebook
or other Social Networking sites

31. Twitter Clients
► There are many clients out there
► I like TweetDeck, it runs in the Adobe AIR
Framework which some people do not like
► Choose one that is best for you, there is no
right answer on this test question!
► Clients exist for Windows, Linux, Mac,
iPhone, Crackberry…I mean BlackBerry (I
use UberTwitter on my Crackberry)

32. Conclusion
► The End.
► “Go on. Go home. Why are you still sitting
there?” (Bad Ferris Bueller reference)
► Thanks for reading and I hope you found
this interesting. You can follow me on
Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/scottcote