The
Marquette Journal

What's a Twitter? The How-To

You’ve read the why, now it’s time for the how. Here’s a quick guide to getting started. Let’s start with some key terms you’ll have to know so you’re not entirely overwhelmed. Sometimes it might feel like the Twitterverse or Twitter Nation Elite speak a foreign language, so here’s a basic intro to the lingo.

Definitions
Media: Tools used to communicate and share information, such as newspapers, magazines, television or radio programs.
Social media: Internet and mobile-based networks used to share and discuss information and promote social interaction.
Twitter: An extremely popular social media network, asking users to answer “What are you doing?” with updates in 140 characters or less.
Tweets: Status updates sent to Twitter.
RT: Retweet. When users see links or Tweets they would like to share, they can retweet it with RT @username in front.
@username: Replies. The @ code is placed before a reply to another user, linking to their profile and the original message, and it can be seen by anybody.
DM: Direct message. Private messages sent directly to another user which can only be seen by the sender and recipient.
#hashtag: Relevant messages can be tagged with “hash tags” to add context and make them easily searched on Twitter. Popular tags in the past few months have been: #inauguration09, #superbowl, #nascar, #iphone. Read more about hash tags at hashtags.org.
TwitterFeed: A tool that automatically sends links to new Web posts to a user’s Twitter account. @MUjournal has a TwitterFeed which posts links to new content as it is published online.

HOW TO TWITTER:
Make an account and search for users to follow. If you don’t have a lot of friends on Twitter, try adding some of the users recommended below or search for relevant keywords like your favorite magazines, music artists, etc.

Set up your cell phone in Settings so you can text updates to your Twitter account and start talking about what’s going on in life. You can also post via various cell phone applications or at Twitter.com. Post concise updates about what you’re doing, researching or working on at the moment.

Start conversing via Twitter with friends and send relevant responses to interesting tweets you read from people you’re following.

The only way to understand it is to entirely jump in. Search for keywords of interest at search.twitter.com or follow certain hash tags. Re-post Tweets and links you think your followers will be interested in, too. Promote your blog, promote yourself.

Twitter is a useful medium to express yourself and to make connections. The idea is to build a presence, maintain relevant conversation and brainstorm with others.

Most college students are already experienced with social media such as Facebook. Try to think of Twitter as a hyper-focused version of Facebook. There is every niche imaginable with the opportunity to converse with people which you’d never thought possible.

Like anything in life, Twitter will become what you make of it. Dive in, and don’t be afraid. It will be overwhelming at first, but it can be fun, useful and valuable to your future of marketing yourself.

Recommended users to follow:
Follow us, @MUjournal, for updates, conversation and an online content feed.
@MarquetteU: The Office of Marketing and Communication provides updates about university happenings.
@Haggerty_Museum: The Haggerty Museum of Art.
@MarquetteUnivTV: MUTV.
@MUAdClub: Marquette Ad Club.
@MUSG: Marquette Student Government.
@mulaw: Updates from the Law School’s blog.
@muathletics: Official Twitter of Marquette athletics.
@MarquetteStats: Golden Eagles basketball statistics Powered by StatSheet.com.
@js_goldeneagles: Marquette basketball updates from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
@NewsHub: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
@WISN12News: Milwaukee’s WISN 12 ABC News.
@WMSE: Milwaukee School of Engineering’s radio station.
@BarackObama: President of the United States.
@BritneySpears: Britney Spears.
@MCHammer: MC Hammer.
@rainnwilson: Rainn Wilson a.k.a. Dwight Shrute from The Office.
@THE_REAL_SHAQ: Phoenix Suns basketball player Shaquille O’Neal.

Journal Staff on Twitter:
@grshutters: Greg Shutters, Editor-in-Chief
@SaraMartinez: Sara Martinez, Assistant Editor
@PJohnson8: Patrick Johnson, Features & Online Editor, The Popular Opinion columnist
@starringbecky: Becky Simo, Total B.S. columnist
@smart_blonde: Alise Buehrer, Stylephile, A’s List columnist

*Each sentence in this section is less than 140 characters.*

Read about why college students should use Twitter here.

If you recommend any Twitters or would like to add your own, feel free to leave it in the comments.