Twitter. Instructions for use

My Twitter is always with me, or there are clear signs of Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging service. With this, they begin and, oddly enough, most of the articles about this wonderful service end with the same phrase. At the same time, few people understand what this microblogging and Twitter actually is, what it is eaten with and what head it is to wear. More or less clear explanation of what Twitter is, I met only on Habré in the article " Interview with programmers Twitter (video) ."

I really like Twitter, because there you can meet and follow the interesting and extraordinary people. Information about updates of your feed can be received in any way convenient for you: via the web interface on twitter.com , with the help of numerous clients for all operating systems, notifications in Jabber or Skype using appropriate bots, via SMS (I, unfortunately This function does not work, because I can not activate my number, but this is not critical, since the above methods are enough with the head). At work, I get notified by Jabber-bot in Meebo ; at home, my favorite bird - the Twitterrific - little sparrows - brings the latest news to the beak; On the iPhone, on the road, you can use the mobile version of the site or the wonderful recently opened Twinkle application. It is worth saying that some time ago, unfortunately for many users, the Twitter administration turned off the beloved Jabber bot. On the other hand, there is good news: Iconfactory has released a version of Twitterrific for the iPhone, which I love even more with the desktop. If you want to know how it differs from Twinkle, you can read a wonderful review from Vlad Gorokhovsky.
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As said Umputun in the comments to the post about this service:

In my understanding, Twitter is a means of broadcasting / broadcasting your thoughts and other information, and at the same time a means of receiving such “twitterterograms” from those from whom you want to receive them. ”

This suggests that it is worth remembering about your audience: to whom you are broadcasting, what you are broadcasting and why you are doing it. If you can not write - do not write. You can not - here are a couple of tips and explanations.

How to misuse Twitter

- Mom, I was asked to write: tell me how I spent my day.

- Son, go to Twitter, you've already described everything in detail.

Despite the fact that the main issue of Twitter is “What are you doing?” (“What are you doing now or what are you doing now?”), In my humble opinion, it’s still wrong to use this service like this:

- I woke up;

- I got out of bed;

- I went to work;

- I drank a cup of coffee;

- tired of working, I want to go home;

- I had lunch ...

I think you can not continue further. :)

It is here that lies a global misunderstanding: people do not use the service because they do not know what to do with it and how to use it. By and large, such a detailed description of actions that are repeated with enviable periodicity almost every day is not interesting to anyone. Although there are rare exceptions to the rules. It all depends on the manner of the person for whom you follow, to lead your microblogging. Sometimes there is a feeling that if Elizium , for example, does not write something like this, it means that something is wrong (the Matrix changes something).

How to use Twitter

There are many uses for Twitter. I will try to tell you what it can be used for so that it would be useful and interesting for you at the same time.

Do not forget that Twitter was created primarily to communicate with people. A short message format, up to 140 characters, teaches you to express your thoughts briefly and concisely (a kind of Web-based SMS, only better). It is better that reciprocity is not necessary here at all: you can simply follow a person, read his tweets and absolutely not necessarily be among those whom he follows. Twitter is a special atmosphere. When you start your account on the service, you gradually “grow into people” with whom you communicate in such an amazing way that you are interested in.

It is nice to use Twitter at work when there are a lot of different things and there is no possibility to turn on ICQ, Jabber, Skype, so that the endless stream of messages does not distract from the main occupation. Twitter messages are rarely received, unless, of course, you are subscribed to very malicious spammers and “flooders”. On the one hand, this allows us not to lose touch with the outside world, to take a short break during particularly strenuous or boring routine work, so that the brain can rest for a while. Tweets in such cases as a breath of fresh air. On the other hand, you are not completely distracted, do not go astray, and after a short respite you can continue working.

What can you tweet about?

Here are a few of the correct uses of Twitter and the right tweets:

1) Post-link (you can write notifications about posts in Twitter’s “big brothers”: written articles, podcasts made, announcements made, and also just lure the public). If people follow you, then they are interested.

For example, through Twitter, Shapelez announces the release of a new Habroyashchik, Bobuk - on the latest issue of Radio-T on Habré, Umputun - on the release of UWP or TipZ, Olyapka - that new Frames have been released. People involved in Habrkast, make announcements of online broadcasting, as well as report on the release of new podcasts. So, if you are active eavesdroppers, this is your path. :)



That's how posts get home (screenshots read from the bottom up):



2) Twitter is not a chat (and certainly not “chat”), but a conference. If someone writes something interesting for you, you can respond to this post and write an @-message (which is also the answer). In the context of the minimalistic concept of Twitter, all messages go one after another, and there are no comment trees. Question-answer, question-answer - very well.



3) Questions that you can ask older and more experienced comrades, if you want to know the expert opinion or too lazy to go to Google. For example, this is how I learned from ProRunner how a long dash appears in Windows (yes, I read articles on typography, I confess). Now almost automatically press Alt + 0151, if Mac is not at hand.

4) Interesting thoughts or their fragments . If you have some kind of brilliant idea, you saw something in a new light and you just can’t help but say - you are on a direct route to Twitter.

5) Twitter-series: do not miss! Look in your twitter-clients or on the official site. :) It is known that IT people love TV shows. What could be better than a brief content of soap operas that occur in real-time and are broadcast on Twitter? The first season of the series “ BBSoD and his girls” has recently ended (we are waiting for the continuation, it was very interesting), now on the air “Love Triangle: derzelle , NaFigator and Din ”. Before our eyes, the drama “I'm tired too. I'm leaving. Signature: Vox .

6) Flash mob : on Twitter it is fun to make flash mobs and throw someone with messages of the same content, like: “@Vox, why?” Or “@Vox, come back!”. (I ask you not to take it as a guide to action. It is not necessary to flash Vob'a flashmob, it's just the first thing that was remembered in the light of recent events).

7) Another option for applying Twitter, proposed by NaFigator. (To read from the bottom up, because at the top of the most recent posts).

Helpful advice

Remember, there are direct messages (direct, or private, message) that are visible only to you and the addressee. In addition to appearing on Twitter tape (of course, in the tape of these most private messages), direct messages are duplicated on E-mail. If you are very busy and turned off all instant messengers, but you work and check your mail, you can still see and answer them if it is something urgent / interesting. Using direct messages for their intended purpose allows, on the one hand, to work effectively, provided that the other instant messengers are turned off, on the other hand, not to clutter your friends' twitter tapes, and on the third hand, to hide unnecessary details to anyone (except you and the addressee, of course ).

Warning before use

Warning: Twitter is contagious! It causes a strong affection, which goes on to twitter-like as an extreme stage of twitter-dependence. It manifests itself in graphomania, sometimes in spamming (cluttering up?) Other people's friendly tapes with its endless and not always interesting / useful comments, in sharp breaking when Twitter is lying. (Twitter is turned off for a short time under a huge influx of visitors. Sometimes it happens in the middle of the working day by American time or during Apple Special Events broadcasts. Luckily many Twitter-dependent people, this is almost not the case recently. Well done, technical administrators, fixed our favorite toy!) The side effects are different and can be manifested in your followers in the form of the following depressive thoughts: “I struggle with contradictory and multidirectional feelings. I choose between “everyone on the screen” and “global disconnect as a method of protest against spam on Twitter”. So far, the last option is leading with a clear margin (you don’t hang all of them). ”

Useful links (for those who are too lazy to use the search)

- Priceless tips from NaFigator: “ A small twitter life hack for beginners ”.

In a nutshell. Twitter is a microblogging platform. In fact - a group chat with its own circle of contacts and a completely indescribable aura.

- Article by Andrey Kharlanov “ What is Twitter ”.

- Interview with programmers Twitter (video) .

- Clients to work with Twitter .

- So said Inner Voice: Official Twitter Habra .

- Crib Twitter-maniac from Internet stuff.

- About twitter and twittergolism .

- The best visualization for Twitter .

- Cheat sheet on Twitter-bots .

- Christmas Chirping : Nikita Begun on Twitter.

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In no case do I claim to be the only correct opinion in this matter. This is just my observations. I hope this article will shed some light and help you take a different look at such a wonderful service as Twitter. I look forward to your additions, comments and further ideas for proper use.