I’ve just launched the Twitter Update channel for the Uniting Church’s NCYC 2011, a young adult conference being held on the Gold Coast in January 2011. I have the enviable role of online social networker, making sure we use the conference site, Facebook, Twitter and other media to keep the interaction going in the lead up to 2011. See the updates online at www.twitter.com/ncyc11
When the NCYC11 Planning Team discussed the merits of launching Twitter updates they recognised that few people have ventured into the Twittersphere. However many people are curious about how Twitter works and just need a good excuse to join up. So here’s a step by step guide to what’s involved, with a bias towards taking part in the spread of news on NCYC11.
- Go to www.twitter.com
- Click the green “Let’s Get Started” button.
- Choose a username. Very few people have the luxury of beating other people to their first name, with the exception perhaps of Russell Greenwood in Melbourne.
- Put in your email address, the one you want updates sent to.
- Develop your profile. If you’re registering as a person, use your real name above your username, so that people recognise you. Put in your time zone, location, and a one line bio. Choose an image for your picture (Maximum size of 700k. JPG, GIF, PNG). Choose a larger image for your background (Images must be smaller than 800k. GIF, JPG, PNG). Note that this function often doesn’t work at the moment. If it doesn’t work at first, wait a few days and see what happens.
- If you want to use a mobile phone register it under Devices. Note that Australians don’t get the luxury of receiving updates. They’re only available in United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and India.
- Write an update, using 140 characters or less. Think of something more original than “writing my first Twitter update”.
- Start following Twitter updates of people and organisations that interest you. You can find people you know on the “Find People” section, searching by name, or testing your online email address books from Gmail, MSN, Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL. You can invite your friends to join up with Twitter and follow your updates, using their email addresses. Twitter provides a list of high profile celebrity twitterers. Check to see who your friends are following.
- When people follow your updates, check them out before following back. There’s a level of spammers out there, who indiscriminately follow thousands of people in the hope that they will be followed back in turn. Only add people whose stream of consciousness you are interested in.
- You have the option of blocking people who are following you, if you’re not happy with the tone of their updates. Remember that people can check to see who you’re following and who’s following you.
- Use Twitter Search to find updates by interests, region (location: Gold Coast)
- Use @NCYC11 to reply to NCYC11 or make sure that NCYC11 reads your update.
- Use #NCYC11 to help people find updates on NCYC11.
- Use direct messages to communicate with NCYC11 that others can’t read.
- Retweet updates from NCYC11 to pass on the news to people reading your updates, including @NCYC11 in the update.
- Develop a pace that you and your readers can sustain (avoid twitterhea) and content that adds value to your readers.