What is Twitter? How do I connect to it?
-- C.P., RCSC
Answer
Dear C.P.,
Twitter Terminology
Twitter users have created a language of their own. Here is a quick guide to the jargon:
Twitter users have created a language of their own. Here is a quick guide to the jargon:
- Follower: A user who follows another user
- Follow Count: The number of users you follow and the number of users following you. Both are available on your profile page
- Mention: Mentioning a user in a tweet by preceding their username with the @ sign. For example, @ThimphuTech
- Hashtag: A keyword preceded by # which is used to tag the topic of the tweet. For example, #bhutan
- Retweet (RT): A forwarded tweet
- Retweeting: Forwarding a tweet
Who to follow
More and more individuals and organizations in Bhutan are using Twitter. Most newspapers have an account. Here is a selection of other tweeters. Just enter the user name in the Twitter search bar.
Twitter.com is a very popular website where users can create a free profile page, and then post messages to that page for the world to see. While this sounds a lot like blogging or Facebook, there are some sutle differences. First, the messages - called "tweets" - must be short: each message can be no longer than 140 symbols (such as letters, digits, spaces). Thus, if you are of the chatty type, this is a good exercise in condensation!More and more individuals and organizations in Bhutan are using Twitter. Most newspapers have an account. Here is a selection of other tweeters. Just enter the user name in the Twitter search bar.
- @RoyalBhutan: Official updates from the Royal Office for Media
- @BBSBhutan: Breaking news, as well as updates on upcoming BBS programmes
- @Drukair: Follow the national carrier for schedule changes, delays and more
- @tsheringtobgay and @sangaykhandu are MPs with an active twitter presence
- @dorjiwangchuk and @SonamOngmo, arguably the two most prolific Bhutanese tweeters, updating (respectively) from the UK and US
- @DalaiLama: Nuggets of wisdom from the office of His Holiness, who has more than 2 million "followers"
- @ManUtdUK: Follow Drukpas' favourite football club
Second, users can subscribe to, or "follow", the tweets of other users. The most recent tweets of people or organizations you follow appear on your main Twitter page. Depending on the users you follow, this allows you to get breaking news, find interesting links, hear opinions, or learn what your friend had for breakfast.
Lastly, if you are a B-Mobile subscriber, you can register your phone with Twitter (twitter.com/devices). Once verified, you can tweet by sending an SMS to 40404 (Nu 0.45 per SMS). In addition, you can receive an SMS whenever a user you follow tweets, completely free of charge (to turn on this option, follow a user and then look for a small mobile-phone-like icon on the user's profile page). Be careful - this can quickly become overwhelming! Note: TashiCell customers are currently out of luck, but if enough people nag them, perhaps they will provide a similar service.
The best way to learn about Twitter is to try it out. Many people open accounts just to follow news and other updates from various sources, even if they don't have anything to share with the world. To register, visit twitter.com.
Readers are encouraged to submit technology-related questions to boaz@thimphutech.com
Hey, just a note on sharing.
ReplyDeleteThere are several ways to share on Twitter without ever tweeting a tweet of your own.
First of all, by default you are sharing the tweets of those accounts you follow (except for private accounts) with the whole world. So you act as an editor, selecting interesting accounts that your followers can appreciate. "Curating" is the fashionable term for this.
Next is the "retweet". You spot an interesting tweet, from someone you follow or elsewhere, hit the "retweet" button and that tweet appears in your "stream" for all to see. Sharing is caring!
Then there are Twitter lists. If you follow a lot of people, or very different kinds of people, this is a way of organizing their tweets and making it easier to read for yourself and those who follow you. You don't have to follow and account to add it to a list.
You can share light content with friends, but you can also make a name for yourself professionally by "curating" a list. Say your field is agriculture (pun intended) - you're a specialist in potatoes. You can create a list where you collect all the ag and potato Tweeters (starting with @Cipotato but there many others). Then your colleagues around the world can follow your list. You're a Twitter star!
But there can also be too much of a good thing. Sharing is not always what you want to do. Enter the "private list". Create a list and mark it as private, then add accounts without following them. Just in case your interest in potatoes needs to remain a secret...
@KenA, thanks much for sharing these tips. Always good to learn new things!
ReplyDelete