If you read our post “How to Twitter,” you’re now more accustomed to the Twitter world. As part of the community, here’s a little tour of the neighborhood along with some resources you can use …
Your neighbors:
There are a few famous Twitterers roaming around the Twittersphere. Here are some of the most popular:
THE_REAL_SHAQ Al Gore ashton kutcher George Stephanopolous Martha Stewart John Mayer iamdiddy David Pogue Oprah Winfrey Larry King Barbara Walters …
The option to friend any of the people above (plus more) will be given to you as soon as you join Twitter, or, click on “Find People” on the top of your Twitter profile and hit the “Suggested Users” tab. If you ever hear about Twitterers in the news, chances are you’ve heard about one of these characters for one reason or another.
Twitter is also a space where you can follow news organizations like The New York Times, NPR and CNN. You can even follow Whole Foods Market if you want to keep up-to-date with what’s going on with organic living. The possibilities are pretty endless these days.
Your resources:
We already discussed some links to make your Twitter experience better. For instance, in order to shorten links, we suggested using www.tinyurl.com. But, there are also other sites that can really help out along the way.
www.twitpic.com for instance allows you to share photos via Twitter. Just follow the URL and the site gives you simple instructions on how to get started… because a picture is worth a thousand characters.
www.yfrog.com is another site we like that allows you to share photos on Twitter.
www.tweetdeck.com is a resource used by Twitterers that have been in the game for a while, but if you reach this point, good for you! It’s a way to keep a large following list organized and see everything you need at once (Replies, Friends and even Facebook statuses). Probably the most useful function is to allow you to put friends into groups. For example, you can break up your followers into “Work Friends,” “Family,” “Media,” etc.
www.hashtags.org is less frequently used these days since Twitter has a search bar, but it’s an interesting way to read-up on certain topics you’re interested in on Twitter. The hashtag, if you remember, is when you’re tweeting about a particular subject, and you mark the category. For instance, if you’re tweeting about Obama, at the end of your Tweet you can add #Obama, making it possible for this site to track your comment and other Twitterers interested in Obama to see your tweets. This site is interesting because it tracks popularity of subjects and lists the tweets about them. Now you’ll REALLY never be left behind.
There’s a wealth of resources out there that makes your Twitter experience more personal and fun. Check for the links to other sites below your following/follower count on your Twitter home page. It’ll appear as a definition and link you to the site.
Next up, mobile Twittering hows, do’s and don’ts. You’ll be an expert in no time.
Modesta and
Harriett@snoety.com
