Twitter

What is Twitter ?

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Twitter is a fast growing "micro-blogging" service and social network all wrapped into one. After some bumpy roads & strong growing pains the free service that allows hyper-connectedness & an interesting way to express "what you're doing" at any given time, seems to be on the fast track now to becoming the next mega success story online.

Twitter was founded by Evan Williams, who is no rookie to bringing creative ideas to multi-million dollar reality. Evan was a blogging pioneer and has created & grown web properties that have attracted the attention of the big dogs, including Google.

One of Evan's past web projects grew to be so huge, in fact, that Google bought him out for a multi million dollar price tag.

Rather than reclining on a beach chair & sipping Coronas for the remainder of his life, Evan decided to try his hand again, when he thought up the concept of "micro-blogging."

In all our modern day internet hustle & bustle there's come a need for brevity... short, to the point, yet meaningful messages.

Evan's idea for Twitter was a service that not only allows people to post short "micro-blog" entries (by enforcing a self-created parameter that only allows users a maximum of 140 characters per post), but also helps people stay connected through the use of followers, text messages, and @replies.

The Twitter faithful are even coining their own new lingo to describe some of the everyday actions that take place on the site. "Tweets," for example, are the term used to describe each of your short, 140 character or less, posts to update your Twitter profile.

In this article the aim is to go over a simple overview of the everyday things you'll need to know in order to get started on Twitter & set yourself up for maximum exposure using this free service.

First off, you'll need to go create an account by visiting the site and following the easy to follow prompts for creating a new account.

Once you're all setup, be sure to visit the "Settings" tab and customize your profile and also enter a short bio, along with the URL to your website.

In order to double the chances of getting a click, I'd also recommend including a hyperlink within your bio, in addition to the hyperlink you'll enter in the box for your web URL.

The next thing you'll want to do is visit the "Devices" tab and get your account setup so that you can send tweets on the go from your mobile phone.

The steps for confirming your mobile device to work with Twitter are easy to follow and you'll be up and rolling in no time flat.

Once you've got your new account created and have configured your settings & mobile, it's time to start tweeting.

Remember, you'll be limited to 140 characters per message so choose your words wisely. If you'd like to include a hyperlink with your Tweet you should consider shortening it down using a free tool like Tiny URL, or Snip URL.

Be careful not to come off as too spammy by including links in every Tweet... get involved with the Twitter community and share some of your daily activities with your followers so you can get a real feel for what it's all about before sucking traffic out... its got to be a give-give relationship!

Now, to really get yourself on the fast track and start adding new followers fast, the best advice is to follow people who you find interesting, and single out those who already have a large followership. Tweet regularly and often using your mobile, the Twitter site, and even handy third party applications like "Twhirl."

Anytime you see a new Tweet from someone you are following send them an @reply by including the "@" sign + their Twitter username in a message responding to their original tweet.

By sending users an @reply you'll get their attention, strike up conversations, and best of all - put yourself in the public spotlight so that all of their followers will take notice of you.

Before you know it, you'll be addicted to Twitter and will have a massive followership as well!

Once you've built a followership it's easy to get visitors to your site by using services like TwitterFeed anytime you post a new blog entry, TweetLater to automatically direct message new followers, and other little known tips & tricks for putting it all on auto-pilot.

Twitter is a new revolution in communications and may be the first glimpse at Web 3.0. I recommend getting setup on Twitter today so you can ride this new wave into the future and enjoy it for all it's worth!

You can follow me at Twitter at HERE