140 Characters or less: Part 2 of Twitter guide for @coffeepartyusa and 300 followers
I just finished and submitted the second installment of my series on using Twitter for the Coffee Party USA newsletter. When the newsletter comes out, I'll be sure to mention it here and on coffeepartyusa.
New Users guide to Twitter: Part II Hashtags, Retweets, and Replies
In the previous installment, I described how to sign up for a Twitter account and find the first accounts to follow. In this one, I will describe three functions of Twitter that will greatly improve your experience in finding useful information and people as well as improve your value as a source of information for others--hashtags, retweets, and replies.
Hashtags
Hashtags are topics that start with a hash mark or pound sign (#) that allow people to find posts about that topic more easily. For example, the hashtag for posts about Coffee Party USA is #coffeeparty and the hashtag for posts about the For The People Summit is #4thepeople. Clicking on a hashtag or typing in the hashtag in the search box at the top of the page both lead to a page with all the posts using that hashtag.
For a breaking event, can be the best way to find out the latest information from people tweeting (posting via Twitter) about it. During the protests in Egypt, the hashtags #egypt and #jan25 (the first day of the protests) organized all the tweets (Twitter posts) about the protests. During the current protests in Wisconsin, one can look for the hashtags #solidaritywi and #wiunion to follow the latest news.
In addition to using hashtags to find tweets about a subject, one can also add hashtags so people can find your tweets about the subject. If you're tweeting about a Coffee Party event, be sure to add the #coffeeparty hash tag to make it easier for people to find your tweet!
Retweeting
What happens when you read someone else's tweet that you think is so good that the people following you should read it to? You retweet it!
The fastest way to retweet is to mouse over the tweet you want to broadcast. A brief menu (Favorite, retweet, reply) will appear at the bottom of the tweet. Click on retweet. A dialog box will appear asking "Retweet this to your followers?" If the answer is still yes, click on Retweet. If no, click on cancel.
Another way to retweet is to copy the original tweet, paste it in the box below the What's Happening? prompt at the top of the page, and then add RT and the username of the person you're retweeting. Remember to start the user name with the @ symbol. For example, the username of Coffee Party USA is @coffeepartyusa. Finally, add any hashtags you think the original post was missing (this is about the only reason to retweet manually, as the automated process is so much simpler).
Replying
If you want to respond to a tweet, mouse over the tweet as you did to retweet it, but click on reply instead. A dialog box will appear saying "Reply to @username" with the @username already posted for you. Add your response (remember, you only have 140 characters, including the user name) and click the "Tweet" button. There, you've replied!
If you want to see who has been replying to you, on the Home screen, click on @mentions. There you will see all the tweets that include your username, including all the replies to you. If you want to engage with the person replying to you, just click reply yourself. There, instant conversation!
Stay tuned for the next installment in which I will tackle more topics to make your Twitter experience more fun and useful.
If you want to learn more in the meantime, Mashable has an online guidebook to Twitter.
In other Twitter-related news, I passed 300 followers on Friday. Being an active Tweeter about the situation in Wisconsin is still paying dividends for me.