Using Twitter is so easy these days, that is, for people who already have an account that one tends to forget how hard it was trying to set up one. There are those who cannot understand its rubrics, and strongly believe it’s for the elite. But Twitter is far from that. Once you understand how to use Twitter, you will even find it easier to use than Facebook, then there is this fact that you don’t need to write so much to post. All you need is write below 140 letters for each twit.
As a social network, Twitter is a cozy place to interact with friends and colleagues, and this article is meant to educate you on the very easy steps required to set up an account.
First of all, we need to know what Twitter is. Wikipedia describes it this way:
‘Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.’
So, if you are reading this now, simply follow these easy steps right away and start twitting in a short while: Visit https://twitter.com/signup and fill in your name, username, password, and email address.
What you enter in the “name” field depends on what exactly you plan to use this Twitter account for. Are you setting up a Twitter account for the entire company that will represent your comp any on Twitter? Then, you should put your company’s name in the name field. Alternatively, will you use this Twitter account as representing yourself? Then, you should put your own name in the field.
You can apply the same logic to your Twitter username. If this Twitter account will represent the entire company, make the Twitter username your company name, or some variation thereof. If this Twitter account will represent you as a person, you can either use a variation of your name, your job title, your name plus an abbreviation of your company name, or something else not listed here. Your username must be 15 or less characters.
When you are finished, click “Create My Account.”
At this point, Twitter will send you an email asking you to verify your email address. Click on the link in the email to verify your email address.
After you create your account, Twitter will give you an opportunity to search for topics that you are interested in, and enable you to “follow” Twitter accounts of people who talk about these topics. We recommend picking a few Twitter accounts related to your industry to follow.This will keep you “in the know” and abreast of recent news and updates in your industry. It will also give you ideas to “tweet” about. Click the “Follow” link next to any Twitter accounts that you would like to receive updates on. When you are finished, click “Next Step: Friends.”
Twitter offers the ability to import a list of your contacts from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, and/or LinkedIn. This enables you to find Twitter accounts of your contacts, and to follow them. If you are setting up a company Twitter account, you may want to skip this step. It depends on how you want your company to be publically associated with people on your contact lists. If you do decide to skip this step, click “Skip import,” otherwise, click on the link to the service that you’d like to import contacts from.
Twitter will now redirect you to your Twitter homepage, where you’ll be able to see a list of recent tweets from those Twitter accounts that you have followed. This is also where you can post your own tweets in the box under the heading “What’s happening?”
Let’s customize your Twitter page. In the top right of the screen, click on the down arrow next to your Twitter username, and click on Settings.
Click the “Profile” tab.
Upload a picture. If this is a company Twitter account, upload your company’s logo. If this is your personal account, you can upload a photo of yourself, or some other image that is related to what you do.
Enter your company’s website URL in the field “Web.”
In the Bio field, write a short description of either your company or what you do, depending on what you will use the Twitter account for. Include keywords that Twitter users may use to search for businesses of your type.
When you are done, click Save.
If you would like to change your Twitter page’s background image, click the Design tab, and choose from one of the available themes. If you are graphics-savvy, this is where you could upload a background of your own, as well. Click “Save Changes” when you are done.
Congratulations, your Twitter account is now set up.
Congratulations on setting up your Twitter account! Now that your account is set up, learn how to maintain, optimize, and promote your Twitter account.
