You've probably heard a lot about Twitter, the white-hot microblog-cum-social-network that's growing even faster than Facebook. Still, you're probably either wondering what Twitter actually is, or, if you've already signed up, how it actually works.
What is Twitter?

Twitter is what is known as a microblogging service, an online place where you can 'post' short messages, or 'tweets' of 140 characters (including spaces). These 'tweets' can be read by anyone who is 'following' you (essentially, subscribing to your tweets). Similarly, you can follow (subscribe) to the tweets of anyone you want, from friends and family to favorite celebrities, publications and Web sites. The tweets of your followees show up in a main feed right on Twitter's main page, one after the other in chronological order.

How do I get on Twitter?

Today, there are more ways to access Twitter than there are characters in the average tweet. Most obviously, the site can be accessed via the Twitter.com Web site, which has a place for you to easily add your updates in a field at the top of a page, as well as a central feed of all the tweets by your friends and followees. There's also a place for you to see who is following you and who you are following, a place to set up a profile, and a bank of settings (where you can set up forwarding to your mobile phone, for example, so you can receive the latest tweets from anyone you choose via text message).

There's even an app that integrates with Facebook. The Twitter Facebook application simply mirrors your Twitter updates on Facebook. In other words, update something on Twitter, and it's automatically on your Facebook page as a status update.
What should my first steps be?

The first thing to do is sign up. Choose a username -- something uniquely you, but not embarrassing. If it's available, try to get your real name. The next step is to start following friends and family that you can find using Twitter's contact importer, which searches your contacts on Gmail, Yahoo!, or other Web mail services for people on Twitter. If you just want to search by name, that'll work, too. Following someone is as simple as pressing the 'Follow' button on their Twitter page.

Next, it's time to create your profile. You get one image (so make it count) and 160 characters to explain who you are and what you do to the 'Twitterverse.' As you can see, we're not in Facebook-land anymore.
Is my Twitter profile as important as my Facebook or MySpace profile?

While Facebook and MySpace are filled with various ways to post information, pictures, and annoying applications, Twitter is a more controlled environment -- just a name, location, Web site link, 160-character bio, and a picture. Therefore, it's all about what you say in that 160-character space, especially since people are more likely to read your whole Twitter profile than they are the hard-to-wade-through, gargantuan tomes that end up on a typical Facebook or MySpace profile.
How come all the links in tweets say TinyURL? What is a TinyURL?

TinyURL is a URL-shortening service that takes a lengthy, character-hogging Web link like this:

http://www.switched.com/2009/03/17/twitter-growing-at-1-382-rate-but-do-we-all-know-how-to-use-it/

and compresses it to a much more manageable size like this:

http://tinyurl.com/cvc4q5

The new TinyURL forwards you to the original site. Twitter automatically replaces all links, above a certain length, with a TinyURL version in order to save as much of your 140 characters as possible. Just place any link into your tweet, and Twitter will convert it automatically.
How do I get someone to follow me?

Getting people to follow you is the trickiest part of being a Twitter success. Building a base of followers is as simple (or difficult) as providing interesting content. Whether it's being funny or creative, or just posting lots of links that people find interesting, the ways to get people to follow you mostly have to do with the quality of your tweets. In other words, say something funny or original. If you don't have anything original to say, post a link to something original (a funny video or picture, or an interesting article). And, as we mentioned before, get that beautiful personality of yours in there!

What if I don't want someone to follow me?

People can start following you by clicking on a button, but sometimes we don't want certain folks reading about our daily lives. So, if, for some reason, you really don't want someone to follow you, you can block them by visiting their Twitter page and clicking on the the "Block (username)" link on the right-hand side.

Can I respond directly to someone's tweet? What's the difference between a @reply and a direct message?

You can respond to people one of two ways: with direct messages, which are private, 140-character exchanges, or with @replies, which are publicly viewable. You can send a '@reply' by simply adding the '@' symbol and the particular user's name to the beginning of your message (example: "@switched: I really liked that article on Twitter!"). These @replies are ideal for furthering a public dialogue. On the other hand, direct messages, which you can send by clicking 'Direct Messages' in the Web site's right-hand bar (or by preceding a text message with 'd' and the user name), are better for things you want to say to an individual, rather than the whole 'Twitterverse.'

What is ReTweeting?

ReTweets are re-posted updates that give credit to the originator of the message. In other words, you're simply cutting and pasting someone else's tweet and posting it on your own feed, linking to the person who first wrote it. ReTweeting builds goodwill within the Twitter community, as long as you don't overdo it. There is no need to reTweet every update that makes you giggle, but, if something strikes you as particularly interesting or funny, you can reTweet it by copy-and-pasting the update and preceding it with "RT" (for ReTweet) and the person's username.

Is Twitter secure?

Twitter is just as secure as any other Web site. So no need to be overly paranoid that someone is going to hack into your Twitter account, but be careful, nonetheless. Spammers, hackers and viruses have infiltrated the system before, either by hacking into existing accounts or by creating new ones, and are constantly posting links to malicious Web sites. If someone you're following starts acting strangely, repeatedly posting the same link with an offer for a free something-or-another, don't follow that link (while you're at it, un-follow them). Also, be smart about what you post. A home address, personal phone number, or Social Security number should never ever be posted on Twitter... but the same goes for any other social networking site, as well.
What else can I use Twitter for?

Twitter is great for posting the daily ins and outs of your life, and keeping up with your comedian friends' (or actual comedians') ramblings, but Twitter really shows its usefulness when you venture beyond the basic messaging functionality.

Twitter can be a source of breaking news. If you're on the Twitter Web site, you can use keywords in the search field at the top to find real-time results and trends. You can search by tweeting with '#tags.' Essentially, you add the '#' symbol in front of a keyword topic and send it out (for example, "#WBC," if you're looking for info on the World Baseball Classic) and you'll get a list of all the tweets that match that tag (it's also a great way to categorize your own tweets on a subject). While you can use the search box to look for the occurrence of words in someone's tweet, #tags are better for quickly categorizing updates, tracking a topic, and finding new people to follow. For that reason, we suggest using them in your own tweets.

You can also use tools like Tweetdeck to automatically watch for certain tags or trends. This means that you don't have to luck into an update and can instead get up-to-the-minute tweets about any topic you want. You can also get updates from traditional news sources like CNN or the BBC. This is really just scratching the surface. Twitter can also track packages, set alarms, and even let you keep a to-do list. You can even plan a trip to London with it. Twitter is as useful as you make it.
Follow the News
In general, the Web at large is still a more complete news source. Twitter is for keeping track of one niche you care about, staying informed on a news-heavy day, and getting live updates from Twitter users on the scene (like from an Apple keynote or a plane crash in the Hudson River). @CNN posts headlines with story links, but I prefer the one-sentence story summaries on the unofficial @cnnbrk. @NYTimes posts headlines and links too, but it also follows the accounts of 80 NYT sections and writers. Other popular news feeds include @BreakingNewsOn, @nprnews, @weirdnews, @macrumors, @MarsPhoenix, @Astronautics, and several feeds from Digg. PCMag offers a feed for tech news, as do Gearlog and AppScout. You can also hand-roll feeds from a news site's RSS using Twitterfeed, but don't publicize it too hard lest the site owners complain.

 

Twitter Aids for Beginners

Twitter     The free service that lets users micro-blog 140 characters at a time

 

One of the most common uses of Twitter is sharing links. But you only have 140 characters to work with, so instead of sharing a long URL, use one of several URL-shortening services to shrink that link. Some of our favorites include tinyurl.com,

2.  RT = Retweet
If you want to copy and paste someone else's tweet, that's totally accepted and appreciated, as long as you give the original tweeter credit for it. Just put "RT @name" in front of their tweet and post it yourself.

With Twitter's direct-messaging (DM) function, you can send a private 140-character message to another user, kind of like abbreviated e-mail. However, you can only direct message Twitter users that are following you.

To create a reply or to give someone props on Twitter, simply place an @ sign in front of their Twitter name. If it is a reply, the @ sign must be the first character of the tweet. To see replies to your own tweets, click on @Replies from your profile page.
5.  Search For Your Friends

Search.twitter.com works well for finding your friends, celebrities, or organizations, or for searching for specific topics you're interested in.

6. Categorize Your Tweets for Added Visibility

If you're tweeting about a popular subject (Obama, Lost, etc) putting a # in front of the subject makes it easy for others to find your tweet, and perhaps they will want to follow you. For example, when the plane crashed into the Hudson River in January, #flight1549 became a popular tag and search term.

7. Share Pictures

People love sharing their photos with the world, and some even break news with them, like Janis Krums, who used TwitPic to post one of the first up-close photos of Flight 1549 on his Twitter feed. Services like TwitPic let users easily upload their photos and post them directly to Twitter.

8. Tweet from Your Phone
Twitter allows you to update your status and receive updates via text message. Under Settings, go to the Devices tab and enter your phone number to start sending and receiving mobile tweets. If your incoming tweets/texts are overwhelming you, disable this option by going back to the same panel and following the instructions.

9. Pick a Good Desktop Client
With desktop clients such as TweetDeck, Twhirl, and TwitterFox, you can receive tweets in a much more manageable fashion, especially if you follow a lot of people, respond often, and use direct messages a lot. TweetDeck, for example, allows you to create specific groups, if you want to split your feed into individual columns.

10. Download a Mobile Client
If you have a BlackBerry, an iPhone, or another smartphone with Wi-Fi or 3G access, a mobile client might be a better option than using text messages. Mobile Twitter clients worth checking out include Twitterific, TwitterBerry, PocketTweets, and Twidroid.
And more

Be patient.
Folks often tell me that they’ve tried Twitter and don’t get it. My recommendation: join, read other people’s Tweets, and Tweet yourself a little as the mood strikes. And then, if it’s not working for you, stop–and then come back a few weeks later. I couldn’t quite figure out the service when I first tried it, but when I took a break, then came back with a fresher set of eyeballs, it made more sense.

Ignore the instructions.
The text box that you type your Tweets into asks you “What are you doing?” Unless you’re doing something really interesting, inspiring, funny, or strange, don’t answer it that way. (If everyone who used Twitter followed this approach, nobody could ever again bash it as a place where most of the chatter was about what people had had for breakfast.) The best Tweets tend to make an observation, take a stance, or crack a joke–none of which fall under the umbrella of using Twitter to tell the world what you’re doing.

Be a follower.
At first, using Twitter can feel like shouting into a canyon–all you hear is your own voice echoing back at you. You want people following you, so they’ll read your stuff and comment on it. The easiest way to get followers is to follow, so use Twitter’s various tools for finding your friends and other people you might find interesting. Also useful: Mr. Tweet, a service that provides custom recommendations of other Twitter users you might like.
Discuss.
I didn’t really crack the code of enjoying Twitter until I began thinking of it as a multi-way conversation–one similar, in some ways, to the message forums that got me into online communications a long, long time ago. Once you’re going, other Tweeters will comment on your Tweets, thereby initiating discussions. But at first, especially, it’s incumbent on you to read other Tweets, find conversations in progress, and dive in by using @replies to address other users directly.

Speak clearly.
I try to be pithy when I Tweet–which the 140-character limit makes easy–but I also try to avoid being cryptic. I rarely abbreviate anything, and even when I’m chiming in on a conversation in progress, I try to make my Tweet comprehensible even if it’s the first one somebody’s read in the sequence. Basically, I want to give as many people as possible as much of a chance as possible to understand and enjoy what I have to say.

Use the right tools.
An amazing array of applications and services can help you use Twitter. Try a bunch of them, and stick with the ones that speak to you. I rely on the excellent iPhone Twitter client Tweetie, the picture uploader Twitpic, and the URL-shortener tinyurl.com, among others. Full disclosure: When I’m near a computer, I do my Tweeting using Twitter.com, rather than a Twitter client such as TweetDeck. In theory, that’s a sign I’m a clueless newbie, but I haven’t found a client I love yet–and surely using the tools that make you happiest is a sign you’re an old pro.

Web sites:
www.twooting.com  (daily podcast all about twitter).
www.twitip.com  (tips for users)