Thanks for visiting again, why not get my Blog updates via Twitter?
Thanks! Eoin

How To Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform, it’s called micro-blogging because all posts must be 140 characters or less.
It can also be used as an Instant Messenger, if the person you are contacting in online.

Twitter is so new, that the only way to really understand Twitter is to get an account and use it.

So if you haven’t got a Twitter account, go to http://twitter.com and first watch the video.

Then click on the What? Why? & How? links.
This information will help to explain what Twitter is.
Next … join Twitter.

You will be asked for a User name, e-Mial address and password.

For your user name, I suggest you use your own name, with no spaces, so if your name is John Smith, your user name would be johnsmith.

Be sure to fill out your Twitter Profile. To do this, LogIn to Twitter and look to the top right of your screen, for “Settings”.

For “More Info URL:”, I suggest you put a link to your blog or website.
For “One Line Bio:”, write a short bio about yourself, make it interesting, especially if you want people to follow you.

What next?

Twitter is based on “Followers” and “Following”

“Followers” are people that have decided to Follow your updates.

“Following” are the people your decided to Follow their updates.

In order for someone to see a message you send to them, they must be following you.
So people that are your “Followers” can read your messages, but unless you are also following them, they can send a message to you.

There is a way around this, that I will show you later.

When you want to send a message (called a Tweet in Twitter slang) to someone, you use the @ symbol + their User name.

My username is eoinoleary, so to send a message to me, you would start the message with @eoinoleary

Remember I wrote that in order for someone to see a message you send to them, they must be following you? and that there is a way around this?

Well if you send a message to anyone on Twitter, using the @ symbol + their User name, it will show up in their “Replies” section, that you can find on the Right, under Home.
However, many people don’t check their replies, so there is no guarantee that they will see it.

Using Twitter

To use Twitter, you need to do is to find people to Follow and people to Follow you. The best way to do this is to find people you know on Twitter,.
You will also be able to see how they are using Twitter and maybe send messages to each other.

To do this, login to Twitter and look to the top right of your screen, for Find People.

You have three choices.
1) Find On Twitter: Which is good if already know someone you know is on Twitter.

2) Invite from other networks: If you have an online e-mail account, you might be able to find people you already know by letting Twitter take a look.
At the moment Twitter can automatically check Gmail, Yahoo mail, AOL, Hotmail or MSN.

3) Invite by e-mail: This is easy, just send an e-mail to people you know, asking them to join.

You can also look for celebrities on Twitter, like Barack Obama, http://twitter.com/BarackObama, who used Twitter during the 2008 US Presidential election.

Be aware that you will find that many celebrity Twitter Accounts are fake accounts, so before you follow them, be sure to take a look at their posts and their profile.
A fake account should be obvious.

I’ve been using Twitter since 2007 and I find it interesting to see what people do with it.

Twitter can be used in many ways, but I’ve observed some interesting characteristics.

The people that have been on Twitter for a few months seem to have adapted Twitter for their needs, posting frequently, with a high percentage of useful information.
Most of these people have a large number of followers, at least 500 but probably far more.

Now I know that “useful information” is dependent on the individual, but why would you follow someone that always posts useless information?

Then you have the people new to Twitter, the majority seem to spend their time feverishly running around trying to build their Followers. I was guilty of this in the past myself.

Posting Useful information is the main tip for Twitter, but Following and Interacting is the real secret of Twitter.

If you follow people that you genuinely want to receive tweets (posts) from, and interact with them, you will start to see Twitter in a whole new light.

This is by no means a full Twitter how to, but it should get you started and don’t forget to follow me, eoinoleary on Twitter.

During the coaching Webinar with Alex Jeffreys last Thursday night, he mentioned Jack Humphrey from the Friday Traffic Report.

I was just reading his blog, when I found this post, Technorati Favorite Blogs Exchange.

Just in case you don’t know, Technorati can give your blog a big boost in traffic, from interested visitors, as they will have already seen what your blog is about while reading in Technorati.

Head over to Technorati and claim your blog, then go to Technorati Favorite Blogs Exchange and get a BOOST!

Update; … and if you like this post, you could take a look at my Technorati Profile and Fav me

Thanks

Eoin

Another update: This is the real deal, Jack Humphrey dropped by my blog to check the trackback, so get over there and get involved.

There are two versions of WordPress being used at the moment, the older version, (which is what most people have), and the newer version WordPress 2.7, so I’ll add instructions for both.

LogIn to your Blog.

If you are just going to call the new list “BlogRoll”, skip to part 2.

Part 1

If you want to make a new Category for Links, go to;

WordPress 2.7 = Links \ Link Categories
OR
Older WordPress version = Manage \ Links \ Link Categories

Name the Category and name the slug with the same name, but no Capital Letters and use a dash instead of a space. e.g new-category NOT New Category

Click Add Category.

Part 2

Next, go to go to ;

WordPress 2.7 = Links \ Add New
OR
Older WordPress version = Manage \ Links \  Add New

For name, copy and paste the  name of the person or web site.

For Web Address, copy and paste the full web address.  (I always check that it’s correct first)

Look down the page for Categories and select the Category you want.

Click Add Link.
Hope this help some of you

Eoin

I’ve been asked this question by another Alex Jeffreys Student. I’m guessing that more people will not know how to do this, so here’s how.

There are two versions of WordPress being used at the moment, the older version, (which is what most people still use), and the newer version WordPress 2.7, so I’ll add instructions for both.

I put the Ads in the Right Column of my Blog using the text Widget.

Yes … I know there are PlugIn to do this, but if you upgrade WordPress, that PlugIn may not work afterward and your Ads stop showing.
The text Widget is far safer.
OK, I make the advert in HTML first, using Dreamweaver or NVU,

Then LogIn to your Blog and go to

WordPress 2.7 = Appearance \ Widgets
OR
Older WordPress version = Design \ Widgets.

Look for the text widget on the LEFT of screen.

Click Add.

Put the cursor over the new Blue text section on the RIGHT, hold down the left mouse button to move into the order you want it.

Then click Edit.

Paste the HTML into the white section.

Click Done.

Click Save Changes, (bottom Right)

Now open your Blog in another Browser window and see how it looks.

That’s basically what you do, you can edit and save as needed.

Eoin