How does a Twitter work?

[Ward]

Twitter is comprised of tweets that are 140 characters or less. People use it to quickly "blog" about their everyday life to those who are following them. Your followers are people who want to be updated on your tweets and will see them on their time line. People's tweets that you follow will also appear on your time line. You can send tweets to individual users by beginning your tweet with @user name ('user name' being the person's actual user name). If you follow someone who is also following you back, the ability to send "direct messages" (Private messages) will be enabled and you can have private conversations with others, although these are still 140 characters or less. There is also the ability to make "lists." You can add specific people you follow to a list so that by going to this list, you will see only those people's tweets. For example, you might make a list with your favorite bands/artists, so you can quickly view all your tweets in one place, you can also post your pictures and blags as tweets on it.