How does twitter work?

[Dustin john Minjarez]

I know I sound like an unsophisticated monkey right now but I just got a twitter account and have no idea wtf I'm doing. If I tweet on a persons page can they see it? I know it appears in my tweets but I want to know if they can see it. I'm so confused

[Roxi]

The first thing you need to know about Twitter, which is something a lot of people get wrong, is that Tweets are *not* statuses. Twitter is a micro-blog, and while Statuses on Facebook are generally used to make a comment about what you're thinking or feeling, Tweets are a way to share anything and everything with anyone and everyone.

Everything you Tweet is on your page and comes from your profile.
When you go to a person's page and write to them in the box, the Tweet is still coming from your profile, and does not appear on their page. The box is actually the same box that is on your profile/homepage, but Twitter adds the username to the beginning automatically, so that your Tweet will show up in your friend's interactions.

Interactions are found under the 'Connect' tab (middle) or by using the keyboard shortcut 'G+C'. This is where you will find Tweets to you (these are called 'Mentions'), and also 'Favourites' and 'Retweets'.

Favourites are exactly that. When you see something that you like, and/or would like to go back to it later, you can Favourite it. You can find Favourites by going to your profile and selecting the 'Favourites' tab to the left (fourth one down) or by using the keyboard shortcut 'G+F'.

Retweets are used to share things others have posted to your profile. For example, if you follow your favourite football team, they might Tweet about winning a match, and you can Retweet that, and share it with your followers.

To Mention someone in a Tweet without going to their profile, simply type an '@' symbol followed by their username when composing a Tweet. To see your Mentions, go to the Connect page, or to see Mentions only, go to the Mentions page by going to the Connect page and then going to the Mentions tab to the left or by using the keyboard shortcut 'G+R'.

Direct Messages are private messages. To message someone click their name, go to their profile, or use the keyboard shortcut 'M' and then type their name or username in the top bar, and type your message in the box below. To see your direct messages click the cog symbol at the top right of the screen and select 'Direct Messages' or use the keyboard shortcut 'G+M'.

You will also come across 'hashtags' which are fairly important. Hashtags are used to link your Tweets to similar Tweets. So if you're Tweeting about your favourite football team, you might say "#(nameoffavouritefootballteam) just won, so proud!" You can only use letters and numbers in tags. Some people use tags to sum up their Tweets, e.g. "(Name of favourite football team) just won, #soproud!" While this isn't wrong, it is pointless. As I said, tags are used to link similar Tweets.

When you click a tag it takes you to a collection of all Tweets that have used this tag. So when you click the tag for your favourite football team, you will be met with Tweets from people about your favourite football team, which you will most likely be interested in. But when you go to the tag '#soproud' you could be met with all sorts of things making people proud. It doesn't work.

Trends are found in the small box at the bottom left of your homepage. Trends are popular tags, words and phrases.

Lists are users that have been grouped together by you or another user. You do not have to be following the users in the list to see their Tweets. For example, I use lists to follow people that I know, but don't necessarily want to see on my homepage all the time. You can create your own lists by going to a user profile and then to the drop down menu next to the 'following'/'follow' button and selecting 'add/remove from lists', then selecting 'create list' or by going to your lists page by using the cog menu, then selecting lists, or by going to your profile and then going to the 'Lists' tab (fifth one down), or you can use the keyboard shortcut 'G+L', once you are on the 'Lists' page, select 'Create List'. You can choose to make lists either public or private. You can follow other people's public lists by going to their profile, then to their lists tab, selecting a list they are either subscribed to or have created, and then pressing subscribe to the left of the list.

I think I've covered everything you'll need to know to get started, haha.