Can you explain in an idiot proof way how to use Twitter?

[jay58]

I signed up but still don't understand how it works- eg how to follow others
Explain as if to someone completely daft- I won't feel patronised.
Thanks

[mercedes]

ok i dont know how to work twitter either but i do know how to follow lol go on that persons page you want to follow and there is a button near the top of the page that says follow and you click it. thats all i know sorry couldnt be much more help!! xx

[monstermunch]

Twitter is a site for 'micro blogging' which is similar to the Status Updates of Facebook, without all the social interation.

To follow someone, you can simply go to their Twitter page and click follow! And their Tweets will show up on your personal timeline

[c0nfuted]

As a graduate (with honors) of "The Idiots Guide to Twitter" I feel qualified to explain...

1. You sign-up for a twitter account.

2. Others sign-up for a twitter account.

3. You find people or companies you'd like to "follow" and vice versa.

4. Whenever you do something (take a shower, sneeze, put on make-up, fall down go boom, etc) you pick-up your cell phone and send a message through Twitter (called a tweet). Those people "following" you get the tweet - and they know you've fallen down gone boom.

5. People you are following do the same, and you get to see what it is that fills their life, too.

=== ADDED BENEFIT ===

1. When you go out of town, don't forget to send a tweet and let everyone know; "Hey, this is fred. it's Friday, i'm leaving work and driving to the Kentucky Derby. I'll let y'all know how much i win!"

2. Your followers will receive your tweet, and think "Woohoo! Fred will be out of town all weekend! Now would be a GREAT time to rent that U-Haul and clean Fred's house for him!"

3. You return, a loser x 2! You didn't win the Kentucky Derby bet, and you now get to hassle with your insurance company to get all new stuff.

Enjoy the Internet! It's a FUN place to play!

[fjpoblam]

Nothing is idiot-proof. Sorry. Live and learn. There's differing opinions. Here's mine.

I like Twitter primarily for conversation: talking to people; then secondarily as a news source: finding out information on topics in which I'm interested.

The second is easy: find some news sources in which your interested, and follow them. For example, I'm a web designer. I got onto a twitter-related service called wefollow.com (which you sign onto with your twitter userid) and looked for users with the interest "web design" and picked a few to follow. I also looked up a few forums, and found their twitter userids, and followed them. I found a few pieces of software, like Evernote, and follow them to get news of frequent updates. I found "techmeme" to get updates of tech news. And like that.

Now the hard part: process is, find folks in whom you're interested, and "follow" them, to read their comments. One place is the Find People tag where you can import your email contacts, or scan through suggestions, or out-and-out type a name and search for it. Else go to the twitter search bar and type a topic and watch tweets, and if you see someone with an interesting tweet, click their userid, and look at their profile, and if it looks interesting, follow them.

Now, someone has to follow you, to get a conversation going. So, general rules are, don't go tweeting your head off (tweeting every five minutes so as to fill up somebody's wall). Keep your tweets interesting, of course (that goes without saying!) Try always to answer if someone tweets to you - only polite, right? And take the initiative - tweet someone now and then, to start a conversation.

Gitter done.