How do you use Twitter?

[Camille.]

Ok, I know I sound dumb, but I don't have a Twitter yet but all of my friends do. I don't really understand the whole concept. So what kind of things do you tweet? And do you retweet people a lot or is that not what you're supposed to do? And what is a hashtag and what kinds of things do you hashtag? Lol just please help, so I don't look like an idiot.

[Dennis]

Retweet or "RT" - taking a tweet from one user and posting it yourself, automatically crediting the source, so that all of your followers can see the tweet. The original Retweeting style would take a tweet and re-post it via your own account in the following format: 'RT @(username of person who originally tweeted the tweet you're retweeting): (contents of tweet)'. The current system does away with this format, and instead directly re-posts the tweet, crediting the origin underneath. For example, 'retweeted from @username'.
* Tweet - a Twitter single update of 140 characters or less, which include @Mentions to other users, hashtags, external links, or simply regular text.
* TweetUps - Using Twitter to meet with other Twitter folks.
* Trending Topics (TTs) - Trending Topics are a range of subjects which many users across Twitter are talking about simultaneously. Initially, Trending Topics would include the matters of interest people across Twitter had been talking about throughout the entire week, but the refined algorithms made it easier to keep up to date with the latest most-talked-about subject, by only displaying Trending Topics related to things thousands of people across the whole of Twitter are discussing at any one time. Clicking on a Trending Topic in the list will bring up a range of tweets mentioning the matter of interest, and for each Trending Topics, there will be up to three 'Top Tweets'. These are tweets which are relevant to the Trending Topic, that have been Retweeted more than 150 times. You can view a list of Trends in your area in the right column of the home page.
* Lists - Users can organize the people they follow into 'Lists' of businesses or personalities which are related in some way. For example, a user could list all of the NPOs and charities they follow into a single List, for easy reference.
* Promoted Tweets - A single Trending Topic which a company or organization can pay to 'trend', as to gain attention and traffic from Twitter users worldwide.


Tweet. If you want to let your followers know what you are doing, type it in the 'What's happening' text box and then click on the 'Tweet' button. Note that tweets are limited to 140 characters or less; otherwise, the "Tweet" button will go into a minus.

* As you type, a countdown is offered to help you keep track of the character count of your tweets. The allowed characters are in gray, then the last 10 go red, and then a red minus symbol appears when you are past the zero (0) indicator.

Use hashtags. Prefacing a word with a '#' will create a hashtag. A hashtag makes a certain word easily searchable. For more info on hashtags see the wikiHow article on How to use Hashtags with Twitter.

Gather Followers. Your twitter can be as intimate or as big as you choose. If your goal is to gather lots of followers, though, be sure to keep your posts interesting and relevant. You shouldn't underestimate the power of following others, either—often times if you follow someone they'll follow you back. Finally, give your favorite followers shout outs occasionally. This could be through direct tweets, blogs, or a simple #FF (#FollowFriday) mechanism. This will often be reciprocated, meaning your name gets circulated!

Check the replies from your followers that are directed at you. Click '@Mentions' to see if there are any replies to any of your 'tweets'. When tweeting, using '@' followed by a username (with no spaces) in your tweet will send a mention to the user you choose. For example, '@username' will send a mention to 'username', and the entire tweet will show up in his '@mentions' section.