Twitter® For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Twitter® For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Released August 2010
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9780470768792

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Book description

A fully updated guide to the how and why of using Twitter

The fastest-growing social network utility sports new features, and they're all covered in this how-to guide from a leading Twitter marketing consultant. Nearly 20 million people are tweeting on Twitter, and this book shows you how to join them and why you should. You'll learn the nuts and bolts of using Twitter, how to make good connections, and how it can benefit your life and your business.

  • Twitter is the fastest-growing of the social networking tools; this book gets you up to speed on the basics as well as how Twitter can enrich your life and boost your business

  • Explains how to sign up, find friends and people you want to follow, make the most of shortcuts, use popular Twitter tools, and Twitter on the go

  • Discusses how Twitter can be used for business, fundraising, and maintaining contact with people who share common goals

With complete information about all the latest Twitter enhancements, Twitter For Dummies, 2nd Edition will help you get the most from this popular social networking tool.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Authors
  3. Authors' Acknowledgments
  4. Publisher's Acknowledgments
  5. Foreword
  6. Introduction
    1. About This Book
      1. New for Second Edition
      2. Motivation
    2. Conventions Used in This Book
    3. What You're Not to Read
    4. Foolish Assumptions
    5. How This Book Is Organized
      1. Part I: Twitter? Like Birds Do?
      2. Part II: Joining Your Flock on Twitter
      3. Part III: Twittering in High Gear
      4. Part IV: Knowing Why We Twitter
      5. Part V: The Part of Tens
    6. Icons Used in This Book
    7. Where to Go from Here
  7. 1. Twitter? Like Birds Do?
    1. 1. Sharing Your Thoughts, 140 Characters at a Time
      1. 1.1. Figuring Out This Twitter Thing
      2. 1.2. How Individuals Use Twitter
      3. 1.3. How Organizations Use Twitter
      4. 1.4. Businesses That Use Twitter
      5. 1.5. Getting Your Tweet Wet
      6. 1.6. Tweeting Like a Pro
      7. 1.7. Branching Out with Third-Party Applications
    2. 2. Hello, Twitter World!
      1. 2.1. Signing Up
      2. 2.2. Picking a Name
      3. 2.3. Finding Contacts
        1. 2.3.1. Using useful people-finding tools
        2. 2.3.2. Searching by using Twitter Search
      4. 2.4. Inviting Contacts
      5. 2.5. Say Hello! Your First Tweets
      6. 2.6. Customizing Your Profile
        1. 2.6.1. Changing your avatar
        2. 2.6.2. Changing your background
        3. 2.6.3. Using your background image to expand your profile
      7. 2.7. Adjusting Your Text-Messaging Settings
        1. 2.7.1. Controlling the text-message flow
        2. 2.7.2. Selecting your text notifications, person by person
    3. 3. Stroll Around the Grounds: A Tour of the Twitter Interface
      1. 3.1. Starting Out on the Home Screen
        1. 3.1.1. The sidebar
        2. 3.1.2. The "What's Happening?" box
        3. 3.1.3. The Twitter stream
      2. 3.2. Tweeting to One Specific Person: @Replies
      3. 3.3. Shhh! Sending Private Notes via Direct Messages
      4. 3.4. Playing (Twitter) Favorites
      5. 3.5. Becoming a Renaissance Man via the Everyone Tab (RIP)
      6. 3.6. Seeing Who You Follow
      7. 3.7. Figuring Out Who's Following You
      8. 3.8. Looking at What You've Tweeted
      9. 3.9. You've Been Listed
    4. 4. Using Twitter Wherever You Think Best
      1. 4.1. The User Multi-Face: Interacting with Twitter Every Which Way
        1. 4.1.1. Text messages (SMS delivery)
        2. 4.1.2. RSS feeds
        3. 4.1.3. Desktop clients
        4. 4.1.4. TwitterFox
        5. 4.1.5. Widgets and gadgets
        6. 4.1.6. Preview: @anywhere
      2. 4.2. Going Mobile: The Key to Happiness
  8. 2. Joining Your Flock on Twitter
    1. 5. Tweeting It Up
      1. 5.1. Finding People to Follow on Twitter
        1. 5.1.1. Look who's talking
        2. 5.1.2. Searching for people
        3. 5.1.3. Using Simple Search
        4. 5.1.4. Inviting people personally, through Twitter
        5. 5.1.5. Checking out Twitter Lists
        6. 5.1.6. By following back
      2. 5.2. How to Follow People
        1. 5.2.1. Following People Even More Quickly with Hover
      3. 5.3. Replying to Tweets
      4. 5.4. Retweeting
        1. 5.4.1. Retweeting the old-fashioned way
        2. 5.4.2. Commentary on the retweet
      5. 5.5. Direct Messaging
        1. 5.5.1. Direct-messaging shorthand
        2. 5.5.2. Should I @ or DM?
      6. 5.6. Encouraging More Followers
    2. 6. Who's Using Twitter
      1. 6.1. Tweeting with Regular People
      2. 6.2. Verified Accounts
      3. 6.3. Building Company Relationships with Twitter
      4. 6.4. Talking Politics with Actual Politicians
      5. 6.5. Following Celebrities on Twitter
      6. 6.6. Twitter Directories
      7. 6.7. Signing Up for Syndicated Material
      8. 6.8. Tweeting in Unison
  9. 3. Twittering in High Gear
    1. 7. Tricks of the Twitter Gurus
      1. 7.1. Following Twitter Protocol
        1. 7.1.1. Language and abbreviations
        2. 7.1.2. Engaging others on Twitter
        3. 7.1.3. Tweeting frequency
      2. 7.2. Inserting Links into Your Tweets
        1. 7.2.1. Short-URL analytics
      3. 7.3. Using Your Twitter History and Favorites
      4. 7.4. Creating Lists
        1. 7.4.1. Following lists
        2. 7.4.2. GeoLocation
        3. 7.4.3. Erasing your tracks
      5. 7.5. Your Feeds, My Feeds, Everyone's Feeds
      6. 7.6. Deciphering Twitter Shorthand Code
        1. 7.6.1. D — direct message
        2. 7.6.2. F — follow
        3. 7.6.3. @ — reply
        4. 7.6.4. On/Off
        5. 7.6.5. Fav — favorite a tweet
        6. 7.6.6. Nudge
        7. 7.6.7. Stats
        8. 7.6.8. Get
        9. 7.6.9. Whois
        10. 7.6.10. Leave
        11. 7.6.11. On/Off username
        12. 7.6.12. Invite
        13. 7.6.13. Quit and Stop
        14. 7.6.14. Codes may come, and codes may go...
    2. 8. Twitter Minus Twitter.com
      1. 8.1. Tweeting with Your Cellphone
        1. 8.1.1. Via text messaging
        2. 8.1.2. Via smartphones or PDAs
        3. 8.1.3. Location! Location! Location!
      2. 8.2. Using Twitter through Your E-Mail
      3. 8.3. Swimming Your Twitter Stream with RSS Feeds
        1. 8.3.1. Grabbing RSS feeds
        2. 8.3.2. Sending RSS feeds back to Twitter
      4. 8.4. Using Third-Party Services
      5. 8.5. Open Authentication — OAuth
      6. 8.6. Sharing Tweets All Around the Web
      7. 8.7. Auto-Tweeting
    3. 9. Embracing the Twitter Ecosystem
      1. 9.1. Finding Interesting Twitter Talk with Search Tools
        1. 9.1.1. Twitter Search
        2. 9.1.2. TwitScoop
        3. 9.1.3. Hashtags
        4. 9.1.4. Expanding Your Twitter World by Using Clients
        5. 9.1.5. Desktop clients
        6. 9.1.6. Mobile clients
      2. 9.2. Keeping Your Tweets Short with URL Shorteners
        1. 9.2.1. Getting All Your Online Activity in One Place by Using Aggregators
      3. 9.3. Using Trending Topics: The Zeitgeist of Twitter
      4. 9.4. Playing with Twitter Games and Memes
        1. 9.4.1. Tag Clouds
      5. 9.5. Keeping in Contact with Visualization and Listening Tools
        1. 9.5.1. Google Alerts
        2. 9.5.2. Twitter Search
        3. 9.5.3. Radian6
      6. 9.6. Knowing Your Network with Follower and Following Tools
  10. 4. Knowing Why We Twitter
    1. 10. Finding Your Tweet Voice
      1. 10.1. Finding Your Voice, Whether for Business or Pleasure
        1. 10.1.1. Your business on Twitter
        2. 10.1.2. You as you on Twitter
        3. 10.1.3. Mixing business with pleasure
          1. 10.1.3.1. It's all about balance
          2. 10.1.3.2. Be yourself
      2. 10.2. Identifying Your Audience
        1. 10.2.1. Viewing your network
        2. 10.2.2. Diversifying your network
        3. 10.2.3. Targeting specific networks
        4. 10.2.4. Measuring influence
        5. 10.2.5. Understanding your extended network
      3. 10.3. Keeping Your Tweets Authentic
        1. 10.3.1. Joining the conversation
        2. 10.3.2. Sharing links
        3. 10.3.3. Image is everything
        4. 10.3.4. Being genuine
        5. 10.3.5. Evangelizing your causes
      4. 10.4. Keeping Twitter Personal... but Not Too Personal
        1. 10.4.1. Protecting personal details
        2. 10.4.2. Maximizing privacy and safety
    2. 11. Twitter for Business
      1. 11.1. The Business of Twitter
      2. 11.2. Putting Your Best Face Forward
        1. 11.2.1. Public relations
        2. 11.2.2. Customer service
      3. 11.3. Networking on Twitter
      4. 11.4. Offering Promotions and Products
      5. 11.5. Promoting Bands and Artists
      6. 11.6. Sharing Company Updates
      7. 11.7. Building Community
      8. 11.8. Conducting Research
      9. 11.9. Going Transparent
      10. 11.10. But, What If My Employees...
      11. 11.11. Sharing Knowledge
    3. 12. The Social Side of Twitter
      1. 12.1. Using Twitter as a Support System
      2. 12.2. Connecting with People
      3. 12.3. Making New Friends
        1. 12.3.1. Searching for topics of interest
        2. 12.3.2. Twitter-based events
      4. 12.4. To Follow or Not to Follow?
      5. 12.5. Getting Quick Answers
        1. 12.5.1. Accessing the experts
        2. 12.5.2. Information about breaking news
        3. 12.5.3. Getting recommendations
      6. 12.6. Sharing Information
    4. 13. Changing the World, One Tweet at a Time
      1. 13.1. Twittering the Globe for Change
        1. 13.1.1. Charity events
        2. 13.1.2. Politics
        3. 13.1.3. Natural disasters
        4. 13.1.4. Helping others
      2. 13.2. Organizing People Online and in Real Life
        1. 13.2.1. Organizing on a small scale
        2. 13.2.2. Banding together for creative purposes
        3. 13.2.3. Planning an event
      3. 13.3. Engaging in Citizen Journalism
        1. 13.3.1. Citizen journalism hits the mainstream
        2. 13.3.2. Being a Twitter journalist
        3. 13.3.3. Tweeting accurate info
        4. 13.3.4. Gathering your journalistic tools
  11. 5. The Part of Tens
    1. 14. Ten Twitter Tools
      1. 14.1. TweetDeck: Connecting with Many
      2. 14.2. Seesmic Desktop: Managing Multiple Accounts
      3. 14.3. CoTweet: Corporate Tweeting
      4. 14.4. Smartphone Clients Twitter, PocketTwit, and TwitterBerry
      5. 14.5. Twellow: Finding People to Follow
      6. 14.6. FriendorFollow: Managing Followers and Followings
      7. 14.7. TwtVite: Event Planning
      8. 14.8. Twitterfeed: Getting Your Blog Posts to Twitter
      9. 14.9. TwitPic and YFrog
      10. 14.10. Xpenser: Keeping Track of Your Expenses
    2. 15. Ten Useful Twitter-Based Services
      1. 15.1. BreakingNews
      2. 15.2. StockTwits
      3. 15.3. Tweecious: Use Delicious to Organize the Links You Tweet
      4. 15.4. Tweetworks
      5. 15.5. ExecTweets
      6. 15.6. TweetGrid
      7. 15.7. Link Bunch
      8. 15.8. Tweetree
      9. 15.9. TwitterGrader
      10. 15.10. Blip.fm
    3. 16. Ten Cool Ways to Use Twitter
      1. 16.1. Plain Old Networking
      2. 16.2. Breaking News
      3. 16.3. Travel
      4. 16.4. Finance
      5. 16.5. Food, Wine, and Spirits
      6. 16.6. Books
      7. 16.7. Music
      8. 16.8. Education
      9. 16.9. Charities and Causes
      10. 16.10. Event Planning
  12. Glossary

Product information

  • Title: Twitter® For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: August 2010
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9780470768792