Twitter (now X) is a free, easy-to-use social networking and microblogging service that allows users to share short messages and updates with other subscribers. These short messages, called tweets, must not exceed 280 characters (previously 140) on the free plan. X Premium subscribers can post content with up to 25,000 characters.
Twitter is the fastest-growing social networking website today, growing much faster than Facebook.
One place that Twitter scores high is in simplicity. It is so easy to use, hence people who found other social networking services like Facebook a bit challenging will find using Twitter easy. Opening your Twitter account is easy.
Posting your tweets is also easy; all you need is to bring your creativity to bear, so you can tweet all you want in 280 characters.
Getting Started with X
Like any other social networking service, you will need to sign up for an X account before you can use the service. Once this is done, you can start posting Twitter updates as well as reading updates of other Twitter users (Twitterers).
To be updated with a person’s updates, you will have to subscribe to the person’s tweets. Once this is done, each time the person tweets, a copy will be displayed on your Twitter home page (Twitter timeline).
In the same vein, when you tweet, your update will appear on the Twitter timeline of all those subscribing to your tweets. Also, all your tweets will appear on your Twitter profile page. You can set who can access your X profile page.
Allowing open access to your Twitter profile will allow anybody to access your Twitter profile, even people with no X account. NaijaTechGuide’s X account is open access, which is why all our visitors and readers can access it.
However, sometimes you may want a private Twitter profile. This will allow only a group of friends or colleagues to communicate privately. For example, team members can create private Twitter accounts for a project they are handling. They can use it to post regular updates on the progress of work, which will be visible only to team members.
Following people on Twitter
The process of subscribing to an X account is called the following. If you subscribe to a Twitter account, you are said to be a follower of the account. Those who subscribe to your account are said to be following you.
To follow a Twitter user, you must sign in to your Twitter account; only then will you see a follow button on the Twitter user’s profile page. Simply click on this button to follow the Twitter account. If you do not have a Twitter account or you are not signed in, you will be provided with a button to either join Twitter or log in to your Twitter account.
Getting followers on Twitter
Your first followers are likely to be your friends, fans, or customers if you are a business. These are people who are interested in knowing what you are up to. Then their friends will join, and then other Twitterers as well.
If they find you interesting, they will follow your tweets. Note that you do not need thousands of followers, just as you do not need thousands of friends; all you need is a community of people genuinely interested in your tweets.
You should not sit back and wait for people to follow you (except if you are a business). You should also follow other tweets that you are interested in. If they find your tweets equally interesting, they may as well follow you. You should also promote your Twitter account on your websites, blogs, and emails.
Do not be tempted to acquire so many followers in a short period. This might put you at the mercy of suspicious services promising to bring you 100 or more followers a day.
In most cases, they will end up hijacking your Twitter account and sending spam updates through your Twitter account without your consent, which might irritate your genuine followers, leading to a reduction in your followers.
If you have such spam updates appearing on your Twitter profile page, the best thing to do is to change your password and stay clear of such services.
People who get a lot of followers on Twitter are usually celebrities and popular brands.
What are people doing with Twitter?
As stated earlier, Twitter is used to share your status with those who are interested in you. According to Twitter, Twitter is about answering one question What are you doing? So on Twitter, you post tweets about what you are doing and what is happening around you. But what does this really mean?
Posting your status: You can post your status on Twitter. For example, you are going to bed, having dinner, in the airport, preparing for an exam tomorrow, stranded in a traffic jam, and will be late for the meeting, or going out on a date with your true love. Just about anything you want your followers to know about you. This is what most people do on Twitter.
Share with the world what is happening around you: Twitter can be used to share information about what is happening around you. An earthquake, an accident, an armed robbery attack, just about anything, just use your phone or computer to post tweets. You can also inform the world about the ills in your society.
Iranians used Twitter to inform the world about the fraud that took place in the Iranian election. Thousands of Iranian Twitterers were posting tweets on the Iranian election, and that made the Iranian elections a trending topic on Twitter and provided more accurate information than even CNN.
A group of Nigerians tried to tell the world about the poor electricity supply in Nigeria. However, this did not achieve the desired results as there were not enough Nigerian tweets to make it a trending topic on Twitter. The campaign urged Nigerian Twitter users to add #lightupnigeria to their Twitter updates. This was aimed at making #lightupnigeria a trending topic on Twitter.
Update your fans on what you are doing: This is similar to posting updates, except that in this case, you are a popular person. This is what most celebrities and popular figures do on Twitter. They inform their fans about what’s next to expect from them.
Update your customers and visitors: If you are a business or own a website or blog, you can use Twitter to inform your customers or visitors about the latest happenings in your business. This can help you retain your customers. This is what Nigeria Technology Guide is doing on Twitter.
Sell and market on Twitter: Yes, you can sell on Twitter. Twitter is a great marketing tool used by some of the most successful companies to drive sales.
Assuming you have thousands of followers on Twitter who trust you and are loyal to you, you can decide to sell or recommend your products and services to them. That way, you can make some money.
Businesses also use twitter to inform followers of new products, these followers may in turn tweet about these products and with lots of twitterers posting tweets about the new product, it may become a trending topic on twitter. This free publicity is used by a lot of smart businesses.
Twitter real-time search and trending topics
The real-time search feature on Twitter automatically indexes all public tweets worldwide around the clock and stores the phrases in these tweets in a database.
The most popular phrases for the moment are displayed on your Twitter sidebar. These are called trending topics and simply tell you the most popular topics Twitter users are posting tweets on right now.
You can search any word to find what Twitterers are saying about that topic right now. This is why it is called real-time search.
Twitter Vocabulary
Here are a few words that people use when discussing Twitter.
Twitter: A free service for sharing updates with Twitterers following you.
Tweets: Twitter updates. Your posts are limited to a maximum of 280 characters on Twitter.
Retweet (Repost): This refers to reposting tweets posted by others and giving them credit for the tweet. Twitter now provides a simple button for retweeting interesting tweets.
Twitterer: You are a Twitterer if you have a Twitter account.
Follow: This means to subscribe to a person’s tweets and, of course, read their updates on your home page.
Following: This is the act of subscribing to tweets. It also refers to tweets you have subscribed to.
Followers: These are the people following your tweets.
List: A category created by you. You put a Twitter account with similar themes into a list. For example, you can create a list for Twitter accounts of family members, colleagues in the office, services you use, etc
Trending Topics: The most popular phrases used by Twitterers on their tweets right now.
