If there could be an Internet "it" girl, I think Twitter would win the award. Everyone is talking about Twitter and "tweeting" or making "tweets." What is all of this you may ask? Is it hard? Did you have a Twitter and give up on it because it seemed complicated or not as fun? Well, I'm here to give you a little step by step guide or approach to Twitter and how to become a full on TWIT!


Obviously, the first step is making an account on www.twitter.com, where you can choose your username and password. A word of advice for your Twitter username, make it short and memorable.


After you create your account and verify it you will be ready to Tweet away!


Here is some Twitter vocab and symbols that will help you use Twitter a lot better and easier!
Tweet - Something within 120 characters that you send to your followers.
Followers - These are your friends on Twitter.
Following - These are the Tweets from your friends that you follow.
Listed - You can create lists that group/categorize your friends on Twitter.
Locked Tweets - This is if you want to make your Twitter private. That way only people you previously approve can see what you Tweet. If you reply to someone with @WHOMEVER they won't be able to see it unless they are following you.
You will see on the right hand side of your screen ...
@USERNAME - if you click on this all the Tweets that were directed toward you and you alone will show up.
Direct Messages - these are messages that you can send back and forth to a friend without anyone but the two of you seeing it.
Favorites - if you really like a Tweet that a friend, celeb or someone made you can 'favorite' it and it will always appear there unless the author has deleted it.
ReTweets - These are Tweets that you reposted by someone else. This is easy to do, if someone makes a Tweet and you want to repost it, you can click on the RETWEET link under their post and it will automatically repost.


Under that there is a general search box where you can type in something and see who else on Twitter has talked about what you're searching for.


There there is a LIST section. There is where your lists can be if you want to categorize your friends more, this is something you don't have to do.


Under that is TRENDING TOPICS - These are the top ten topics currently being discussed on Twitter. If you click on one of the topics it will take you to a page of various other users and their Tweets about that topic.


Under that is FOLLOWING - This is merely the photo of the people you are following. You can click on their photos to go to their Twitter page.


Okay, now you are ready to use Twitter! Don't worry, I know that seemed like a lot of information but trust me, Twitter is by far one of the easiest social networking sites out there. They really cut out all the misc. nonsense that other sites have and just keep it short, sweet and to the point.


You only have 120 characters to say what you have to say, so make it short and to the point! There are other sites out there that you can link to your Twitter account that give you more space but they aren't the easiest sites to navigate. The links also look like something that leads to a spam page or virus, so most people won't click on it anyway.

If you just want to say a thought or something, just type it normally and all the people following you will be able to see it.


If you want to make something a Trending Topic then type a # before the topic you want to emphasize. The words also have to be linked together so if you want to make the Goo Goo Dolls a trending topic you have to type #googoodolls. (It doesn't matter if lower or uppercase characters are used, it will show up either way.)


If you want to reply directly to someone type @Thatpersonsusername and it will come up directly to them. People that follow you will be able to see it as well.


If you want to send a private Tweet then use the Direct Message or DM feature. You will go to a page with a drop down box and it will have all the names of people that accept DMs. Then you can choose the person you want to DM and send them the message.


HOOKING TWITTER UP TO YOUR PHONE
Go under the SETTINGS tab in the upper right hand corner. Then go to MOBILE and type in your cell phone number. You can choose for Twitter to only send messages to your phone at certain times of the day too. A couple cellphone providers use Twitter as a free service if you have unlimited text messaging to any carrier. Then some have it as a regular text messaging fee. That is all information you will have to find out on your own with your own cellphone company.


Can I post pictures through Twitter?
The answer is yes and it's pretty easy! You can even hook it right up to your phone so that all you'll have to do is send a picutre text message and it'll appear on your Twitter account!

There's many sites out there that provide a source link between posting pictures and having them appear on Twitter. Below are the two best sites and two that I use.

www.twitpic.com - This is Twitter's picture site. You will use your username from Twitter to make an account with TwitPic. Then you can upload a photo and boom, it instantly appears on your Twitter account. If you want to direct the photo to someone, in the white box below you can type their Twitter username with the @ symbol before their username.

www.tweetphoto.com - This is another site that is good to use, same deal, use your Twitter username to make an account. This site offers more in that you can type in 'tag' words that will direct people to your photo. It's an option that is good to have but you don't have to use.

To LOCK your Tweets go to the SETTINGS tab and then click on the ACCOUNT tab and if you scroll down to the bottom you can see the check box where you protect/lock your Tweets.

I know this seems like a lot! Believe me, it isn't! It's just all the tools you'll need. If you want to be very basic you can, you don't need to use all these extra bells and whistles! If you have further questions feel free to ask me directly, thegoosglitteringgirl@ymail.com

Enjoy Twitter!!!! It's fun!!! :)