Hello everyone!
Welcome back from the weekend, the A to Z challenge is more than halfway finished! (whew!)
T is for Twitter Tips and Tricks. Here’s a few things I’ve learned while tweeting away. 
- OK, assuming you’ve set up your account and have selected a “handle,” a name you’d like to be referred to. TIP! Pick something short–if you can–because you’re only allowed 140 characters to communicate and you don’t want to use too many on your name. I go by my name in real life @Kelly_Said (Twitter adds the @)
So, if y’all remember the “Social Media Explained” graphic, we’ll use “Donut” as our example. (mmm, donuts 
)
- Here’s me telling *all my followers* what I’m doing…
The hashtag in front of #donut invites anyone searching for tweets referencing donuts to join the conversation.
Popular writing hashtags? #amwriting, #amreading, #writetip, #querytip, #pubtip (publication tip) #WW (writer wednesday) #FF (follow friday)
Fun with hashtags! Sometimes people use hashtags to liven up their tweets or add a final sentiment, #90slove #winkwink #whee!
- Here’s me telling *one* of my friends what I’m doing…
If my followers also follow @mytwitterbuddy, then my message to @mytwitterbuddy will be seen by all of our shared followers. The only private form of communication is the DM or Direct Message – and you can only DM someone if you’re following them, and they’re following you back.
- Maybe I want *all* my followers to see that I’m talking to @mywriterbuddy, you know, to invite them into the conversation – that’s what “social” networking is about, right? hehe! besides, we’re talking donuts, people! hehe! OK, so I want *all* my followers to see my chat with @mytwitterbuddy, therefore I’m going to insert a character (a . or _ or ^_^) before the recipient of your tweet and the tweet will go out to *all* your followers, not just the ones you share with @mytwitterbuddy…
- Say I come across a tweet I’d like to share with my followers to see, I’ll re-tweet that msg with an RT, which stands for Re-Tweet. RT is the abbreviation used to credit who tweeted the original tweet.
Here, @mytwitterbuddy shared information with me about free donuts! This is important! hehe! I want to pass this on to my followers, letting them know @mytwitterbuddy found us some free donuts.TIP! If you see an MT in a tweet, that stands for Modified Tweet. This is used when you edit a tweet for content or character count before re-tweeting it, in lieu of RT.
- So, you have all these followers, how do you keep up with everyone? TIP! One way to keep your followers organized is with a list. Go to a specific follower and click on the icon button next to “Following”…
Click on Add or remove from lists and you’ll be able to create a list to keep your followers organized. I have many lists, one for Literary Agents, so any time I’m looking to see what they tweeted for the day, I pull up that list and can see only their tweets. I have another list specifically for family I follow. I keep this list private, so only I can see this.
One thing about lists is that you can add *anyone* to a list without “following” them.
Here are some things I like to keep in mind while tweeting:
- I try to respond to *everyone* who mentions me. (unless thou be a spammer)
- I like to tweet about whatever’s going on in that moment for me, whether writing or reading related or things of a slightly more personal nature.
- I have family members who follow me, however I don’t really like to mention them by name, simply as a means to protect their privacy, especially since as I’m using my real name out there, hehe!
- I don’t go overboard with marketing, either. I’ll pass along a marketing tweet during each session I’m logged in, upwards of three times a day. But the majority of my tweets are me socializing with my followers. Everyone has their own style though, so you need to really find what works for you, you know, what you’re most comfortable with.
So, those are some of the Twitter tips and tricks I’ve picked up on the way. Some people incorporate other applications to manage or schedule their tweets or to coordinate posts to other social networking sites. Again, that’s a matter of personal preference. I only use Twitter, but someday I may find need to schedule tweets to go out at certain times. Right now, I’m most comfortable with tweeting in the moment.
I’m sure there’s more Twitter tips and tricks out there though, do you have anything I may have missed? Share with me, hehe! 
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Love this. I actually learned something from this. Woot, Woot!
woot woot! Awesome! hehe! Thanks for stopping by, Jenny, you’re the best
I finally understand a few things, thanks to your blog. Thank you for sharing it.
Oh, that’s awesome! Thank you for saying so, because I’ve learned so much, a lot by trial and error, that I like to try and pave a smoother path for anyone interested.
I didn’t realize the “mentions” are only seen by mutual followers. If you put the period in front, does it show up in the mentioned person’s mention feed or does that keep it from appearing? I’ve missed some mentions when people butted the @name up against the next person’s ampersand. Did I read that if you put it at the end of the tweet, it’s different???
Yeah! If you put a symbol or character in front of the @mytwitterbuddy name, then that tweet will go out to all of your followers, not just to @mytwitterbuddy and your mutually shared followers. I usually do something like:
@mytwitterbuddy is eating a #donut
a smiley face or word in front of the @mytwitterbuddy ensures all of your followers will see that tweet.
So that’s what #ww means. I’d been wondering, but no one ever explained! Thanks.
hehehe! I know, I had all sorts of my own ideas for what that could be Wonderful Writers, Writes Wickedly, hehehe!