1. Go to twitter.com and click the link that says “Let me in.”
2. Sign up. Provide your real name or the name of your business, plus a username that others will use to identify you. Your real name will be visible on your public profile page. Tip: Don’t make your username too long. Twitter’s 140-character limit for messages makes it easier for people to retweet you – pass along your tweets – if your name is short.
3. Find people to follow. Twitter allows you to import your e-mail contacts, invite friends and colleagues by e-mail, and search for people, organizations and companies by name. Tip: Once you find someone to follow, check out who else that person is following. Chances are good that you might want to follow some of the same people if you have similar interests.
4. See what people you follow are saying. When you’re logged in, your Twitter home page will show you messages from everyone you follow. Click “reply” to respond or “retweet” to share a message with people who follow you. Replies show up with an @ symbol in front of a username.
5. See what people are saying about a particular topic or your company. Use the search function to see public messages about something that interests you. Tip: Hashtags are words or phrases preceded by a # symbol. They are often used to track popular topics or memes. Twitter shows you the most popular.
6. Say something. Twitter asks you a simple question: “What’s happening?” That gives you lots of options. Here are a few: Share what you’re doing or thinking, provide a link to something you’re reading or respond to something someone else says. Tip: Use a URL shortener such as tinyurl.com or bit.ly to shrink your links and give yourself more characters to say something.
— Elaine Helm, Herald new media editor
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