TWITTER QUICK-START GUIDE
After Facebook, most people will name Twitter as the most-popular messages. It will also form social media site. It is certainly popular among many age groups and is the website address of used by many companies, celebrities, and organizations. For local WIC your Twitter profile page. agencies, you may feel that Twitter is the next place for you to move Keep your username short into after establishing your agency on Facebook. and simple, and make sure it reflects your agency’s name in some way, such as Consider these things about logo is the best guide for SpringfieldWIC. Twitter first: branding. 2. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR FIRST STEPS AFTER »» If you’re new to Twitter and POSTING. Who will write the social media in general, posts? Does someone need to YOU’VE CREATED Twitter has a steeper learning approve them? Ensure that at YOUR ACCOUNT curve than Facebook. least two people can log in to »» Twitter has some limitations your account. Search for and follow news (notably a character count) 3. HOW POSTERS WILL BE HELD sources, other WIC agencies, and is not as flexible as ACCOUNTABLE. If there is an and related organizations in Facebook for the amount of inaccurate or inappropriate your community on Twitter. After information you can share in post, how will that be dealt signing up, follow a handful of each post and the ways you with? accounts to create a customized can share it. stream of information on your SETTING UP YOUR home timeline. Following means Think about Pinterest as a second you’ll get that user’s Tweets on social media site to move to PAGE your Twitter timeline. You can after Facebook because of the unfollow anyone at any time. particular ways it is suited to 1. Go to Twitter.com, and click WIC’s services. on Sign Up. 2. You will be prompted to enter Here are the steps to follow if you information, such as your full want to set up a Twitter account: (administrator’s) name and email address. Note: An email address can be associated Before creating your page, with only one Twitter account determine: at a time. Go through the 1. HOW YOUR PAGE WILL BE steps of verifying your phone number (a code is sent in an BRANDED. What tone will you SMS text message, or else convey? What sorts of colors you can request a voice call to should you use? Will they be verify your phone number). bright, happy colors? Warm 3. Once you sign up for an colors? While you don’t need account, you can select a to have an official branding username. Your username guide, it is helpful have a is the name your followers general idea of how you want use when sending replies, to promote your agency. mentions, and direct Using your agency’s or clinic’s
NOVEMBER 2018 Please direct all questions to NWA at 202.232.5492 TWITTER VOCABULARY »» Follow To follow someone on Twitter is to A very important point to note is that there is a subscribe to their Tweets or updates on the whole vocabulary—alternate versions of English site. words—when creating Twitter posts. This is because words are often abbreviated due to the »» Tweet (verb) Tweet, tweeting, tweeted. limited number of characters that each post can The act of posting a message, often called a contain (280 characters, including spaces and “Tweet”, on Twitter. punctuation). »» Retweet (abbreviated as RT) To retweet, »» # The hashtag is what drives Twitter. This retweeting, retweeted. The act of forwarding symbol is followed by a word or a phrase another user’s Tweet to all of your followers. used to describe a topic or a theme, and Twitter users put hashtags in their tweets to »» Timeline A real-time list of Tweets on categorize them in a way that makes it easy Twitter—basically the main part of your Twitter for other users to find and follow tweets about page where messages from everybody you a specific topic or theme. follow appear.
»» @ This symbol is used to designate usernames in Tweets, like this: Hello @Twitter! When a username is preceded by the @ sign, it becomes a link to a Twitter profile.
The menu bar across the top of a Twitter page. Press the Tweet button at the far right to write and send a post to your followers.
NOVEMBER 2018 Visit nwica.org