So you don’t understand what this Twitter business is all about.  Maybe you want to keep up with those rascally teenagers of yours.  Well, if you’re ready to learn how to communicate 2010 style, ChiStepper is here to help.  I reached out to a good friend of mine, WCGI’s Mid-day radio host, Loni Swain for some help.  She’s on from 9am to 2pm (5 hours long, 5 hours strong), and to stay on top of the entertainment industry and millions of her listeners, she’s become a Twitter Pro.  Over a series of interviews this week, Loni is going to help us step our game up.  You can follow her at @loniswain and you can follow me at @tpratt1.  Let’s get it cracking …

Loni Swain: I suggest that people use whatever name they wish to brand. If that happens to be their government name which, for example, is my brand, that is what they should use. If they have a business name, use that. This makes it easier for people to locate you on twitter and follow you. If your twitter is solely for personal use, then use whatever name you would like. If you don’t want to be found, make your name something extremely unique and the least similar to what people know you as.

 T. Pratt:  Okay, so we have an account, now how do we find our friends on Twitter? Is it the same as Facebook? 

Loni Swain: You can search for people on twitter, just as you can search for people on Facebook, by typing in names and/or email addresses. However, many people do not using their government names or business names for their twitter which made them harder to locate. The good news is that, unlike Facebook, you can change your twitter address whenever you like. I have actually noticed that many celebrities that once used cute nicknames or catch phrases for their twitter username have recently changed to their actual stage name. This helps increase the number of followers because you are easier to locate and it creates uniformity in your brand.

 T. Pratt:  Got it! So now I'm all set and I want to send someone a message. What is all of the @ business about? 

Loni Swain: When you wish to contact someone via twitter, you type the “@” symbol followed by the person’s twitter username with no space in between followed by your message to them. This message will be sent to this person and the message that you sent to this person will also be visible to all of YOUR followers. Therefore, if you don’t want every single person that follows you to see your message to someone else you must DIRECT MESSAGE that person. Direct Messages are usually referred to as DM. Also note that you can only correspond via DM with someone whom you are following and they are also following you. Otherwise the message will not be delivered. 
 
Example: If you typed @loniswain hello there

This would be sent to me 

Also, you only “@” someone if you want to specifically mention or direct a comment to someone on twitter. Otherwise you can just type away and everyone that follows you will get the general announcement. General tweets appear as the equivalent of a Facebook status update and when you “@” someone, that is the equivalent of tagging someone in a status update, or a note or a picture.  

PART 2 COMING WEDNESDAY ... SIGN UP AND GET READY!

Written by :

tpratt

 

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