This is a presentation that I put together as a follow-up to my September 2008 Twitter training at the Online News Association's annual conference (available here: http://bit.ly/ONA08-LAB). Much has changed in the Twitter landscape (namely, the proliferation of apps and the growth of the community as a whole), however, certain things remain constant no matter what: setting goals and developing strategies, managing your brand and producing good content will always be key. That's what I cover here.

1. Prepared for: Voice of America Washington, DC | December 1, 2009 Developed by: Leslie Bradshaw Director of Engagement | New Media Strategies VOA Twitter Briefing Taking [Your Use of] Twitter to the Next Level @LeslieBradshaw #VOAtwitbrief @VOA_News

2. 8 Thought Starters 2 Suggestions 18 Minutes My pledge to you…

3. Eight (8) | Thought Starters

5. Suggestion #1 | Brand Management

7. @VOA_News does NOT come up!

10. Look! People are talking about you!

11. Suggestion #2 | Content

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13. What might be some other sources? Your People @ Tykerman1 @ BradshawPinot

14. These are so cool. Please RT them once a week. Please.

15. Hashtags # Start your own, know what is trending, speak in native tongue

16. (origins) (the tweet heard round the world) Hashtags, cont’d

17. Be RT’able Keep your tweets to <120 characters (that was 27)

18. Consider using cc: This is the “new @” Use it when you want to ping someone with your content

19. Multiple voices? There’s a symbol for that. ^ Use the “carrot” to “sign” tweets when there are multiple contributors For example… VOA_News: Our DC team is participating in a #VOAtwitbrief by @LeslieBradshaw today. ^mm

20. Q & A | Closing

21. http://SlideShare.net/LeslieBradshaw This presentation can be found here:

23. Appendix| Global Data

24. Twitter’s Unique Monthly Visitors United Kingdom: 2,400,000 UMVs Brazil: 770,000 UMVs Germany: 480,000 UMVs India: 390,000 UMVs France: 250,000 UMVs Italy: 120,000 UMVs Russia: 100,000 UMVs Source: Comscore and Trendwatching.com