1. Twitter 101
Liz Borod Wright
Adjunct Professor at Columbia Journalism School
Strategic Social Media Workshop, Fall 2014
Contact: lizborod@gmail.com or just tweet @Travelogged

2. Are YOU one of 241 million active
users on Twitter?

3. Why Should YOU be on Twitter?
• Make connections and meet people:
“Facebook is to connect with the people with
whom you went to college, Twitter is to
connect with the people with whom you WISH
you went to college.”
• Promote your work
• Keep up with the news

4. Anatomy of a Tweet
• 140 characters, which can include
@usernames, links, #hashtags and up to 4
photos (new!)
• All elements use up characters
• Ideal length is 100-120 characters

5. Anatomy of a Tweet: User Names
• @usernames are clickable – gives the reader
more info
• So it shows up in notifications
• Double-check that the names are correct

6. Anatomy of a Tweet: Links
• Twitter shortens your link to 22 characters
• For a shorter link (13 characters) and to see
how many clicks your link gets, use Bit.ly, a
free metrics tool that gives you incredible
information

7. A Look at Bit.ly

8. Anatomy of a Tweet: Hashtags
• Hashtags originated on Twitter (now on
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest)
• A hashtag is a clickable, searchable term;
Gives your tweet a wide audience
• Can only be tracked through third parties for
now
• Do “market research”: a quick search to see
which ones are the most popular
• No more than 3 hashtags per tweet

9. Anatomy of a Tweet: Photos
You can now add up to 4 photos, and even tag users! The
number of photos doesn’t affect the character count.

10. Famous Tweets
First tweet by the Twitter founder! Was your
first tweet more exciting than that?

11. The Queen’s First Tweet

12. Did You Dress Up for Your First Tweet?

13. And Did Anyone Give You Flowers?

14. Famous Tweets
The most retweeted tweet of all time…

15. Famous Tweets
Previously the most retweeted tweet of all time…

16. Famous Tweets
Quick thinking during Super Bowl 2013 made Oreo one of the Twitter winners
that night.

17. Famous Tweets

18. Famous Tweets
“Don’t wait until the
plane has landed in the
Hudson to figure out
Twitter!” -- Sree

19. Famous Tweets
Facebook recently acquired Acton’s Whatsapp for $19 Billion.

20. Activist Tweeting: #WhyIStayed

21. Activist Tweeting: #WhyIStayed

22. RT: Retweets
• Retweeting is the currency of Twitter!
• Use the Retweet button or cut & paste so you
can add a comment
• There’s also “Favoriting” the star, but that’s
more like bookmarking. You really want to
retweet and be retweeted…
• Look at how many RTs those “famous tweets”
got!

23. MT: Modified Tweets
• Need to change the text when you RT? Use MT
(modified tweet)

24. Wondering what to tweet?

25. The Twitter Profile

26. Your Twitter Profile: 2 Names
• Username, aka Twitter handle: max 15
characters.
• “Real Name”: max 20 characters.

27. Your Twitter Profile: 2 Names
• Your Twitter handle is important for personal
branding…
• You are allowed to change both at any time
(announce it to your followers so they don’t get
confused and unfollow you)

28. Your Twitter Profile: 2 Photos
• Profile Photo: Should be a recognizable
headshot
• Header Photo: 500 by 1500px

29. Your Twitter Bio
• 160 characters (not including link at the end)
• Can contain links, hashtags and @usernames
• Should indicate what you’ll be tweeting about

30. Your Twitter Bio
• Tweak your bio frequently -- let it evolve with
you
• Check out these bios: @Sree, @wordwhacker,
@jeffbercovici, @KMSieminski,
@KristaCanfield, @earthxplorer
• Whose bios do you like?
• How can you optimize your own bio?

31. Understanding Direct Messages
Source: Meg Pickard, https://www.flickr.com/photos/meg/5757742705/

32. Free Twitter Analytics
• Fairly new (not everyone has it): Twitter Analytics
• When you’re logged into Twitter.com, go to
http://analytics.twitter.com/
• Much of this info is available just by looking at
your Twitter feed, but the presentation is nice
• You can also buy ads from here… Twitter is
hoping that seeing these analytics will disappoint
you enough to pay for better results!