This is the first in a series of instructional articles (accompanied with a video), that will teach you what you need to know to participate and engage on Twitter. Throughout this series I will teach all you need to know about Twitter for fun or business.
This first article will define Twitter. Next, it will teach you how to set up your Twitter account. Let’s get started.
What is Twitter
Twitter is a very popular Social Networking website. The likes of Oprah Winfrey, Barrack Obama, John McCain, Ashton Kutcher, and thousands of other people from all walks of life are on Twitter.
Twitter is what we call a Micro-Blogging service. In other words, it allows it’s users to send and read other Twitter users updates (known as Tweets), which are basically a text-based post of up to 140 charcters in length. These Tweets can contain images and videos.
These Tweets can be send via your computer or cellphone. They can also be easily integrated into your blogs, your MySpace account, Facebook, Instant Messages and a host of other services (I will cover this in an another article).
Twitter works great for people on the go. Since Twitter works in real-time, a small piece of information can be broadcasted in seconds. A great example of this was the China earthquake in 2008 and the recent civil uprisings in Bangkok Thailand: Twitter broke the news before the mainsteam media got a hold it.
Another way Twitter can be used is as a gigantic electronic bulletin board. You can post Tweets such as "I am running late to the meeting" or "I will be telecommuting today" or "I got the business account" or "dinner will be late" or "the Los Angeles Lakers won today." You get the idea.
Twitter is also a great resource of information for just about anything. Having a problem with your computer? Send a Tweet. Expertise abounds on Twitter.
From an Internet Marketers standpoint, Twitter can be used to inform all of your Tweople (people who follow you on Twitter), of the new offer or product you just launched.
I will explain in another article how you get people to follow you on Twitter and how you can follow others on Twitter. But for now, let’s talk about how you set up your Twitter account.
Getting a Twitter Account
Step 1. The first thing you will want to do before you sign up for a Twitter account is to get yourself a junk email account with an email service such as Gmail or Yahoo!. Trust me on this. You do not want all of the many emails associated with Twitter to be going to your primary email address. Plus, in future instructional articles, I will be showing you some very powerful Twitter automation tips that will make use of this junk email account. So take the time to get your self a junk email account now. Remember your new junk emaill address and login information.
Step 2. Your next step is to go over to the Twitter website and click on the Get Started button to sign up for your free Twitter account.Once you sign up you will be given a unique Twitter URL that will look like http://www.twitter.com/YOURNAME
Also, while in your account, you can upload a photo, write a short one line bio, add any websites or blog URLs you have.
At this point, I want you to watch the video below that will walk you step by step through the Twitter account set up process.
Video 1 – Setting Up Your Twitter Account
Once you have set up your Twitter account, you are ready to move on to the next section in this series of the Twitter instructional articles and videos: Creating a Twitter Background Image.
