Twitter, Demystified

Prologue

I created  a Twitter ID years ago and didn’t know what to do with it : it was a full three years before I got going with that esoteric pastime known as “tweeting”, and even then , I don’t think I’m there yet. The interesting part is that I’m not alone – there are literally scores of people out there who wonder what Twitter is all about, what you do on it, how useful it is, and so on.

So I thought I’d do a first-person account of my experiences on Twitter so far – in my usual random, rambling, bulleted style ! And again in my usual style, I'll leave a few things unsaid, because I know that there will always be someone else to say them.

Read on ! If you’re part of the Twitter brigade, feel free to rant about my inaccuracies; and if you’re not, I hope this post isn't too indigestible for you, and indeed, that it induces you to try Twitter out for yourself sometime – it’s quite an experience.

 What is Twitter and What do I do there?

Twitter describes itself as a microblogging site : a place where you can express your views or say anything at all – but just 140 characters at a time. This is called a “tweet”. Twitter also allows you to post pictures of any kind, or to communicate with others on Twitter through the use of the “@” sign, that directs your tweet to them. It permits you to group or index your tweets through the use of the “#” (a “hashtag”), or to find others’ tweets on the same subject by similar means.

 Who Tweets and Why ?

All sorts of people ! Twitter is rich and infinite in its variety! Here’s a quick look at the various categories of people who tweet (“the Twitterati”), and why:

·         Celebrities:  Because they know fans are hanging on to every apostrophe, and they love it. Mr Bachchan, for example, maintains a meticulous Twitter feed; unfortunately, not many of the other Bollywooders have much to say, but the many industrialists, journalists, newscasters and writers make up for it.

·         Businesses & Entrepreneurs: Because they have a great free platform to advertise – so caterers, banks, restaurants, clubs, movie theatres, small enterprises – they’re all there

·         News / TV Channels: Because they realise that they can reach you with their offerings 24x7, not just when you’re being a couch potato

·         Porn peddlers: Yes, they’re here as well. Individuals, couples or groups that want to pander to your salacious side and draw you into their scatological world with posts and pictures. Unfortunately, there are a great many adults-only

·         Anonymous people: People who want to go incognito, those who like to lead a second life online, or simply, those who are too reticent to be up-front, tend to use assumed or made-up names, and abstract pictures. This, of course, doesn’t mean that their Tweets aren’t as good as anyone else’s.

·         Teenagers: This is the tricky part – Twitter has any number of people who are young, very young, and not necessarily well-versed in the ways of the world. Your son or daughter could be there, venting his or her angst on several thousand followers who miraculously materialise in just a few weeks, and cling on to their ‘timeline” (what Twitter calls its feed page).

Getting Started

Just a few simple steps will take you there:

1.       Create an ID on www.twitter.com.  The ID is a username (referred to as your “Twitter handle”), and need not be your own name. You will also be required to suggest a user name, which would follow the same principle. So, a handle like @TimeFlies with a user name like Big Ben is perfectly in order.

2.       Enter the “bio”, which is intended to be a brief description of yourself, but is actually a limited space where you can communicate anything you like, about or in relation to yourself and your tastes, that will induce similar people to follow you. Or it can be a simple, flat, statement in the air – one Twitter user, female, simply wrote “Characterless after 140”, thereby exemplifying how she sees T(wit)ter.

3.       If you’re comfortable with the technicalities, create a suitable look and feel for the page, the background, et al.

4.       Choose people to follow. Keep following new followers every day for a week.

5.       Try tweeting yourself.

What do I Tweet about ?

There’s really no limit to what you can tweet about – but you probably feel silly writing things in a continuous stream with no apparent result or effect – kind of like talking to someone for minutes together, when that someone doesn’t seem to be listening at all.

Relax. You’ll get into the groove. What you need to remember that EVERYthing you put on Twitter is seen by hundreds of people globally. It’s a perpetual audience across different time zones. The moment you touch a chord with one of your tweets, you’ll know: they’ll express their appreciation by “favoriting” your tweet, or by “retweeting” it (publishing it on their timeline so that their followers can see it), or by interacting with you, and so on. You’ll naturally be gratified, and will tend to tweet more, and so it builds.

If you still can’t imagine how you’re going to build your own string of tweets, here are a few suggestions:

• ·         Write a quotation you like – with or without the name of the person to whom that quote is attributed
• ·         Vent your spleen – simply comment on a series of things you feel strongly about. Like the upcoming electoral candidates, perhaps
• ·         Share news or events or weather or anything interesting in your life, your home, or vicinity
• ·         Type a 140-character poem, written either by you or by someone else. Or perhaps a limerick, they’re always hilarious
• ·         Type a few lines from a song you like, that have meaning for you
• ·         Take pictures and post them, or post pictures you like
• ·         Conduct conversations, using the @ symbol
• ·         Tweet news – such as a building catching fire in your area, or an accident happening in front of you
  

Rules of Twitter

Like any other forum online, Twitter has its own house rules, and its own code of conduct. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. 1.       Follow people. And retweet or favorite them. It’s the virtual equivalent of walking into a party and speaking to everyone present in turn. You get visible, and you get popular. Skulking in the cybernetic blackness, waiting for unknown admirers, will get you nowhere. 

1. 2.       There’s a “direct message” (DM) facility in Twitter, but most people don’t like it since the intent of all Twitter conversations is to keep them public – unless, of course, you’re sharing a phone number or other personal details with someone who wants it.

1. 3.       The default display picture (“dp”, or “avi”) on Twitter is an egg, standing upright in a square background of various colours. Do replace this egg with a picture – ANY picture. The unwritten rule in Twitter is that all eggs are rotten – people will tend not to follow you.

1. 4.       Don’t copy someone else’s tweet and represent it as your own – retweet it. Copying is frowned upon and is viewed as a form of slyness or dishonesty. Followers will treat you like pesticide, and stay away.

1. 5.       Two people on your timeline might be having a conversation: don’t follow that conversation and butt in, it amounts to stalking and will invite vitriolic reaction.

1. 6.       Don’t spam. This means, don’t flood someone’s timeline with a series of tweets, without being invited to do so. They will simply block you and tell others to do the same.

1. 7.       Remember that Big Brother may not be watching you, but everyone is. You needn’t be excessively diplomatic, but don’t be unnecessarily derogatory, racist, sexist, abusive or unduly hate-oriented. You wouldn’t like your tweet to come up at a job interview, now would you ? 

So what use is Twitter ?

• ·         It’s a 24x7x365 live, virtual communication platform that’s easily accessible on nearly all phones and computing machines
• ·         You can actually tweet celebrities or your role models – they frequently respond
• ·         You meet interesting people from many different countries
•            It's great company and makes interesting reading
• ·         You get alerted on many important events, unfortunate happenings, natural disasters and so on, even as they happen
• ·         You can actually send out an SOS on Twitter – like a request for help, or a plea for a blood donation
  

YOU decide. And let me know what you think. Even if you’ve already been tweeting, I’d love to hear your views. 

                                                                       -------- x ---------

Note: Images used in this article are freely available from the internet and were downloaded therefrom