Twitter Information (for Beginners)
Twitter is a real-time, free social networking web site that lets users share short messages (only 140
characters), known as “tweets,” with a circle of friends. The power of Twitter is the exchange of
information.
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Getting Started – Open a Twitter account at: http://www.twitter.com
Names – In Twitter, there are two different names on an account (highlighted below)
a. Username (for example, HSDistrict211)
- Limited to 15 characters
- Must be unique
- People can search (on the “Who To Follow” page) for you using your username
b. Full, or Real, Name (for example, Twp HS District 211)
- Limited to 20 characters
- These are keywords
- People can search (on the “Who To Follow” page) for you using your real name,
although this is may not always be as effective as using a username
c. Recommendations for Twitter account Usernames and Full Names
Username
Full Name
- PalatineHS
Palatine HS
- FremdHS
Fremd HS
- ConantHS
Conant HS
- SchaumburgHS
Schuamburg HS
- HoffmanHS
Hoffman Estates HS
d. These Usernames would afford a future opportunity to expand with sub-accounts such as:
- ConantHSAthletics
- SchaumburgHSMusic
e. Linking to your Twitter profile from your school’s web site is the best/easiest way to
authenticate your identity to followers
Design your Twitter homepage – Twitter homepages can be as simple as uploading your Profile
picture (school logo), or more creative my selecting fonts, colors, etc.
Use Twitter Tools – The Twitter web site provides resources, such as icons and widgets (a small
web application created to run a script usually directing the user to a Twittter web page as a
follower), to use on school web sites, all helpful in increasing the number of school followers.
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Select Twitter Contact Person – Select a person at your school responsible for posting
information (“Tweeting”)
a. Recommendations include Activity Director’s Secretary or someone associated with
school announcements
b. Inform building staff to who requests for Tweets should be submitted
c. All requests for Tweets should be sent to this individual (via email), with approval to post
from supervising administrator
Announce Twitter Account – In order to increase the number of followers, and thus increasing
the effectiveness of your Tweets, announce your Twitter account:
- On web site
- In Principal’s Newsletters
- Morning announcements
- In an email
- Announce at an athletic/activity event
- Include in an event program
- Include Twitter icon/link in your email signature
What to Tweet – Decide what type of information should be Tweeted. Tweets should be
informative, but also can drive followers to web sites for more information. Some things to
consider are:
- Academics (class room activities, special projects, etc.)
- Clubs/Activities (meetings, events, etc.)
- Athletics (upcoming games, results, etc.)
- School events (upcoming events)
- Accolades/Awards (school, students, or staff)
- Special School events (taffy apple sale, Homecoming flower sale, etc.)
- Highlights (students and staff)
- Emergency information (subject to approval)
Develop Tweeting Schedule – After deciding what type of information your school wants to
Tweet, develop a school-wide schedule for “regular” Tweets. This way, there will always be
information ready to Tweet. For instance,
- Athletics might be on Mondays for results from the weekends
- Clubs might be on Tuesdays to highlight week ahead
- The schedule should not limit the frequency or timing of Tweets
Sample Tweets – The following are examples of Tweets:
- Saxon football upsets Hersey at the wire (link)
- No school tomorrow or Monday – Enjoy the 4-day weekend!
- PHS Teachers honored by State Board of Ed (link)
- Big week for soph with PLAN test Wed, spirit day Thurs, and Student Council Challenge Fri
- Myth: only junk food is available during the school day – eat a healthy lunch at school
- Great article on HEHS Science class project in Daily Herald (link)
- Homecoming roses go on sale outside café Tues morning. $3 each
10) Twerminology – Helpful Twitter terms/definitions for the beginner
Tweet: All posts on Twitter; must be 140 characters or less.
Reply: A Tweet posted in reply to another user’s message, usually posted by clicking the
“reply” button next to their Tweet in your timeline. Always begins with @username.
Retweet: Abbreviated as RT, Retweet is used to show you are Tweeting something that was
posted by another user. The format is RT @username where username is the Twitter
name of the person you are Retweeting.
Detweet: Slang term used to describe a Tweet you made, then deleted.
Tweeter: An account holder on Twitter who posts and reads Tweets. Also known as
“Twitterers.”
Twitter Username: Also known as a Twitter handle. Must be unique and contain fewer
than 15 characters. Is used to identify you on Twitter for replies and mentions.
Follow/Follower: Someone who subscribes to receives your updates. Twitter allows you to
see all the people you follow, and also who is following you.
Neweeter: Slang term used to describe a new Tweeter.
Mention: Mentioning another user in your Tweet by including the “@” sign followed
directly by their username is called a “mention.” Also refers to Tweets in which your
username was included.
Handle: A user’s “Twitter handle” is the username they have selected and the
accompanying URL, such as: http://twitter.com/username.
Hashtag: A way of organizing your updates for Twitter search engines. Users prefix a
message with a community-driven hashtag to enable others to discover relevant posts.
One commonly used hashtag on Twitter is #followfriday where users network by
providing the names of their favorite people to follow on Twitter.
Direct Message (DM): A function of Twitter that enables you to send a private message to a
person you are following. Tweets become DMs when they begin with “d username” to
specify who the message is for.
FAV: This action lets you mark a person’s last message as a favorite message to be displayed
in your Favorites Tab. To use FAV, type “FAV username.”
Twabulous: Slang term used to describe a fabulous tweet.
Twettiquette: Slang term short for Twitter etiquette, used to describe acceptable Twitter
behavior.
Twitosphere: Slang term used to describe the “World of Twitter.”
Over Capacity Page: Sometimes referred to as the “Fail Whale” page. The “Twitter is over
capacity” message and a whale image show up when the site is having trouble keeping
up with traffic.
For tips, help, and getting started information, the following web page provides some useful resource
information for Twitter users: http://www.d211.org/twitter_help.shtml