Everything a PR Professional Needs to Know about Twitter

I've already mentioned Twitter in a previous blog but today I'm going to discuss it again. In recent findings I have learned that over 90% of businesses have a facebook account. This is great for getting your business out there but I've noticed very few have Twitter accounts and I wondered why? I then realised that not everyone understands Twitter. I never saw this as an issue because as part of my syllabus I attend a Twitter lecture once a week in college. This class keeps me informed about the social networking world of Twitter and I learn more about how Twitter works. Not everyone has a Twitter class though and since Twitter is very important in the PR industry I've decided to write a blog to help those who are not very familiar with it.
First of all if any of you have ever tried to use Twitter you will have learned it's completely different to Facebook. You don't add friends and you can't chat. It's basically a series of mini blogs or facebook status's. It's a way to voice your opinion on a particular topic. I'm sure many of you who have tried to use Twitter have been scared off by the constant presence of @ and #. I know it can seem nearly like a foreign language but have no fear because it's actually very simple and I will explain it all here.
This is everything you need to know about Twitter:

•  You have followers. Not friends. You can follow someone which means you have access to their tweet updates but unless they follow you in return they cannot see your tweets.
• A mini blog stating your views on a toptic which uses up to 140 characters is called a tweet.
• The @ symbol is used if you want to direct/connect your tweet to someone you are following.
• You also have the option to favourite and retweet a post. Favouriting a tweet puts the tweet in a folder for you to read when ever you want and retweeting means you post a copy of a tweet. Here is a picture of a conversation on Twitter using the @ symbol which was favourited and retweeted.

• Hashtag (#) is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. It's a way to catergorise messages. It's used before a relevant phrase or word (Using no spaces) and it links all similar tweets. If you search a topic using a hashtag all the tweets using that word or phrase will apper. Here is a picture of what is found when you search #HappyDays

• You also have the option to direct message your followers. This is done by clicking the spiral in the top right hand corner. As shown in this picture.

•  You can also click this to change your settings, for help and to sign out.

I hope that this had made Twitter easier to use and you'll now consider becoming a user. As of now Twitter has 288 million active users which is a wide audience you should consider connecting with. From a PR perspective it is advised you join.

Thanks for reading.