What is Twitter? How can I use it for Organization?
You may wonder: why are more than 300 million users around the world active every month on this social network?
Surely you have also heard a lot about this messaging platform, but if you are still not 100% clear about Twitter, let me shed a little light on those always diffuse aspects.
With this new form of communication, which also allows the creation of moments on Twitter, thousands of people interact daily throughout the world.
This post will also help you understand this social platform better and understand how Twitter remains used in a company or organization.
Now keep the “learning mode” activated!
Table of Contents
What is Twitter?
This social platform is a two-way fax service with which you can quickly share information of various kinds, easily and free of charge.
In other words, it is one of the most popular microblogging networks that exist today, and its success lies in sending short messages called “tweets.”
It stood created by Jack Dorsey and his team in 2006, and the idea remains inspired by sending short snippets of text (140 characters until 2018), where you can add a link, images, video, surveys, or even a gift.
But What Exactly is Twitter?
- It is a full format, which allows you to obtain information in the headline format immediately.
- Quick to read and fast to write. That easy.
- This platform has a self-publishing character based on the immediacy of its messages.
- It is a perfectly structured network to share experiences and experiences as they happen.
- The type of content published on Twitter is diverse: we can find personal messages, photographs, infographics, corporate information, news, events, discounts, advertising, etc.
Once we have seen roughly what Twitter is and how it works, let’s know its use terminology to understand its use better.
Terminology to Understand What Twitter is
To recognize what Twitter is and how it remains used, I have compiled a small glossary of basic terms, which will make you handle it like a fish in the water.
Indeed a lot of this terminology already sounds familiar to you, but it never hurts to review it and know it means in-depth:
- Twitter user: is each registered user. It remains represented by @UserName.
- Tweet (tweet): is each of the messages that are published. Remember that each of them contains up to 280 characters (it stood expanded from 140 characters in 2018), not counting the multimedia material you include in your content.
- TimeLine: is the part of your account where you can see, in chronological order, the messages of the users you follow.
- Retweet (RT): it is the republication of a tweet launched by another user.
- Follower (follower): is the user who follows your account. It can see all the tweets you post.
- Following (following): it is the action of following another user within this network.
- List: it is a list that you can configure with your favorite accounts. You can produce for instance many lists as you want and give them a name.
For example, we can have a list related to WordPress hosting, another with PrestaShop hosting, another with Email Marketing tips, etc.
- IM (Instant Message): it is a direct and private message that we send to a Twitter user.
- Like: a heart icon represents it. We would click it if we liked a tweet.
- Hashtag: the king of Twitter. It remains represented by a pound icon (#) and allows us to add the terms we want after it. It remains used to facilitate searches.
For example, using #WordPress in the search engine, we will find a list of users who have used that term in their tweets.
- Trending Topic: These are the most talked about topics of the moment, that is, the words with the most mentions of the social network in a certain period.
Sure some of these terms you didn’t know yet, am I right?
Once we have become familiar with these definitions of Twitter, we will know what characterizes it and makes it one of the most used social platforms.
Essential Twitter Features
To know what Twitter is and what it can contribute to our communications, we must first analyze its characteristics and what makes Twitter one of the most appreciated social networks of the moment.
These are the ten most prominent and recognizable qualities of this quintessential microblogging network:
Simplicity
It is a platform that does not require excellent knowledge to use. Create a user profile to launch a tweet from the “Tweet” box.
Immediacy
She relies on posting quick messages. We can launch messages to the network in seconds from anywhere globally only by having an Internet connection.
Brevity
Twitter communications are, as we have seen, short messages of 280 characters maximum.
We can express any information in a summarized way to get a general idea of actuality spoken over.
Multiplatform
It can be used through its mobile application or the website and is compatible with many of the operating systems and browsers we use.
Universality
It is accessible in more than 25 languages and can remain accessed from almost anywhere on the planet.
Free
The service it provides is free for all users and organizations.
There is a pay-for-advertising option for advertisers that you can opt for and consists of paying a certain amount of money in exchange for advertising ads on the social network.
Since approximately March 2017, this platform is considering making a Premium version of subscription payment focused on companies and professionals who want to have access to additional tools for managing their profiles.
Unlimited
Allows the sending of messages without any limitation. You can send the number of tweets you want and when you want to broadcast them.
Asymmetry
Other users don’t need to follow you to see the information they spread (and vice versa).
Of course, they must have their public and not private profile so that when you access the search engine box and include the search words you want to perform, these messages appear on your Twitter Timeline.
Accessible
Any person or organization that requirements to create an account and use it can do so, although some restrictions remain inscribed in the norms and rules of use of Twitter.
Multiformat
It allows the inclusion of text, images, videos, GIFs, and a survey format that make the communication of messages more visual.
Who uses Twitter? And What do they use it?
Once we have clarified this microblogging network’s characteristics, you are indeed curious to delve into what it remains used to aim.
Be patient because we will not tell you how it remains used or how it works, and we will see some practical examples.
But first, let’s start by knowing who uses it :
Twitter users, as we have seen previously, can be:
1. Natural persons
An example of this would be @ JuanAnn_35. I would use it to:
- Comment on the results of your favorite team during a match.
- Follow an event in real-time over the Internet.
- Find out about the news at the time news is released.
- Discuss a controversial topic with other users.
- Get details about your favorite singer or actor.
- Upload photos of the places you are visiting.
- Describe a momentary thought.
2. Entities, companies, or corporations
As is the case with the @WebEmpresa account.
- Companies can use it to:
- Interact with your followers and customers.
- Make your product or service known.
- Communicate a promotion or offer.
- Announce an event.
- Increase sales with advertising.
- Network with other companies.
- Create contacts for collaborations.
- Get new clients.
As you can see, the way Twitter remains used is a compendium of infinite possibilities.
Each user can communicate freely and for free as they decide, but the most recommended thing is to use this social network as a brand. You do so while embracing your organization’s values and always taking care of every tweet, you send in detail.
How does Twitter work? And How is it used?
And we come to the million-dollar question.
After seeing what it is, what it is for, and the terminology and characteristics used in this platform, we will delve into how Twitter remains used.
We will create some practical examples of this platform’s most common uses to see in detail how it works.
Entering the official Twitter page, we will see a selection of great tweets, and we can filter them by categories:
- Science and Technology.
- Sports.
- Television.
- Movies etc.
Before logging in, you can see what topics are talking over, and once you have registered and logged in with your user, you can also start tweeting everything you want.
How to Search for Twitter?
In the search box, you can enter the keywords or terms you want to find information approximately.
You can also examine for other users using their @username.
In this case, we will search for ” WordPress hosting,” and we will give the magnifying glass icon to open the search results area.
Remember that we can also search using terms associated with a hashtag.
Referring to this same example, we could search for “#WordPress,” and also all the mentions in which they have stood included would appear.
Likewise, we can also select the most recent tweets, photographs, videos, news, broadcasts, or people related to the terms in the search results.
How can I ‘Follow’ a user on Twitter?
In your search engine, we can search directly for exmple a user by typing his name (@WebEmpresa) or find him from the search engine using a theme related to it.
For example, in searches related to WordPress, Webempresa is one of those that appears in the People list.
Uncertainty you click on the “Follow” push button, you will see all the communications made in your timeline or timeline, simple.
How to Create Lists on Twitter?
To add lists of users to our Twitter account, we have to go to the user’s profile.
In this case, we want to include Webempresa to keep up to date with all their tweets.
Click on the drop-down and click on “Add or remove from a list.”
Once this step remains done, we will create our list (or add it to an existing one)
And finally, we will name our list, a description of it, and indicate if we want other users to see it publicly or not.
What do I Do to Send a ‘Tweet’?
In the “Tweet” button, we can write our message, always thinking that it should be 280 characters maximum.
We can also optionally include a link to our website, blog, landing page, etc.
We can also add images, gifs, surveys, and emoticons. To launch it, you have to hit the “Tweet” button.
It’s effortless! Take a look at the example image:
Interacting on Twitter is Very Easy
To interact with other users, consider these options:
- Reply
- Retweet
- I like.
- Direct Message (DM).
In the following example graph, you can check where the icons will lead us to execute each interaction.
Such as you can see, in our response, we can also add an image, a gif, a survey, or the location.
It is a complete social network!
Conclusion
Now you have a much more complete concept about what Twitter is and how it works to make the most of its potential.
Whether you use it as a physical user or as a business, this microblogging platform can help you get your message out to the world quickly and efficiently.
Once you have reviewed these notions on using it, you have to start expressing yourself and also launching your thoughts into the blogosphere.
