Twitter is a social network that focuses on 140-character messages that answer the question, “What are you doing?” The service can be accessed not only from a computer but from an instant messenger service, mobile texting and other venues.
Sometimes “tweeting,” which is what posting to Twitter is called, is called “microblogging, because it works in a similar manner only with the character limit. Once you post a tweet, other people can “retweet” it to their “tweeple,” or followers, thus creating a viral affect.
It’s easy and free to use Twitter. Creating an account takes just a minute. Just complete your profile, upload a photo and write a short bio. Link your account to your blog website.
Now post your Twitter address on your blog with the Tweet This plugin. Then your blog readers can follow you on Twitter. Also add the AddToAny: Share/Bookmark/Email Button plugin, or a similar one, so you and your readers easily can tweet your posts on Twitter.
Every time I publish a post, I use view it and then use the AddtoAny share button that appears at the bottom of my post to tweet it (and share it on Facebook). It automatically shortens the URL and I can add a little message to go with the title. So, for this tweet, it read, “Tell the world you published a post. Here’s 1 way: Tweeting Your Blogged Book Posts to Twitter http://bit.ly/9bv73T via @AddToAny.” (AddToAny will provided analytics on your shared posts for you if you install the code.) When I sent this tweet, anyone following me on Twitter could click on the link and read this post if they happened to see it.
There is an etiquette to using Twitter. You’ll want to Google this as well. Learn how to follow other people and what type of information to post. There’s a way to gain followers; I don’t recommend the get-followers-fast schemes. Just provide a lot of good information, get involved in conversations, and follow some people back who seem interesting to you.
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