Twitter has over 6 million registered users who updated (tweeted) more than 10 billion updates (tweets) and it is still growing with a massive speed of more than 1000% of growth rate (data recorded in feb 2009). But not everyone in this world is an early adopter of new media technologies or is a web 2.0 aficionado. So, what’s wrong if you are still new to Twitter.com or making up your mind to join it? This short and Simple Guide To Twitter For Beginners will help you understanding the function of twitter in much easier way.
Introduction:
Twitter: Twitter allows you to share instant messages with max 140 characters or lesser to your friends and followers via twitter.com website or from your mobile phone.
Now, if you already registered on twitter but never posted any updates, login and open your twitter homepage and check these TWITTER LINGOS defined below
Followers: Users who find your twitter updates interesting can follow you to get your latest updates on their twitter home page
Following: Twitter users you find interesting to follow and wish to get their latest twitter updates on your twitter home page are those whom you are following.
(To follow any user it’s not needful that the user should follow you back, this can be one sided connection too)
Tweets: Your Twitter updates are often known as tweets.
Browsing Panel
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Home: Home page of your twitter account where you can see all latest tweets by users you are following including your own tweets. From your home page you can also update your tweets.
Profile: Your own profile page of twitter where you can see your tweets, profile description etc.
Setting: Allows you to customize your twitter page look, appearance, profile information, account password etc.
Find People: This will help you find appropriate twitter users to follow; search them by name on twitter, find your friends by exporting your email addresses or invite others by email.
Help: Really helpful with lots of information and very well aligned categories. They answered some most frequently asked questions too.
Signout: You know this!
List: Twitter list allows you to organize your followers and those following you into different list you want to put them in. Like friends, technology tweets, media etc.

Listed: Those who listed you the same way you have listed others.
Favorites: When you mouse over to any update you will notice a small star icon on right top of that tweet. Click it and it will be saved as your favorite tweet. I do this to followup any particular tweet later.

Trending Topics Most widely circulated or tweeted topics are known as trending topics.

Trending According To Location This is an option to know what people are tweeting about and from the same location you are in.

Basics Information
Tags on twitter Ever wonder what are tags in twitter used for? Actually tags are started by early twitter adopters to make their tweets look organized but later all tags are accepted as a part of twitter’s user interface and now they function according to what any particular tag is meant for. Most commonly used tags on twitter are following. Hey! but why people use tags on twitter? To make their twitter updates well defined and well managed. That’s how twitter works.
#: Hash tag: This is one of the most popular tag is widely used on twitter for creating any topic, it also allows users to make their own generated hash tag topics as a trending if accepted and used by many other twitter users. More importantly any topic with hashtag(#) is easier to come into twitter search.
E.g. 
@: At tag or reply is commonly used for replying or mentioning any twitter user you follow or even those whom you don’t follow but wish to mention, just put @ before any username and the person will be mentioned and will get notified about it.
E.g. 
D: Direct message tag to make your tweet go as a direct message to the user’s inbox. Its sort of private tweet.
E.g: 
RT:Retweets Any particular twitter updates of yours when re-updated by other user mentioning you with it is called retweets or RT. Also check who how what and why of RTs. Mouse over on bottom right of any particular tweet, you will see a small icon of retweets. Or do it in the traditional way by adding RT before any update.
E.g.1 
E.g. 2 
More terms used in Twitter…
Following words are often used by twitter users while communicating with each other.
Tweeples means Twitter users
Tweeps means Twitter users
Twiend means Twitter friend
#FF means FollowFriday: It’s a widely generated trending topic by twitter users.
Twitter Applications
Twitter is very interesting but if you want to enjoy twitter more then get a twitter application on your desktop. There are plenty of good twitter applications for desktop but the two best applications are Seesmic and TweetDeck. Both are free to download from their webpages.
I recommend TweetDeck because I use this and I seriously enjoy it. Just go to tweetdeck.com and download it on your computer, run it and you are done ( you need Adobe AIR to run tweetdeck). You can update your twitter account via TweetDeck without logging in twitter.com. Not only twitter but you can even update your facebook and myspace too from TweetDeck. It gives you choice to tweet from desktop, reply, retweets, direct message, follow or un-follow anyone from TweetDeck. It also automatically shorten all long URLs you wish to tweet with your message.
Why Twitter?
Twitter is the easiest way to expand your online network and get connected to even Bill Gates. Yes Bill Gates has his own verified twitter account. Many world famous brands, corporations and entrepreneurs use twitter to update their clients and customers with latest information and news about their dealing, Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities using twitter to keep their fans and followers informed about their whereabouts and upcoming events. Twitter is best way to get latest news from all over the world instantly, most probably before any news channels publish it. Twitter is one of the biggest reason for Dell and Star Bucks profitable businesses because Twitter gives them opportunity to get in touch with their consumers directly. Twitter is fast and best social media platform in the history of World Wide Web. That’s my own opinion and I believe its true .
Hope this will help you understanding twitter more easily. If you find this article helpful, Please Subscribe To Our Email Feed and get updated with more resourceful news and articles in future from flockpost.com









{ 2 comments }
This is great. very useful for starters maybe i should have had come across something like this a year ago when i was not into blogging or had no idea what blogs were and hence twitter seemed like a boring idea.
A few more posts like that and you can publish a book or e book called ….
Social networking for Dummies
Whenever someone asks me what is this twitter all about I am joining to direct that person to this page..
Glad you liked it Aditya,I have many friends who joined twitter just because many people joined it but now they don't know what to do or they are just too lazy to learn things by own. I thought why not making a post to make any layman understand the basic of twitter.
Thanks a lot for an idea
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Yes, I thought to make an e-book but not in near future
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