Exploring Twitter: Fastest Growing Social Media Platform

1. Twitter 101Twitter – Fastest growing social media platform in the world By Kelby Peachey Social Media Chair - National Arthritis Walk Volunteer Committee Denver Arthritis Walk Co-ChairPeachey's Pack Team Captainwww.peachypains.com | Twitter/Facebook: @PeachyPains

2. Twitter for Arthritis Walk • What is Twitter and where did it come from? • How big is the Twitter base? • How does Twitter work? • Love those Hashtags! • Twitter Tips!

3. What is Twitter? 3

4. What is Twitter? Twitter describes itself as, “a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” • Conversation • Community building • Sales • Customer Service • Marketing • Microblogging (huh?) • Outbound Communication • Listening/research • And more … Source: http://commoncraft.com/twitter

5. How big is the Twitter base? Show me the stats 5

6. How big is the Twitter base?: By the Numbers … • In January 2009, Twitter.com clocked in with 4.5 million unique visitors in the US. • More than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month of February 2009 (note: this number represents visitors to www.Twitter.com and does not include API or mobile Twitter usage) • The service grew 1,382% year-over-year in February 2009 • 21 mil US visitors in July 09 • 27 fold growth in one (1) yr • 35-54 is largest segment • 12-17 & 18-24 segments growing Source: http://blog.comscore.com/2009/09/changing_demographics_of_twitter.html

7. How big is the Twitter base?: By the Numbers … Source: Social Networking Survey for Nonprofits by NTEN, The Port and Common Knowledge

8. How does Twitter work? 8

9. How does Twitter work?: Conversation … • Follow interesting and conversational people • Share “what you’re interested in” or “what has your attention” • Ask and answer questions • Participate in conversations • Be … • Human • Interesting • Helpful • Newsworthy • Conversational Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominicspics/1135876473/sizes/l/

10. How does Twitter work?: The Basics … Source: http://commoncraft.com/twitter

11. Home Page A few basics

12. How does Twitter work?: Anatomy of the Home Page # of tweets you’ve sent # of people you are following # of people following you Where you add your “tweet” The timeline to view what you and your followers are saying Top trending topics

13. Profile Page Your profile’s page. A few basics

14. How does Twitter work?: Anatomy of your Profile Page Direct (private) messages sent to you @ messages sent to you Search Profile Blurb Tweets marked favorite Timeline of what you’ve said

15. How does Twitter work?: Terms to know …

16. So, let’s apply what we learned. How does Twitter work? Terms to know … Tweet Message “@” ReTweet “RT” Hashtag “#”

17. How does Twitter work?: Search … Search for people, places, hashtags!! Resource: http://commoncraft.com/twitter-search

18. Love those Hashtags!! 18

19. Famous Chronic Illness Hashtags • #Spoonie • Derives from “The Spoon Theory” written by Christine Miserando. Her personal story and analogy of what its like to live with sickness or disability. • #arthritis • Groups everyone who has arthritis together. • Those who have arthritis identify themselves by their type of arthritis. So use them as hashtags! • #rheum • #spondy • #Fibro • #Lupus

20. Love those Hashtags! • Find people who don’t follow you • Find people who have common interest • Easy way to follow a conversation about that particular interest

21. #FollowFriday or #FF • What is #followfriday? • Every Friday, you’ll see thousands of people on Twitter using this phrase, so we thought we’d take a moment to explain what Follow Friday is, and how you can join in with this Twitter game. • #FF is #followfriday abbreviated. Helps with the number of characters! • #followfriday is a game in which people suggest who to follow on Twitter. • It helps everyone find interesting Twitter users. You list the users you recommend following and add “#followfriday” anywhere in the Tweet so others can find it. The “#” is very important – don’t forget it! • Example Tweet (feel free to copy this and replace the Twitter names with your friends’ Twitter names and reasons to follow): • #followfriday: @mashable@adamostrow@sharonfeder@jbruin@adamhirsch@benparr@brett@tamar@doctorparadox@w3edge@catone@franticnews@film_girl • You can find everyone’s #followfriday suggestions on Twitter search. • An easy way to make friends and find new followers! Source: http://mashable.com/followfri/

22. Twitter Tips … 22

23. Twitter Tips – STOP! It’s not just another megaphone to yell at people with Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/william-hamon/1658466013/sizes/o/

24. Twitter Tips - 101 There are some basics you need to know to get started • Answer the question “Why am I on Twitter?” • Think about how Twitter fits into your overall online/offline strategy • Identify staff participants • Identify your audience • Find people to follow • Determine how often you will participate • Know your tone, identity, language, interests, relationship

25. Twitter Tips – Humanize it! Being human is key to succeeding in Twitterville • Fill out your entire profile • Use a human picture • Speak in a human voice • Be a person and an organization • Present the personal angle to org. issues • Sincerity, transparency, and democracy

26. Twitter Tips – Participate! It’s about the people, relationships and community • Listen • Participate regularly • Engage with your followers & fellow tweeters • Be ready to learn from your followers • Retweet, respond, ask, and follow

27. A few resources for you to get started… • BlackBaud • Twitter Help • Twitter’s Getting Started Guide • Twitter’s How-To Guides • Twitter’s Troubleshooting Guides • Twitter in plain English • Twitter search in plain English