Get started on Twitter

Go to Twitter and sign up for a free account. Then create your profile and upload an image. Add a one line bio - these are often whimsical. You can choose to set up phone or IM notifications in addition to web - this means you may send and receive Twitter messages through your cellphone or instant messenger client. You may choose to approve people who can read your updates (protect your updates), or you may want the whole world to follow you.

I recommend: Carefully consider what username and image you would like to use. You've already figured out your purpose for using Twitter, right? So, act accordingly. If you are sending company updates, use the company name as your username and the logo as the image. If you are Twittering as an individual, you probably want to use your real image (or a good caricature of yourself) and a username close to your real one...well maybe not. You may or may not want people to easily find you. Maybe you are famous and only want to Twitter with a select group of friends; in that case, you may want to make sure people searching on your real name won't find you.

Design your Twitter presence

Twitter success is often based on subtle and cool details, like what your one line bio says, your username, and your Twitter page design. Remember, you want to transmit something of your real presence and emotional nuance across the ether.

I recommend: Here are some Twitter background guidelines. Make sure if you tile the background it doesn't look like bad web page design circa 1995, unless you want it to! It may be a good idea to first check out some sample backgrounds at http://twitter.com/chrispirillo or http://twitter.com/guykawasaki for ideas.

Give some thought to what you'll Twitter...or not

If you are a media company, blog, or business selling a consumer product, you may want to Tweet a series of constant headlines or updates. It pays to give some thought beforehand to the structure and frequency of your Tweets to both make your life easier and because a key to addicting devoted followers is content whose form or topic they can rely on. As in any social media participation, make sure you add value and are not just tooting your own horn. Well...too much tooting is just boring and boorish!

On the other hand, you may be using Twitter purely to keep in touch with friends or associates, or to communicate in a freer way than usual. In that case, enjoy your freedom, divulge your most profound thoughts and deepest insecurities, tell us what you ate for lunch or where you just had a cup of joe, or even how your wife's labor is going.

I recommend: See examples of media twitters at http://twitter.com/nytimes, blog twitters at http://twitter.com/mashable or business twitters at http://twitter.com/DellOutlet. Fire departments are even using Twitter for updates.

But...Twitter is stupid! Solution: Follow smart people

Many people sign up for Twitter, all excited, and then...nothing happens. They don't get it or think it's stupid. Why? Because they have not yet found interesting people or businesses to follow. You need to find people to follow and convince others to follow you to make it all interesting, addicting, and useful!

I recommend: Try searching for people in the Twitter "find folks" search box. But remember, lots of interesting people don't use their real name or full name on Twitter. You need to find just one interesting person to start with, click on their Twitter page, and then click the "Follow" button. You will start seeing their updates when you visit Twitter. If you enjoy following that person, see who they are following, and you can add some of those people too. Often when you follow someone, they will follow you back.

You can also find lists of Twitterers to follow such as business Twitterers, SEO Twitterers, IT analyst Twitterers, Twitterers interested in social media marketing and Twitterers who are at TED. You may also randomly find interesting people to follow through browsing the Public Timeline to see recent Twitter updates, or find influential Twitterers at Twitterholic.

Search Twitter

Searching Twitter can be a fascinating way to see what keeps popping up in the latest conversations, from Jill Bolte Taylor's brain to Blue Bottle coffee. Reporters these days are searching Twitter as a starting point, and many people are ignoring their feed readers in favor of getting the most important links of the day at Twitter.

I recommend: Advanced Twitterers keep track of tweets at Twitter search engine Scoopler or Summize (you can subscribe to results as an RSS feed), browse tagged tweets at Twemes (see earthquakes or tequila for example), Tweetscan (try small business). Or view random tweets around the world from London to Tokyo at Twittervision.

Use desktop applications to streamline your Twitter use

If you use Twitter's web interface, it can be hard to easily see who is replying to you and who is sending you direct messages. Desktop applications built for Twitter allow you to read replies and direct messages inline as well as offer a more custom browsing experience.

I recommend: Try Twitterific for Mac users, which supports multiple Twitter accounts. PC versions include Twitteroo, Snitter, or Twhirl.

Sync your Twitter & Facebook updates

No more writing of multiple updates...use the Twitter application so your Twitter updates become your Facebook updates as well.

I recommend: If you have a Facebook account, grab the Twitter application to sync your two accounts.

Totally addicted?

First of all, it's nice that you're developing an intimacy with strangers, but *do* remember that you live in a real neighborhood. Consider getting up from your keyboard from time to time or putting down your cellphone and chitchatting with your in-the-flesh neighbor over the backyard fence, or even go get Blue Bottle coffee with that neighbor instead of tweeting about it. Yes, attention to real people in actual physical proximity can be a good thing.

I recommend: If you have become a Twitter addict, there's always the official Twitter blog, articles about how laid-off people use Twitter, or blog posts about why your fellow addicts can't stop either. You can even participate in Twitter's evolution by suggesting new features at the Twitter Wiki.