More about Twitter

Note: This is a blog in conjunction with other past blogs about social media. I have written about Twitter once already and this post is in response to the huge amount of feedback and questions I received about Twitter.

As you know by now, I love Twitter. You can find me on Twitter @TheGayVegans or @FundraiserDan. I use each account for different purposes.

It is easy to create a Twitter account. On their main web page, simply create an account by filling in your name, email address and password. Create a password that is secure as I frequently see Twitter accounts hacked. Once you have done that, you'll be brought to another page and you can finish creating your account. Add a photo and you're good to go.

Some people use their real name as their Twitter name, I use our blog name. If you are going to use Twitter to promote a cause, think of a name that matches your cause.

Once you are set, you will have zero follower and zero that you are following. Like many things in life, Twitter is as good as the time and effort you put into it. Use the search area and look for people or groups you might be interested. For @TheGayVegans, I started with a search titled "vegan" and I was on my way. If you want to search under what folks are tweeting about, click on Discover at the top of the page and enter the same word. For example, if you type in "vegan" you will get a list of tweets that include that word.

You will immediately start seeing hash tags (#) in people's tweets. This means their tweet can be brought up in the Discover page for people doing a search using that topic. For example, if I end my tweet with #Lakewood (where we live), anyone doing a search for Lakewood will bring up our tweet. Another example is that every time I post one of our blog posts on Twitter, I add the hash tags #gay #vegan #blog so anyone searching using gay, vegan, or blog will bring up my tweet containing my latest blog post.

It really is simple, and fun, and a great way to learn and meet folks from all over the world. Many times I use Twitter as my news feed, as people I follow post news items they have come across. Vegan? There is a huge community on Twitter? Conservative? You guessed it, huge community? Same with communities I am part of: equality, human rights, animal rights, fundraising, etc.

I hope this post answers some of the questions brought up from the last past.

Thank you so much for reading!