IN THIS CHAPTER

Register with Twitter

Adjust Your Account Settings

Take Charge of Your Privacy

Set Up Notifications on Web and Mobile

Review Terms and Privacy Policy

Find People to Follow

Tour Your New Twitter Profile

I really enjoy the time I spend on Twitter, and I’m on there every day. I can visit the site at any hour and find links to interesting posts to read or a friend to respond to. It may not be someone I’ve met in real life, but someone I’ve met on Twitter with whom I respect and have common interests. The reason I enjoy Twitter more than Facebook is that I have the opportunity to meet people from all over the world — even their pets! Twitter is active 24 hours a day, and you can respond to (or just read) Tweets without worrying about a timeline. People on Twitter come from all backgrounds, and you can meet people of all ages.

Keep in mind that Twitter is not just about posting pithy thoughts online; it’s all about sharing and having conversations. The second-best part of Twitter is that by listening (reading other people’s posts, or Tweets, as they’re nicknamed), you learn all sorts of interesting things. Almost all news events appear on Twitter before you hear about them on radio or television because people in the area share live photos and local news updates.

Twitter users love to spread information of all sorts (some are spam, but I ignore them). When you find your niche, you’ll see what fun participating on the site can be.

Your posts on Twitter are limited to 280 characters. (When you send text messages on your phone, you’re allowed 160 characters.) Figuring out how to abbreviate your thoughts and get your message into a short sentence will definitely exercise your brain; it can take a bit of thinking!

In this chapter, I help you get started with Twitter — by registering, setting up an account and Profile page, deciding what notifications you want to receive, and getting familiar with Twitter shorthand and emoji. Are you ready? Let’s sign up and start making new friends!

Because social media platforms are updated almost daily as they try to improve the experience for the users, the registration process I show you may change order. You’ll no doubt have to answer all the same questions. Just know that anything you input is editable, and you can make changes when you’re more secure with the platform.

Register with Twitter

1. As with all interactive websites, you can’t play until you sign up and agree to the rules. So type www.twitter.com in your browser’s address bar, press Enter, and you’ll come to a page similar to the one in Figure 11-1.
2. To start your Twitter adventure, begin here:
   1. Click Sign Up to go to the registration page.
   2. On the next page, type your full, real name so that your friends can find you if they look for you in Twitter search. (Chapter 12 tells you more about searching on Twitter.)
   3. Type your mobile phone number (or click the option to use your email address instead).

   4. Select a password and type it in the Password text box.

      Make your password at least 6 characters. Twitter lets you know the security strength of your password after you type it. I recommend you select one considered Strong. Okay isn’t quite good enough. You can change any of the above steps later if you want.

      Why not check out the information on picking a password in Chapter 3 to make sure you select a secure one.

   5. Next, Twitter asks you to upload a selfie.

      You can upload a picture now, or click Skip for Now and do it later.

   6. Twitter presents you with a scrollable box of interests (move the slider up and down with your mouse to see all the options).

      Tap on boxes to select things that interest you. Scroll all the way to the bottom and select as many as you want. If you don’t find all your interests, you can type them in the search box. Or you can click Skip for Now.

3. While you’ve been doing all this following, Twitter sent an email message to the email address you provided when you filled out the sign-up form. Open your email program and look for the message. You’ll see an email like the one shown in Figure 11-2. Or you may have received a text on your smartphone to confirm your identity. You must click Confirm Now to prove you are you.

   Be sure to check your Junk or Spam mailbox, especially if it’s a bit overzealous in designating such emails — that’s where my Twitter emails often show up!

   You are now an official member of Twitter and are brought to your first Twitter page. From here you can find more people to follow, browse categories, or find more friends.

4. After you click through the confirmation email, you’ll land on your new (empty) Twitter Profile page shown in Figure 11-3. Scroll down this page and you’ll see what’s trending on Twitter based on the interests you previously input. If you skipped that page, they will be based on the location of your computer. Now comes the work.
   1. Click the Add a Photo box and upload a selfie — or a picture of your dog, or a flower, for now. When you tap the box, you will be prompted to upload a photo. People want to see a picture when they go to follow someone new, so they have some idea of who they’re becoming friends with. Some people use pictures caricatures, their dogs or the logos for their businesses as avatars, but if you’re on Twitter to make friends, I suggest posting a flattering image of yourself when you are ready to start using the platform.
   2. To upload your photo, click the Upload Image button to open a dialog box where you can look for a photo on your computer.
   3. In the dialog box, find the folder on your computer where you store your photos and select a photo by clicking it so that the name of the photo appears in the File Name box. Click Open after you select your picture, and you return to the Twitter profile setup. The photo file you select can be in jpg, gif, or png format and will appear as 400 x 400 pixels, so select a small square image. The picture box that appears lists the filename and location of your photo on your computer. If you select the wrong photo accidentally, don't fret. Just go through the upload process again by repeating the steps.
   4. Once you select the photo, it will appear on the page with a circle around it, as shown in Figure 11-4. You may move your picture by grabbing it with your mouse and resize it by using the slider below, so you center it to get the best image. Then click Apply. Your picture will appear on the Profile page.

5. Twitter asks you to describe who you are — to appear as your profile bio. In keeping with the brevity of the site, you have 160 characters to describe yourself. You can change this description at any time, so just put in a little information about yourself for now. You can compare your bio to those of the people you meet on Twitter and refine it as you go.

   You can also add emoji to your bio (or anything else) on Twitter. (Emoji are small pictures used within text to express an idea, object, or an emotion). To find an appropriate one, click the smiley face in the corner of the Introduce Yourself box and search for an emoji in the text box. In Figure 11-5, I added a dog and clicked Save. For more on the fun of using emoji, see Chapter 14.

6. Twitter now wants to know your birthday so they know more about you. You can skip this for now and add it later.

7. It helps Twitter to know where you live so that you read local posts and find people in your area to follow (if you want). I suggest you type in your metropolitan area. I live in a suburb of Los Angeles, so that’s what I have on my page. I try not to give away private information as to where I actually live.

   Once you’ve put in your location, Twitter will congratulate you and prompt you to see your filled out Profile page by clicking See My Profile button shown in Figure 11-6.

8. When you view your new page, you’ll see that Twitter assigned a username for you that appears under your name. As you can see in Figure 11-6, their suggestions are generally not terribly engaging. Twitter usernames can be changed later so you can come up with a catchier one.

   Its time to make your page look more inviting. To do this, click the box called Edit Profile, shown in Figure 11-7, to get started. You’ll notice that you can add a header picture; edit your name, bio, and city; add a website; change your theme color; and add your birthday.

   • Add a header photo. A header photo makes your page look like you’ve given this some thought and tells other users that you are serious about your page. Your header photo covers the entire top of your Twitter Profile page, so it’ll be the first thing people notice when they visit your page. Select one that reflects your lifestyle or your interests. Click Change Your Header and upload one that is around 1500 x 500 pixels. Perhaps choose one of a beach from a vacation? Or of your garden?

     Click to grab the picture and move it within the space. Use the slider (like you did with the profile picture) to make the image larger or smaller. When you’re happy with the image, click Apply, then Save changes.

   • Adding a website isn’t a bad idea. Your website link will add more to your story. If you don’t have a website or a blog, you might want to include a link to your Facebook page or your LinkedIn page (if you have one). Just go to that page, copy the URL, and paste it into the text box on your Profile page that says Website.
   • Change your theme color. Now it’s time to gussy up and add a little character to your page. Twitter gives you a choice of 10 theme colors you can use on your page. As you click each color, you will see that the shading on the page changes. Settle on a color, then click Theme Color to save it.
   • Add your birthday. If you put your birthdate in when you registered, you will see it here. If you skipped over it, here’s your chance to add it, and I think you should. People on Twitter love to congratulate each other. The platform isn’t intrusive like Facebook. They don’t put announcements on your timeline. So when you wish someone a Happy Birthday, it means a lot to them. People enjoy seeing your birthdate (anyone else a Sagittarius?). To keep the year of your birth private, click the small lock icon (shown in Figure 11-8) to set Visibility Settings and a menu will appear. Select Only You on the menu — and then it’s a secret only you will see on your page.
9. When you’re done, click the Save Changes box near the top of the page and Twitter will ask that you confirm your birthdate. If you typed it in right, click Confirm.

On your birthday, Twitter adds a cute animated graphic with balloons and confetti, so that whoever lands on your page knows it’s your birthday. Remember you have full control as to whether the year shows publically, or even if you want it to appear at all.

Adjust Your Account Settings

On your Twitter Profile page, mouse over the circle in the upper right that has the photo you uploaded, in the top right corner of the page, and from the drop-down menu that appears, click the Settings and Privacy link, shown in Figure 11-9. Your Account Settings page appears as in Figure 11-10.

1. Sign up information. The information you provided when you signed up is filled in on this page.

2. Twitter username. If you’d like to change your Twitter username, now might be a good time. You can always come back to do this, but once you invest time on the site, people will get to know you by your ID. So stop and think; you are allowed 15 characters. If your name fits and isn’t taken, then I’d use that! Twitter will alert you as you type as to whether the User ID you’ve selected is taken. Figure 11-10 shows some of the options on this page.

   Your username can be a nickname or your real name, whichever you prefer. If you choose a nickname, it can be a name that reflects one of your hobbies, or a special interest you may have. Get creative! But remember: Your username cannot have any spaces or symbols, just letters, underscores, and/or numbers.

   To change your temporary User ID, just type the new name in the Username text box.

   Because Twitter has been around since 2006 and has over 335 million users, there’s an excellent chance your name (to use as an ID) is already taken. If that’s the case, get creative and try putting an underscore between your first and last name, put the word Real or Im in front of your name, or abbreviate to a nickname. Your registered name will always be searchable in Twitter search, so don’t fret if you have a unique ID.

3. Choose a language. English is filled in as the default (and I assume you speak English since you’re reading this book). If you’d prefer a different language, click the down arrow on the Language text box and select another language from the drop-down menu.

   If you have Twitter friends in other countries, Tweets are translated into English within the app or on the desktop.

4. Check for your correct time zone. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) will be filled in. If you don’t live in the United Kingdom (where Greenwich is, the last I looked), I suggest that you click the down arrow and select the time zone where you live from the drop-down menu.
5. Set up login verification. Note that Twitter suggests that you associate your mobile phone with your Twitter account. Why? So you can set up a very tight security scheme called Login Verification. (This is the two-factor authentication I wrote about earlier in the book.) Once you register your mobile number, Twitter will send your phone a code via SMS (text). You need to type this code into Twitter. This way, your account is even more secure than it would be if you just used a password. I highly recommend that you avail yourself of this extra security measure.

6. Password reset verification. If you’ve forgotten your password, click the Forgot Your Password link; for added security, Twitter sends you a reminder by email so you can reset your password. Click the link in the email message or copy the link into your browser. You arrive at a page where you can change your password. Type in your new password twice (the second time is to verify your typing) and click the Change button.

   To change your password at any time, just click your profile at the top right of your Twitter home page and, on the resulting Settings page, click the Password link in the left-side navigation.

7. Video autoplay settings are next and allow you to decide whether videos will automatically play in your timeline. I personally prefer not to watch each video as I scroll the timeline, but this is a personal choice. You can always come back here and change your setting.
8. Settings for your timeline. Further down the page, you can adjust these by clicking here and telling Twitter to put Tweets you are likely to care about at the top of your timeline. I do not click this option. No matter how smart artificial intelligence is, it won’t know what I am in the mood to see. I prefer my Tweets to appear in the order they were posted. Your call.
9. Archive. Below the Timeline settings, you’ll be able to access a file with all your Tweets. Once you’ve been on Twitter for a while, you might want to download this. Just click Request Your Archive.
10. If you’re happy with what you’ve completed so far, click Save Changes.

Take Charge of Your Privacy

On the left side of the Account page, you’ll notice lots of links (shown back in Figure 11-10). Each one of those links has settings that can improve the time you spend on the Twitter platform. Here’s a short overview of some of what you can set in each of the sections.

1. Privacy and Safety is the best area for being sure you have a pleasant time on the site. Here you can make decisions as to how much contact you want from Twitter and from those with whom you connect on the site. I don’t go over every option in this book; just be sure to read anything you are agreeing to before you give permission. Here’s a few things I recommend:

   Don’t protect your Tweets; this makes them visible only to those whom you follow. If you set this, someone (perhaps an old friend) will find you through search, but can’t see what you’re sharing. People get to know you and about you by reading your Tweets.

   Twitter is a public forum, so be careful what you say (or are willing to defend or argue). Never post anything on Twitter that you wouldn’t want to see printed in your local newspaper. More than one celebrity has done this at one time or another and regretted it. You can delete Tweets, but they stay in the public timeline from the time you post until the time you delete them, and someone might take a screen shot. See Chapter 12 for more advice on how to enjoy the Twitter community safely.

2. Why add a location to your Tweets? Unless you want the public to know every place you are, leave this option blank.
3. Address book. I have never opened up and given access to my address book to any platform. My contacts are private. Although if you uploaded every contact you have, you might find some on Twitter, but why compromise your friends’ privacy?
4. Direct Messages are private messages that you access in a different area from the public timeline. There’s a lot of strangers out there. You can opt to receive Direct Messages from anyone, but I don’t. I only accept private messages from people that I follow.
5. Send/Receive read receipts. If you read a private, Direct Message and choose not to respond, it could be considered a breach of etiquette. So I turn this option off. I want to answer messages in my own time.
6. The Safety area. This covers sensitive content and Tweet media settings, which allow you to label your media for the appropriate viewers, and select whose media appears on your Twitter home page. If you prefer not to see possibly offensive images, leave Display Media That May Contain Sensitive Content unselected. If you plan on posting some racy pictures, select the Mark My Media as Containing Sensitive Content check box — to protect the innocent.

Set Up Notifications for Web and Mobile

1. On the left of your Twitter Settings page, you see an Email Notifications link. Click there, and you find an area where you can customize how you’d like to be notified when a particular action occurs on your Twitter account, as well as whether you’d like to get news from Twitter.
2. Read the descriptions and click only the check boxes that correspond to the notices you want to receive. Twitter will send you an email communication when certain actions occur:
   • Someone marks one of your Tweets as a favorite. On Twitter, you have the option to save Tweets for posterity. They show up on the Favorites link from your Profile page. This lets you know when you’re sharing content of value.
   • You get Retweeted! If someone likes one of your Tweets, he or she can Retweet it (pass it on). This is a great compliment and it’s always nice to thank someone for doing so. You can also thank them by Retweeting one of the Tweets from their feed.
   • Someone starts following you. If someone finds you and decides to follow you (I explain how all that happens in Chapter 12), Twitter sends you an email telling you so. If you don’t want this email notification, be sure there is no check mark in the box next to New Follower Emails.
   • You receive a new direct message (DM). Click here so you won’t miss a thing. The fun of Twitter, though, is that all the conversation happens in real time and you’re going to have to go back to Twitter to respond. Unless you’re checking your email regularly, you won’t be in on the immediacy of the experience.
   • Updates from Twitter. Occasionally, Twitter’s founders and bigwigs like to reach out to users to explain new features on the site, or to let you know about changes in the rules (the Terms of Service, or TOS for short). You really need to know about this stuff, so leave the check in the box next to Email Newsletter.
3. Set up mobile notifications. Click the Mobile link on the left if you agree to receive notifications on your smartphone or tablet. If you don’t want the text messages (especially if you don’t have an unlimited data plan), deselect the Direct Text Emails check box.

If you have to pay an additional fee for text messages on your mobile-phone plan, then sending and receiving too many direct messages could get expensive. Be sure you have a full data plan on your smartphone if you want to get these messages.

Review Terms and Privacy Policy

1. When you have a moment, click on the Terms link next to the copyright date on the left side of the page. Read and agree to both of this as well as the Privacy policy (see next steps). Every website has Terms of Service (TOS), which are basically the rules that everyone participating on the site has to follow. Read them and print them out if you want. Even if you don’t do that, know that opening your account on Twitter means you agree to abide by their rules. To follow future updates of these policies, go to

   https://twitter.com/en/tos

2. Also next to the copyright date is the all-important Privacy policy. On the page, Twitter states:

   “We believe you should always know what data we collect from you and how we use it, and that you should have meaningful control over both. We want to empower you to make the best decisions about the information that you share with us.”

   I’ve talked to them about this and they mean it. Everything is clearly laid out for you to read, and they want you to understand.

   Be sure to read it and check here occasionally for updates:

   https://twitter.com/en/privacy

Find People to Follow

At this point, I need to explain the workings of Twitter. For the whole experience to work, you need to find people to follow. These would be people you might want to hear from — your Twitter friends, your online community. You can follow or unfollow anyone at any time and as often as you like. When you follow someone:

• Each time that person posts a comment (Tweet), you’ll see it on your Twitter home page.
• The folks you follow may follow you back, and if they do, they’ll see your comments on their pages.
• When they direct a comment to you (as @yourname), you will see it in your notifications.
• You can send a Direct Message (or DM) to someone you’re following (or anyone, but that’s not considered proper etiquette on Twitter). A DM is like a text message that you send on your cellphone. It’s a private message between you and the recipient. It does not appear in the public stream of Tweets. In the “Set Up Notifications” section earlier in this chapter, I show you how you can have these messages sent directly to your cellphone if you want. That way, you can respond to a DM without having to go back to your computer.

Here is how to find people to follow:

1. Clicking the Home link (with the small house icon) at the top left of the page brings you to where your Home Twitter stream would be (if you were following someone). This page would be populated by the person’s Tweets.
2. On the left, under your picture and ID, you’ll also see suggestions of accounts to follow, probably from your city or state. They may also suggest some celebrities or business moguls to follow. Just click the Follow button next to their name and their Tweets will appear on your home page. Once you click to follow one, more suggestions will appear.

3. On this same page, you’ll see the Find People to Follow button. Clicking there will help you begin finding people to follow by suggesting some famous people and brands. If you want to follow any of these accounts, click the Follow button after their name. Figure 11-11 shows you some of the suggestions I was offered. Be sure to scroll down the right column so you see the full list; you can click More at the bottom to see more. Select topics and find people to follow, or click Skip.

   Why not search for someone’s name on Twitter so you can get followed back? Remember, this is all about conversing. If you find really no one of interest, you can pick a favorite brand (how about your favorite airline?), or — if you prefer to learn more about Twitter first — you may click Skip at the bottom of the list.

   Know that you can always search for more people, by Twitter ID or by name, to add to your Follow list after you’re fully set up on the site — so don’t feel pressured to keep looking for people to follow as you’re getting started.

4. Next, Twitter suggests some topics and those accounts that specialize in them. Click a topic that interests you from the list on the left, which suggests Twitter users (or sources) you might like to follow.
5. At this point, type a friend’s name in the Search box at the top, and click Search Twitter. I typed in my husband’s name and when his Twitter result came up onscreen, I clicked the Follow button, and presto! We were connected. Please feel free to follow me at @MarshaCollier and Tweet or DM me to say “Hi” once we’re connected. (I show you how to do that in Chapter 12.) Note that after you follow someone and go back to the previous page by clicking your browser’s back arrow, the Who to Follow column changes. It will be filled with people in your new follower’s community.

6. On the left side of the Home page, there’s a link to Find People you know. There, Twitter asks you to import your email contacts. It lists two web-based email services, Gmail and Outlook (which also encompasses Hotmail). You can use these to find (and follow) people from your email lists who are already on Twitter. If you use one of these services and want to search Twitter for your email buddies, you can click the name of the email service and type your user ID and password when prompted.

   I personally skipped Step 6. You might want to be a bit more settled and secure with your participation on Twitter before you involve your outer circle of real-world friends. (The point of this book is to make you the expert!)

7. At this point, your pals at Twitter are so revved up to have you aboard that they send you a welcoming email message, as shown in Figure 11-12.

   Read your email. On it, you find that Twitter gives you a rousing pep talk about how much fun your Twitter experience can be (and they’re right). They provide a couple of suggestions of people for you to follow, along with a link you can use to check out more fun Twitter accounts.

While you’ve been busy setting up your Twitter account, Twitter has been busy too. Click the picture of yourself in a circle at the top of the page, then Profile. You’ll see that your Twitter profile is ready to go — and your first Tweet is awaiting. Click one of the Tweet buttons shown in Figure 11-13 and you will have launched your very first Tweet. Your Tweets (like the two on the page) will appear on your Profile page. They’ll also be visible in your personal feed, as well as the home timelines of people who follow you.

Tour Your New Twitter Profile

When you’ve set up your profile and have Tweeted and followed a few people, the page will begin to look like the one I set up, @Twiter4Seniors, for the last edition of this book (see Figure 11-14). To find your way around this page, you’ll have to click a few icons.

1. Tweets. In this column, you have a complete history of everything you have Tweeted on Twitter. When you click it, you see that it’s divided into two categories:
   • Tweets. Here you see a list of everything you’ve Tweeted.
   • Tweets and replies. Here you see everything you have Tweeted out, and the replies you have answered.
2. Following. Here you see the people you’ve followed and their bios. Note that if someone is following you back, you see the word Follow next to the person’s ID, as shown in Figure 11-15.
3. Followers. Here’s the number of people following you; clicking there reveals names, pictures, and bios (as it does in the Following area).

4. Likes. When you click a heart at the bottom of a Tweet to Favorite it (more on this in Chapter 12), the post shows up as depicted in Figure 11-16. You may see a number next to the Tweet, representing the number of folks who also Favorited the post. Clicking that number shows you who found this Tweet to be a Favorite!

   When you’re on Twitter, you see web notifications pop up on the top of your page letting you know people have mentioned you. Figure 11-17 shows you what they look like (and ooops, I have 99).

5. When someone Tweets to you (many people do so once you follow them), you’ll see a number in your notifications. Since I followed someone with our test account, she Tweeted back, welcoming me to Twitter (see Figure 11-18)!
6. If you ever want to edit your profile, you can do that right from your Twitter page by clicking Edit Profile.

Twitter has a hidden tool that allows you to Pin one of your Tweets to the top of your Profile page so it will be the first thing people see when they arrive. Click the downward-facing arrow at the top right of any of your Tweets, and then select Pin to Your Profile Page; Figure 11-19 shows you how that works.