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What is Twitter?
Twitter is a web-‐based social-‐networking and micro-‐blogging service that enables you to
post short updates to your personal stream or timeline. Think of Twitter as combining
elements of Facebook status updates, instant messaging, text messaging and email. It's a
great way to keep in touch with what others are doing or thinking and to create small
communities.
It's free to create a Twitter account and you can send tweets from your mobile as well as
from an internet-‐connected computer or portable device like an iPod Touch. Depending on
your phone network ʹ currently only Vodaphone and O2 in the UK -‐ it's also possible to view
tweets as SMS messages.
x collaborative note-‐taking
x the posting of questions, comments and reflections
x resource sharing
x dialogue (student-‐to-‐student, student-‐to-‐lecturer)
x the development of learning communities
DŽƌĞĚĞƚĂŝůƐĂďŽƵƚƚŚĞƉƌŽũĞĐƚĐĂŶďĞĨŽƵŶĚŽŶdŽŶLJ͛ƐdǁŝƚƚĞƌďůŽŐ -‐
http://blogs.kingston.ac.uk/twitter -‐ or by contacting Tony directly via email -‐
a.mcneill@kingston.ac.uk -‐ or via Twitter -‐ @anthonymcneill.
Tony is keen to find out more about your experiences of using Twitter and will be looking for
4-‐5 volunteers for a small-‐group, 1-‐hour interview to be held in December 2009. Volunteers
will be given a £25 Borders or iTunes card in recognition of their time. The interview will be
recorded, transcribed and used for publication. Data from all participants will be
anonymised.
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Creating your Twitter account
Creating a Twitter account is easy: just go to http://twitter.com, click on the green Sign up
now button and follow the instructions. There are a few ĚĞƚĂŝůƐǁĞ͛Ěhighlight in the
account creation process:
x tĞ͛ĚƌĞĐŽŵŵĞŶĚLJŽƵƐŬŝƉƚŚĞSee if your friends are on Twitter and deselect the
random selection of Twitter users you can follow on the Look who else is here
screen.
x /ƚ͛ƐǁŽƌƚŚƐƉĞŶĚŝŶŐĂĨĞǁŵŽŵĞŶƚƐƵƉĚĂƚŝŶŐLJŽƵƌĚĞƚĂŝůƐ by clicking on Settings (top
right):
o set your location (Kingston upon Thames, UK)
o your time zone (GMT, London)
o put in a link to your web page, blog or Facebook page if you have one and
are happy to share this information
o write a 160 character descriptiŽŶŽĨLJŽƵƌƐĞůĨƚŚĂƚLJŽƵ͛ĚůŝŬĞŽƚŚĞƌƐƚŽƐĞĞ
o do not tick the Protect my tweets box (i.e. stick to the default settings)
o add a profile picture of yourself ʹ ŽƌĂŶŝŵĂŐĞƚŚĂƚLJŽƵ͛ĚůŝŬĞƚŽƌĞƉƌĞƐĞŶƚ
you (click Picture)
x Iƚ͛Ɛuseful, although not essential, to register your mobile phone as this will allow
you to send tweets as text messages and, if either Vodaphone or O2 is your network
provider, view tweets as text messages too. You can register your mobile by clicking
on Settings then Devices.
Once you have created you Twitter account we recommend that you visit the Special
Subject Shakespeare Twitter account -‐ http://twitter.com/el3668 -‐ and click the Follow
button below the profile picture. dŚŝƐŵĞĂŶƐLJŽƵ͛ƌĞŶŽǁĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐSpecial Subject
Shakespeare on Twitter and that any posts made will appear on your Twitter timeline. We͛d
also encourage you to follow your fellow students whose details can be accessed from the
list of those following the Special Subject Shakespeare Twitter account.
Fig 1: Follow el3668
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Using Twitter on this module
For this module a number of Twitter-‐based activities have been created. The activities are
available on the EL3668: Shakespeare and Popular Culture StudySpace module.
Here are a few key pieces of advice on how to use Twitter when responding to these
activities:
i) hashtags
tŚĞŶLJŽƵƉŽƐƚĂƚǁĞĞƚ͕ǁĞ͛ĚƌĞĐŽŵŵĞŶĚƚŚĂƚLJŽƵŝŶĐůƵĚĞƚŚĞĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐhashtag:
#el3668. Using a hashtag allows users to ͚ĂŐŐƌĞŐĂƚĞ͛ŽƌĐŽůůĞĐƚƚǁĞĞƚƐŵŽƌĞ
efficiently. It also allows twitterers to separate tweets which are about the module
from tweets about other topics. If you use a web-‐based application like the excellent
TwitIQ (http://www.twitiq.com/ͿLJŽƵĐĂŶĐƌĞĂƚĞ͚ĐŚĂŶŶĞůƐ͛ǁŚŝĐŚĚŝƐƉůĂLJŽŶůLJ
tweets with a particular hashtag in.
ii) @messages
If you want to reply to a tweet, we recommend that you click on the counter-‐
clockwise pointing arrow that appears when you move your cursor over a particular
tweet. An alternative is to preface your tweet with @username (e.g. @el3668) which
will designate that your tweet is a response to a tweet that particular user has
ƉŽƐƚĞĚ͘dŚŝƐŝƐŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚĂƐdǁŝƚƚĞƌĐĂŶďĞĂƌĂƚŚĞƌ͚ŶŽŝƐLJ͛ĞŶǀŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚ to have a
conversation in.
Fig 2: the reply icon
iii) adding links
You can type links into your tweets͕ďƵƚLJŽƵ͛ůůŶĞĞĚƚŽŝŶĐůƵĚĞƚhe full URL (including
http://) for it to be clickable. If you want to add a link to a photo, we recommend
using a free service like TwitPic (http://twitpic.com/) that allows you to link up easily
with your Twitter account as well as post tweets with a link to a photo from your
mobile.
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A glossary of key Twitter terms
@messages: tweets directed to a particular recipient or recipients; @messages are often
used in Twitter conversations to make clear whose tweets you're replying to
avatar: the picture (usually in .jpg, .gif or .png format) you select to represent you as part of
your Twitter profile
desktop client: software you can download and install on your PC or Mac (e.g. Tweetdeck,
Tweetie) enabling you to view and post tweets more easily
direct messages: similar to @messages insofar as they are directed at a particular
recipient but which, unlike @messages, are private and, therefore, do not appear on the
timeline; think of direct messages as being like SMS messages or email
followers: the people who follow you on Twitter; think of them as being like Facebook
friends
following: your Twitter account lists the people you follow on Twitter who may or may not
follow you
hashtags: a character string ʹ e.g. #el3668 -‐ inserted into tweets; hashtags enable users to
subscribe to specific tweets and allow otherwise unconnected twitterers to come together
mobile apps: applications (e.g. Twitterific, Tweetberry) for various types of 'smart' phones
(e.g. iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia) for that make sending, organising and reading tweets easier
retweets: tweets posted to the timeline that copy the content of another person's tweet
in order to share it more widely; a retweet usually acknowledges the original author
(@username) and is the main way twitterers share information
timeline: the online newsfeed or stream that displays your tweets, and the tweets of the
people you're following, in reverse chronological order
tweet: short post or update of no longer than 140 characters which can include hyperlinks
username: the name you select to represent yourself on Twitter; this could be your real
name (if available) or a nickname (we recommend you keep it short though)
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