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How to use Twitter

At the moment it seems that you can’t escape stories about the latest social networking phenomenon, Twitter.  With all the hype and celebrity endorsements, lots of people are asking “how do I use Twitter?”.

There are plenty of sites out there that will tell you how to use Twitter, but not so many to warn you of the pitfalls.If you take a minute to learn from this list of useful Twitter tips then you’ll be Twittering away with the best of them.

DO hold your tongue.Unless your updates are protected, anyone can see what you are Twittering about. Bear in mind the story of the girl who managed to Tweet her way out of a new job because a hiring manager read her thoughts on the position she interviewed for.

DON’T use it as another chat client.  No one wants to their screen full of irrelevant Tweets from a conversation they’re forced to eavesdrop on.

DO make sure that you retweet other people. This can be a good way to build up a following of like minded users.

DON’T constantly self promote.  Okay, we get it - you have a blog. Twitter isn’t a one way street - interact!

DO follow people back, but….

DON’T be offended if people don’t follow you back. Users with hundreds of followers are unlikely to see your Tweet through the hundreds of other tweets anyway.

DO be funny, informative and creative.

DON’T use the auto-DM feature. This is the Twittering equivalent of spam and a faceless “hi – thanks for following” is impersonal and can be off-putting.

DO use it to ask other people for help. When you have built up a reasonable following you’ll find it easy to find answers to your questions quickly.

DON’T twit if your message is going to exceed 140 characters. Spreading messages over the course of several tweets is just going to confuse and irritate your followers.

These handy hints should be enough to get you started.  If you are likely to spend a significant proportion of your online time on Twitter then there are plenty of guides on the net telling you how to use Twitter effectively.