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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsA great leap learning Twitter (follow-up on thread about using/not Twitter). Your tips go here!1
I'm clueless, have popped into it a dozen or twenty times, don't like to be a "follower", didn't know WHO to follow, mainly am mystified by all the #s and @s. (I end up Searching for Kelly RIPA and Joy BEHAR.)
But today I learned that by "Following" they show up in my home page. I picked major news outlets (Reuters, NYT, WaPo, etc.), NOT individuals, and now see all these latest/breaking things.
It would help if you cognesscetti would tutor them like me instead of snickering. Thanks in advance.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)What you can do is create lists that you can put them in and not have follow, but you can simply read what they're tweeting from the lists. You can make these lists based on subject. You can have one list for celebs, another for news, another for close friends and relatives. I usually just read my lists rather than the front page.
Second, I suggest that you add people to follow that you know, like me: https://twitter.com/Mr_Scorpio Unfortunately, I have reached the limit of who I can follow right now, but once I get some openings I can follow you right back.
#'s or "hashtags" Denote subject matter. People can search by hashtags for tweets from others on any particular subject. Just about any current event, TV of sports event can be tracked down by hashtags. For example #NHL, #REDWINGS, #TIGERS #Hawaii50 or whatever. If you want people who don't follow to read your tweets, add a popular hashtags. The top ten trending hashtags will always be in your front page menu
@'s are identifiers for other tweeters, for example, if you wanted to tweet to me just add @Mr_Scorpio to your tweet.
Anything else?
UTUSN
(70,771 posts)AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)I post a lot of music.. and trendy hash tag things.. like: #WhatMakesMeMad http://samuel-warde.com/2013/06/11-year-old-boy-nails-the-national-anthem-and-the-racists-go-nuts/
I especially like following Japaneses bands and musicians, but admit I have my own list which people can follow instead. Its pretty extensive.
UTUSN
(70,771 posts)onestepforward
(3,691 posts)Sometimes I need political news delivered with some humor
You'll be adding and deleting as you go along. I've deleted some who post too much for me to read. Seeing "retweets" by your favorites might lead you to someone new and interesting to follow.
It's all fluid, so have fun!
UTUSN
(70,771 posts)Raffi Ella
(4,465 posts)If you look on the left side bar at the bottom the top #s(hash tags) are listed, you can list them by region. It's a quick way to see what people are talking about that day. They're all clickable. And you can make up your own too. Like "Hello Twitterville! #NewToTwitter" or say you were in disbelief over a tweet in your time line, you could re-tweet it and add #WTH . That way you're re-tweeting(making it more visible/supporting whoever tweeted it) AND giving your own commentary.
#uniteblue #p2b #p2 are hash tags the left use. You can type any of those in the search box, top of page, and it'll show you the timeline of people using those. If you tweet something and want the left to see it just add one of them to your tweet.
#tcot is "top conservatives on twitter". You can see what those dumb asses are saying by searching that.
If you're so inclined you can tweet back at them. Just copy and paste their @name and then say whatever and post it. It'll show up on your time line and your followers and the dumb ass will see it too if they look on who has tweeted to them or about them. I don't bother with that but some do and it's funny to watch.
I follow the President and First Lady and outspoken Democratic politicians and spokespeople, Steve Colbert, Bill Maher, Jesus Christ, God, Gawker, Jezebel, womens rights activists, RS(Rolling Stone) Politics, Nate Silver etc. Twitter offers suggestions on who to follow based on who you are already following. It's on the left side bar there. And you can look in 'activity' to see who the people you are following have added to their follow list.
I tweet or re-tweet at least once or twice a day, the content is usually related to politics but sometimes I post personal pictures or something about myself so that people know I'm a real person and not just some political staffer re-tweeting stuff, lol.
oh and I find that if you follow fellow democrats they'll usually follow you back.
UTUSN
(70,771 posts)putting them into the List. Only got one in there so far, during the "creation" part, now can't figure out how to add the others into the same List.
More to your point, what/how is retweeting/RT? Thanks.
Raffi Ella
(4,465 posts)Be it from a person or news outlet, doesn't matter. Just hover your mouse over their tweet and you'll see these options appear below their tweet. One of them is re-tweet. You can do a simple re-tweet by just clicking re-tweet OR you can copy and paste and open a tweet box of your own(top right hand corner) to add to or modify said tweet.
I'll let Mr Scorpio answer your list question cuz I don't use those a lot so I'm not really sure how you do that.
UTUSN
(70,771 posts)Using the main Search, then Adding the desired result to the (choice of) List.
But then found that ALL the members of the List are mass-tweeted altogether, like one RSS feed, the way it was when I first had them in my home page.
I thought about creating a separate List for each member, but now I'm thinking that what I really want is a Favorites place, keeping each target separate. Am trying that.
UTUSN
(70,771 posts)"Favorites" is different from Bookmarking? Sounds like it's something like a Like for a tweet or something. Going to the (separate) Lists thing. Don't want all the different sites mashed together in one hugh!1 RSS feed.
But am not getting what I thought, either. Am getting citizens' tweets TO the news site. I thought I would be getting LBN from the news site.
Raffi Ella
(4,465 posts)Favorites is sort of like bookmarking I guess. It just lists that specific post for you...yeah, it's more like a 'like'.
I try to keep my twitter as uncomplicated as possible. I don't follow a whole lot of people because I actually want to read my timeline. I do have a few lists but I never check them really. I reserve them for people I want to support or keep up with but for some reason or another don't want them in my main time line.
But everyone is different, what ever works for you.
UTUSN
(70,771 posts)The "Following" thing has been the biggest obstacle for me to get into the Twitter (& Facebook), that if you Follow anybody you are identified/named in their coterie of Followers.
Lists seems to get around that. I'm not tweeting anything, just want to see certain sites without being named as a Follower.
And they have an organizing dimension: Above I didn't like that if I put everybody into my main page, ALL the tweets from every source are mashed together into a big RSS feed-like mess, so I started a separate List for the NYT, the WaPo, Reuters, etc.
But now I'm doing a couple of consolidated Lists: One named "Talk" for talk shows (GMA, The View, Katie, Today, Nightline, late night, all of them). These shows mostly tweet about who the guests are for that day, not that many tweets each.
Another consolidated one "Networks" for news ABC/CBS/NBC. Another consolidated one "Local" for the local tv & newspapers & some local personalities.
All I can say is that Katie COURIC is quite the chatterbox. The others in her group really don't give her a run.