Why Twitter Deserves Your Attention
January 30, 2012 15:55 by Alex MargolinJoining the Conversation
Once you find people on Twitter who share your interests, the next step is to start to interact with them, either directly or indirectly. The most basic form of interaction is the simple “retweet.”
When you see a post that you think your followers would benefit from seeing, you can retweet it, either by clicking on the retweet button inside the tweet or by writing the letters RT in the beginning and posting it again. That serves as a virtual endorsement of the message and lets your followers know that you support it.
The more you retweet other people, the more likely they will be to return the favor, allowing you to reach their followers as well as your own.
If you find someone you want to communicate with directly, you can send him or her a direct message. Direct messages are only permitted between people who follow each other. When you send a direct message, only the recipient of the message will be able to see it.
A more social form of communication is known as the @message. It is a public message directed at a particular Twitter user. If someone wants to message HonestReporting in a public way, he or she can start the message by writing @Honestreporting. HR would then be alerted about the message through email, and it would show up in the “mentions” section of Twitter.
You can open a dialogue with someone though the @message or you can reply to someone’s tweet. When you use the reply function, Twitter automatically starts the tweet with an @messsage directed at the person you are replying to, letting him or her know about the reply.
There are many more abbreviations you might find in an average tweet, along with shortened spellings of words so that the largest number can fit in within the 140 characters. Here is a list of the most common abbreviations.
You may also like: Social Media in a Nutshell – Part Two: Facebook
A Good Review of the Basic Principles
As with most things on the Internet, any questions that come up while using Twitter can usually be answered by doing a Google search of the issue. It is also relatively easy to find Twitter tutorials on YouTube.
While there are many others, the video below does an excellent job pointing out the basic principles of Twitter while showing you the site itself. It is definitely worth a few minutes before getting started.
And when you do get started, don’t forget to follow HonestReporting and Media Backspin, the Twitter account associated with HR’s daily blog. And let us know you joined. We’d love to hear from you.
So head to www.twitter.com, go an open up your Twitter account right now and start tweeting for Israel!
SOL
6:21 pm
Jan 30, 2012
I AM HAPPY TO SEE THAT ISRAEL IS FINALLY GETTING THE WORD OUT AND PUTTING THESE ANTI-ISRAEL REPORTERS IN THERE PLACE AND GETTING TO THE TRUTH!. THANK G-D FOR ISRAEL AS IT IS THE LIGHT OF FREEDOM IN ALL OF THE MIDDLE EAST.
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glen sol
8:21 pm
Jan 30, 2012
will this ever end?
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glen sol
8:22 pm
Jan 30, 2012
Israel IS the light!
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Steve "@PodcastSteve" Lubetkin
8:34 pm
Jan 30, 2012
Nice to see great comments from David Saranga about his experience with Twitter in public diplomacy. We did a podcast interview with David about the Twitter press conference that you can still hear at http://bit.ly/Saranga.
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Warum Twitter Ihre Aufmerksamkeit verdient « Medien BackSpin
10:57 pm
Jan 30, 2012
[...] Simon Plosker, HonestReporting.com, 30. Januar 2012 [...]
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MERCY MACJONES
8:41 pm
Jan 31, 2012
Thanks for your effort.Am in prayer and fasting for Israel an all of you.
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Lynette Gautier
5:23 am
Feb 01, 2012
I agree that it was nice to see a reporter who respected a Hezbollah terrorist and Israel’s deadly enemy, has lost her job.
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Paula
8:49 pm
Feb 06, 2012
Alex,
Excellent article about Twitter and its importance to Israel’s ongoing hasbarah/communications efforts. Thanks very much for spreading the word.
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Gilbert
4:53 am
Oct 19, 2012
It’s a real scandal that you put antisemite “un bon Juif” message on twitter in France
How can You leave such garbage on twitter ?
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Cara Menambah Berat Badan
12:46 pm
May 20, 2013
Right here is the right web site for everyone who wishes to find out about
this topic. You know a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you
(not that I personally will need to…HaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin
on a topic that has been written about for many
years. Wonderful stuff, just wonderful!
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