Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets E-Book

Paul McFedries

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Seitenzahl: 315

Beschreibung

Maximize your fun and boost your productivity with this updated,full-color guide to tantalizing Twitter tips! The popularity of Twitter continues to soar, and is fastbecoming the most popular social networking site online. Whetheryou're looking to learn how to set up an account for the first timeor are on the prowl for some cool third-party Twitter apps, thisfull-color guide will boost your entire Twitter experience. Allowing you to communicate with fellow Twitters within a140-character limit, this fun and fascinating social networkingtool is easier than maintaining a blog and quicker than sending ane-mail or text. With these tips, tricks, and tweets, you'll stay inthe know and up to date on anything and everything you findinteresting. * Explores the newest Twitter features, including the newre-tweet feature, which adds a re-tweet button to each tweet on aperson's timeline, much like the sites current "reply" button * Discusses Twitter's new search widget, which is moresophisticated and precise * Shows how to use the just-announced Geolocation API, which addslocation-based information to tweets * Explains how to tweet from mobile devices * Shows how to add Twitter to a blog or to other socialnetworking sites such as Facebook * Offers ideas for using Twitter in business as well as forpersonal contacts * Covers Twitter terminology and provides helpful tips and tricksfor expanding Twitter's usefulness through third-partyapplications Explore the possibilities of Twitter and discover what the buzzis all about with this tremendously terrific guide to Twitter!

Leseprobe

Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets, 2nd Edition

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: How Do I Get Started with Twitter?

Setting Up Your Very Own Twitter Account

Signing In to Your Twitter Account

Viewing Twitter’s Current Status

Changing Your Twitter Password

Resetting Your Twitter Password

Deleting Your Twitter Account

Chapter 2: What Can I Do to Customize My Twitter Profile?

Filling In Your Profile Details

Setting Your Twitter Picture

Applying a Theme to Your Profile

Selecting a Background Image

Using a solid-color background

Selecting a custom background image

Choosing Your Profile’s Colors

Stopping Twitter from Sending New Follower Messages

Chapter 3: How Do I Send Tweets?

Sending a Tweet

Sending a tweet using the Twitter site

Notes on tweet etiquette

Adding hashtags to create a tweet topic

Working with Your Tweets

Deleting a tweet

Adding a tweet to your favorites

Making your tweets private

Downloading All Your Tweets

Working with Mentions and Direct Messages Sent to You

Viewing tweets that mention you

Viewing direct messages sent to you

Getting an e-mail when you receive a direct message

Chapter 4: How Do I Follow Other Twitter Users?

Finding People

Finding people with Twitter accounts

Finding someone on another network

Inviting someone to join Twitter

Tracking FollowFriday recommendations

Following People

Following someone on Twitter

Following Twitter’s suggested users

Understanding verified accounts

Following a person’s updates via RSS

Following people who follow you

Downloading your friends’ tweets

Stop following someone on Twitter

Replying, Retweeting, and Direct Messaging

Replying to a tweet

Sending a reply to all your followers

Retweeting an update

Viewing your retweets

Sending a direct message to someone

Configuring direct message e-mails

Working with the People You Follow

Checking out a person’s updates

Preventing a person’s retweets from appearing in your timeline

Viewing your friends’ retweets

Viewing your tweets that have been retweeted

Blocking a tweeter

Taking Advantage of Twitter Lists

Following a list

Creating a list

Working with Twitter Bots

Receiving a reminder message

Querying the Internet Movie Database

Getting a map

Translating text into another language

Getting a weather forecast

Returning Amazon data

Keeping up with the bots

Chapter 5: Can I Use Twitter on My Mobile Phone?

Understanding Twitter’s Mobile Phone Feature

Considering text message fees

Non-SMS Twitter alternatives

Twitter’s phone numbers

Activating Your Mobile Phone

Sending an Update from Your Mobile Phone

Sending an update from your mobile phone as text

Sending an update using Twitter’s mobile Web site

Sending an update from your mobile phone as e-mail

Sending a reply from your mobile phone

Sending a direct message from your mobile phone

Protecting your updates with a PIN number

Following Twitterers on Your Mobile Phone

Following a person from your mobile phone

Receiving a person’s tweets on your mobile phone

Marking an update as a favorite from your mobile phone

Retrieving a profile on your mobile phone

Stopping a person’s updates on your mobile phone

Receiving only direct messages on your mobile phone

Stopping all updates on your mobile phone

Sending a Twitter invitation from your mobile phone

Getting your Twitter stats on your mobile phone

A Summary of Twitter’s Text Commands

Tools for Managing Twitter from Your Mobile Phone

Mobile phone applications for Twitter

Mobile phone Web sites for Twitter

Chapter 6: How Do I Find Stuff in Twitter?

Running a Basic Search

Real-time search results

Performing Advanced Searches

Performing an advanced word search

Running an advanced people search

Filtering tweets by hashtag

Searching for tweets by location

Finding tweets by date

Locating tweets that contain links

Adding Twitter Search to Your Web Browser

Adding Twitter Search to Internet Explorer

Adding Twitter Search to Firefox

Working with Search Results

Using a feed to monitor search results

Sending your search results as a tweet

Twitter Search Engines and Tools

Bing

Google

Tweet Scan

Twitterfall

TweetGrid

Monitter

TweetBeep

Twemes

AskTwitR

BackTweets

TweetVolume

Chapter 7: Where Can I Display My Twitter Feed?

Adding Twitter Bling to Your Web Site

Adding a Twitter link to your Web site

Displaying a badge that shows your total followers

Adding a “Tweet This” link to your Web site

Adding the Twitter Application to Your Facebook Profile

Inserting the Twitter Flash Widget on Your MySpace Page

Displaying Your Twitter Updates on Your Blogger Site

Including Your Tweets on Your TypePad Blog

Adding the Twitter widget automatically

Adding the Twitter widget by hand

Adding a Twitter Widget to Your Site

Adding Twitter’s Flash widget to your site

Adding Twitter’s HTML widget to your site

Adding Twitter’s Profile, Search, Faves, or List widget to your site

Chapter 8: How Can I Take Twitter to the Next Level?

Twittering on the Desktop: Twitter Clients

Raising your Twitter game with TweetDeck

Controlling Twitter with Seesmic Desktop

Twittering on the Web: Twitter Web Sites

Seesmic Web

Brizzly

iTweet

Tweetree

Tweetvisor

Working with Twitter Gadgets and Widgets

Adding a Twitter gadget to your Windows Sidebar or Desktop

Adding a Twitter widget to your Mac Dashboard

Adding a Twitter gadget to your iGoogle page

Displaying tweets in Firefox

Chapter 9: What Tools Can I Use to Extend Twitter?

Shortening URLs

Sharing Photos, Videos, and Music

Sharing photos

Sharing videos

Sharing music

Posting to Multiple Social Networks

Getting started with Ping.fm

Getting your Ping.fm application key

Configuring twhirl to use Ping.fm

Posting with Ping.fm

You Are There: Geotagging Your Tweets

Enabling geotagging in your Twitter profile

Playing with some geotagging tools

Deleting your location data

Connecting to Third-Party Twitter Applications

Connecting using OAuth

Revoking access

More Twitter Tools to Play With

Scheduling tweets

Following Twitter trends

Tracking tweets by location

Getting your Twitter account ranking

Displaying your latest tweet on a photo

Tweeting events to your Google calendar

Integrating your Twitter account with LinkedIn

Send your blog feed to Twitter

Glossary

Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets, 2nd Edition

Paul McFedries

Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets, 2nd Edition

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Blvd. Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-62466-1

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization of Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at [phone], outside the U.S. at [phone] or fax [phone].

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress CIP Data: 2010926842

Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley Publishing logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley and Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

About the Author

Paul McFedries is a technical writer who has been authoring computer books since 1991. He has more than 70 books to his credit, which together have sold more than three million copies worldwide. His current titles include the Wiley books Internet Simplified, iPhone 3G S Portable Genius, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macs, and Teach Yourself VISUALLY Windows 7. Paul is also the proprietor of Word Spy, a Web site devoted to new words and phrases (see www.wordspy.com). Paul lives in Toronto with his wonderful wife, Karen, and their silly dog, Gypsy. Please visit Paul’s personal website at www.mcfedries.com, or follow him on Twitter using his Twitter accounts @paulmcf and @wordspy.

Credits

Senior Acquisitions Editor

Jody Lefevere

Project Editor

Cricket Krengel

Development Editor

Kristin Vorce

Technical Editor

Jim Lefevere

jimlefevere.com

Copy Editor

Kim Heusel

Editorial Director

Robyn Siesky

Vice President and Group Executive Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher

Barry Pruett

Business Manager

Amy Knies

Senior Marketing Manager

Sandy Smith

Project Coordinator

Patrick Redmond

Graphics and Production Specialists

Andrea Hornberger

Quality Control Technician

Melanie Hoffman

Proofreading

Melissa D. Buddendeck

Indexing

Potomac Indexing, LLC

To Karen, who follows my offline tweets.

Acknowledgments

Many writers believe that the essence of good writing is rewriting. Not me. I believe that the essence of good writing is good editing. I don’t care how talented you are as a writer and how many times you rewrite each sentence, a good editor will make your writing better, period. Of course, there’s a lot riding on that little word “good.” Fortunately, the editorial team at Wiley is one of the best in the business. The book’s Project Editor was Cricket Krengel, who easily qualifies as a great editor, and I send along a thousand, nay a million thank-yous to her for bringing this book up to a level beyond its author. I had the distinct pleasure of working with Kristin Vorce, the book’s Development Editor, who was bubbling over with great ideas and suggestions. As you read this book, you’ll notice that every i is dotted and every t is crossed, and for that I extend heartfelt thanks to this book’s Copy Editor, the sharp-eyed Kim Heusel. Technical writing must be technically accurate, of course, or there’s just no point to it. So for the often thankless tasking of taking all my techniques for a test drive, I thank this book’s Technical Editor, Jim Lefevere. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t also shout “Thank you!” at the top of my lungs to this book’s Acquisitions Editor, Jody Lefevere, for asking me to write the book. I can’t tell you how much fun I had writing it.

Foreword

Social media is a phenomenon that’s turning everyone into a publisher and distributor of media: from YouTube videos to blog posts to Twitter messages and even comments on the articles we read around the web, we’re all becoming content creators. As the CEO and founder of Mashable.com, an online guide to social media, I’ve seen this trend evolve from the clunky old blogging software of years ago — for which you needed to understand web hosting and basic programming to even get started — to the effortless simplicity of a 140-character Twitter message (or Tweet). 

Twitter is perhaps the simplest and most addictive social media tool of them all, and its unprecedented success has been both unexpected and inspirational. I’ve been fortunate to be part of that journey, tracking Twitter’s growth on behalf of Mashable and posting updates about Twitter and social media to the @mashable Twitter account.

As you’ll learn in this book, once the basic principles of Twitter are understood, the possibilities are almost limitless. In fact, much of the service’s appeal comes from its simplicity: write anything you wish in 140-characters or less, and then share it with the world. Is it a chat room? Is it a way to send text messages to a group of friends? Is it a new technology for reading news headlines?  Is it the world’s simplest social network, a barebones version of MySpace and Facebook?  It’s all of those things and more: Twitter is whatever you make it.

Twitter is only four years old, but the service has been put to some inspirational, innovative and quirky uses already. Surgeons have Tweeted live from the operating room. A worldwide fundraising event was organized, garnering more than $250,000 for charity. More than one marriage proposal has been made (and accepted!). A British man traveled around the world to New Zealand, getting by thanks to the kindness of Twitter users. And in thousands of cities, Twitter fans have come together in real life Tweetups, making their virtual connections real.

Twitter’s users are exceptionally inventive and resourceful, too. An expectant father created a device for his pregnant wife to wear: it sends a Twitter message every time their baby kicks. A software developer created a system that turns the lights on or off in his home by sending out a Tweet. You can even buy a kit for your plants that posts a Tweet when they need watering; a similar kit allows you to track your power consumption via Twitter.

Tweeting plants aren’t the only non-human Twitter members. Both the Space Shuttle Endeavour and Mars Phoenix Lander posted Tweets during their missions for NASA, while London’s Tower Bridge posts a Tweet when it opens or closes.  There are Tweets from a whale on the ceiling of the Natural History Museum in New York City. And one of Twitter’s most popular users is a cat in Waltham, Massachusetts.

All this innovation and creativity is part of Twitter’s culture, it seems: a wealth of Tweet-powered services have sprung up, creating a flourishing ecosystem of so-called Twitter applications. There are tools to find Twitter users near you; Web sites that list the funniest Tweets (or the most insightful); services that rank Twitter users by their influence; and three-dimensional maps that show Tweets being posted around the world, every minute of the day.

More remarkable than all of these developments, however, is Twitter’s profound effect on society: from news coverage to politics to customer relations and the nature of celebrity, this seemingly simple service is transforming entire industries. 

Newspapers use Twitter as both a source of stories and a way to distribute their own headlines. Many of the top Twitter users are news agencies, and Twitter members have been known to Tweet about breaking news hours before its coverage on television. The effect on the media has been so dramatic; in fact, that one UK newspaper posted an April’s Fool’s joke claiming that it would cease publication of the paper and publish stories solely in Tweeted form. 

News and politics go hand in hand, and politicians are equally cognizant of Twitter’s power: US President Barack Obama has an enormous Twitter following, and his team posts occasional updates that request feedback from the American public. Obama is the most prominent among hundreds of Twittering politicians from numerous countries and political persuasions; of course, Twitter is non-partisan and international in its scope.

If Twitter can influence our political opinions, could it also determine what we buy? Some of the world’s biggest brands hope so, and many have jumped into Twitterland with both feet. Some use the service for product announcements, while others post responses to questions and complaints from customers; some even host contests to win free products and services. 

What about personal branding and celebrity? From Hollywood stars to sporting heroes to the world’s most famous musicians, Twitter provides a connection between celebrities and their fans that is more direct than ever before. Some of the world’s most recognizable names are using Twitter, giving us unprecedented insights into their everyday lives. 

That’s just a sampling of what you’ll find on Twitter; it’s inspiration, information, news, gossip, humor and remarkable personal stories. Twitter is all that we are, from our most exalted moments to our most mundane — and everything in between.

~ Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of Mashable.com

Introduction

When I wrote the first edition of this book, Twitter was just starting to hit the big time: bemused front page articles in just about every magazine and newspaper in the land wondered just what this Twitter thing was all about; the actor Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) had just cracked the one million follower mark; and Oprah herself had joined the fray with her own Twitter account (@oprah).

A year later, has anything changed? Oh, just a few things: Now every magazine and newspaper in the land not only has its own Twitter feed, but most of their reporters and writers have Twitter accounts, too; more than two hundred Twitter users have at least one million followers; and, of course, anybody who is anyone now tweets.

In fact, as I was writing this edition Twitter crossed the 100 million user threshold, a jaw-dropping number that, more than anything else, signals Twitter’s newfound (and apparently permanent) place in the mainstream. That’s a pretty heady climb for a service that began with the question “What are you doing?,” a query so humble and mundane that Twitter was either ridiculed or ignored for most of its early life.

What turned the tide? The overall rise of social networking sure helped, of course, but I think the real secret of Twitter’s success is that the Twitter users took the original What are you doing? question and morphed it into something more along the lines of What’s happening now? (In fact, as you see in Chapter 3, Twitter recently changed the question from What are you doing? to What’s happening?) That seemingly subtle change has made all the difference because it opens up a world of new questions: What are you reading? What great idea did you just come up with? What are you worried about? What interesting person did you just see or hear? What great information did you stumble upon on the Web? What hilarious video would you like to share?

Yes, you can still tell people what you’re doing, and lots of Twitter users do just that. What’s different now is that you’re free to turn your Twitter experience into anything you want it to be. To do that, however, you need a guide to the ins and outs of Twitter and the tools, services, and sites that have sprung up in its wake. That’s what Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets, Second Edition aims to be. This book not only tells you everything you need to know to get started with Twitter and perform all of its standard chores, but it goes beyond the basics to show you how to wring every last bit of usefulness, education, and fun out of Twitter.

Who should read this book? You!

Some books are aimed squarely at specific types of people: beginners, programmers, left-handers, or whatever. Not this book:

• If you’ve never even heard of Twitter until this second, you can safely use this book to get started and see what all the fuss is about.

• If you’ve used Twitter for a while but haven’t explored much, this book will be the map that shows you how to get to Twitter’s useful and fun features and tools.

• If you already know your way around Twitter, I’m confident that this book will tell you a few things you don’t know and will introduce you to some techniques you haven’t yet tried.

• If you hate Twitter or are simply mystified by the whole thing, I hope this book will show you that although Twitter isn’t the life-changing event that some folks make it out to be, it is useful and entertaining if you use it in a way that suits you.

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoy the book.

Happy Twittering!

Chapter 1: How Do I Get Started with Twitter?

Are you ready to share with the world select bits and pieces of your life, 140 characters (or less) at a time? I suspected as much. This means that you’re ready to get started with Twitter, the microblogging service that has taken the online world by storm. In this chapter, you begin, appropriately enough, at the beginning by learning how to set up and sign in to a Twitter account. Even if you’ve already got a Twitter account up and running, this chapter also takes you through a few other crucial Twitter techniques, including changing and resetting your Twitter password.

Setting Up Your Very Own Twitter Account

Signing In to Your Twitter Account

Viewing Twitter’s Current Status

Changing Your Twitter Password

Resetting Your Twitter Password

Deleting Your Twitter Account

Setting Up Your Very Own Twitter Account

If all you want out of Twitter is to read a particular Twitterer’s updates, then you don’t need to bother creating your own account. Instead, point your favorite Web browser to http://twitter.com/user, where user is the person’s user name on Twitter, and then peruse the updates that appear on the page.

This, of course, is no fun whatsoever. Twitter is all about sharing and participating in a community of fellow Twitterheads, and you can’t do either of those things if you’re sitting on the sidelines. Even better, joining Twitter literally takes only seconds of your time. So, without further ado (not that there’s been much ado so far), here’s how to join Twitter:

1. Display Twitter’s Create an Account page by navigating your Web browser to http://twitter.com/signup. If you’re already on http://twitter.com, click Join today; if you’re already viewing a Twitterer’s updates, click the Join today button.

2. Use the Full name text box to type the name that you want other people to see when they look at your Twitter profile. Two things to consider here

• If you want people to find you on Twitter, be sure to type both your first and last names.

• You can’t include the text twitter anywhere in the name.

• The maximum number of characters you can type is 20.

3. In the Username text box, type the username you want to use on Twitter. Here are some notes to bear in mind:

• The username defines your Twitter address (it’s http://twitter.com/username), it appears before each of your updates, and it appears in various other places in the Twitter landscape, so pick something you like and that has meaning.

• The maximum number of characters is 15.

• You can include any combination of letters, numbers, and underscores (_). All other characters are illegal (you can’t even type them in the text box).

• You can’t include the text twitter anywhere in the username.

• As you type, Twitter checks to see if your username is available. If you see username has already been taken, then you’re out of luck and need to try again. If you see “ok” then you’re good to go.

Don’t sweat the username choice too much because you can always change it later.

4. Use the Password text box to type a password for your Twitter account. More informational notes

• The password must be at least six characters long.

• As you type the password, Twitter rates the password strength: Too obvious (if it’s the same as your username, which is not a good idea!), Weak, Good, Strong, or Very Strong. To get your password up to the Very Strong rating, make the password at least eight characters long, and include at least one number and one nonalphanumeric symbol.

5. In the Email text box, type the e-mail address you want to use to receive Twitter notifications and other messages. You learn in Chapter 2 how to customize these notifications. If you want to receive the Twitter newsletter, be sure to select the I want the inside scoop check box. Figure 1.1 shows a Create an Account page ready for action.

1.1Twitter’s Create an Account page with all fields neatly filled in

6. Click Create my account. Twitter does just that, and it then offers to look for your friends on services such as AOL and Hotmail.

7. You learn how to do this in Chapter 4, so click Skip this step. Twitter displays a list of famous, semifamous, or just plain infamous people who are on Twitter and asks if you want to follow them.

8. Again, you learn how to follow the famous in Chapter 4, so click Skip this step. Do not click Finish here, or else you’ll end up following all 20 people! Twitter finalizes your account and drops you off on your Twitter home page.

Signing In to Your Twitter Account

With your shiny, new Twitter account fully formed and primed for action, you’re ready to venture into the Twitterverse. Twitter is kind enough to deliver you to your home page right after it creates your account, so if that’s where you are now you can skip ahead.

However, after you end your browser session and start a new one, you’ll need to sign in to your Twitter account once again. Follow these steps to not only sign in, but also to tell Twitter to remember your credentials so you don’t have to bother with this again (at least when using the same browser on the same computer):

1. Send your trusty Web browser to https://twitter.com/login. You can also click the Login link that appears on just about every Twitter page.

2. Type your Twitter username in the Username text box.

3. Type your Twitter password in the Password text box.

4. Select the Remember me check box. This tells Twitter to add a cookie to your computer that saves your username and password, which enables you to log in automatically in the future.

5. Click Sign in.

6. If you started off in some other Twitter page, Twitter redisplays that page, so click Home to get to your account’s home page.

Viewing Twitter’s Current Status

Twitter puts the fun in funky and the hip in friendship, but it can also sometimes put the ugh in ugly. I’m talking here about Twitter’s occasional reliability problems. Twitter’s original infrastructure wasn’t built to handle the massive amount of traffic it now bears, so every so often there will be a hiccup, a glitch, or even an outright failure.

These failures arise when Twitter’s server simply gets overloaded, so it can’t process any new data until some processing power is freed up. You know this is the case when you try to do something on Twitter and you see, instead, the infamous fail whale, as shown in Figure 1.2.

1.2If Twitter gets overwhelmed by updates, the impossible-not-to-love fail whale shows up to let you know.

The good news is that the fail whale’s moment on the stage is almost always mercifully brief, so you should be able to continue what you were doing in a few seconds or, at most, a few minutes. You’ll also be happy to know that our friend the fail whale shows up far less often than he (she?) used to. Over the past year or so, Twitter has made impressive strides in not only plugging the leaks but also shoring up the foundations, so the service is now more reliable than ever.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it’s 100% reliable (online, nothing is). The fail whale still drops by unannounced on occasion, but Twitter also suffers from other gremlins from time to time. For example, you might see the whimsically mysterious Something is technically wrong page, as shown in Figure 1.3, if Twitter blows the online equivalent of a gasket.

So it pays to keep on top of Twitter’s current status. There are a couple of ways you can do this.

1.3 If a wrench gets thrown into the Twitter works, you might see this page.

First, send your Web browser to http://status.twitter.com/ to open the Twitter Status page, which displays updates on Twitter’s woes and worries, as shown in Figure 1.4.

Alternatively, visit the @twitter account by checking out http://twitter.com/twitter, shown in Figure 1.5.

1.4 Drop by the Twitter Status page to keep an eye on Twitter’s health.

Ideally, you should follow @twitter so you see the service updates automatically. See Chapter 4 to learn how to follow folks on Twitter.

If you’re wondering about the @ symbol that appears periodically throughout the book, know it’s a kind of Twitter shorthand that means “the Twitterer with the username.” So @twitter means “the Twitterer with the username twitter.”

1.5 Check out the @twitter account for the latest updates on the Twitter service.

Changing Your Twitter Password

When you forged your new Twitter account, you had to specify an account password, and Twitter is security-minded enough to rate your password on the fly: Too obvious, Weak, Good, Strong, or Very Strong. If you settled for a Weak or even just a Good rating, you might be having second thoughts and feel you’d sleep better at night with a Strong or even a Very Strong password.

Conversely, you might be wondering what’s the big whoop about a Twitter password? After all, it’s just your Twitter account. It’s not like you’re exposing your finances or national security secrets to the world (I’m assuming here you’re not the Secretary of State). True enough, but it’s also true that Twitter accounts have been hacked in the past, with the accounts of Britney Spears and a Twitter staffer (who was using the password “happiness,” which is about as weak as they come) being the most notorious. If you’re using your real name with your Twitter account, then you definitely don’t want some malicious hacker having his way with this part of your online identity.

Fortunately, changing the password for your Twitter account isn’t much harder than what you had to go through in the first place:

1. Sign in to your Twitter account.

2. Click Settings. The Settings page appears.

3. Click the Password tab.

4. Use the Current Password text box to type your existing Twitter password.

5. Type your new password in the New Password and Verify New Password text boxes.

6. Click Change. Twitter updates your account with the new password.

Resetting Your Twitter Password

Okay, so you’ve been on vacation for a couple of weeks, or your nose has been grindstone-bound while you finish off a few projects, and you’ve been away from the Twitterverse for a bit. It happens even to the most dedicated Twitterers. You return to the login screen and, doh!, you’ve forgotten your password. You try all your old favorites, but no joy. You’re locked out of your Twitter account!

Fortunately, all is not lost. You can ask the kind folks at Twitter to reset your password, which will get you back up and tweeting in just a few minutes. Here’s what you do:

1. Send your Web browser to https://twitter.com/account/resend_password. The Forgot your password? page appears.

2. Type your Twitter username in the text box. You can also type the e-mail address that you associated with your Twitter account.

3. Click Send instructions. Twitter ships you an e-mail message (Subject line: “Reset your Twitter password”) that includes a link to a password reset page.

4. When you get the message, click the link. Your default Web browser pops up and takes you to the password reset page.

5. Type your new password in the New Password and Verify New Password text boxes.

6. Click Change. Twitter resets your account with the new password.

Deleting Your Twitter Account

I have the feeling that you’re going to love Twitter, but it’s also true that microblogging isn’t for everyone. The constant pressure to answer the canonical Twitter question “What’s happening?” may simply become too much after a while. If taking a short break doesn’t help (I’m talking about a few days or even a few weeks, not a few minutes), then you can walk away and move on with your life. You could opt to let your account lie dormant (it is, after all, free), but if there are updates you want to get rid of, or if you don’t want new people to follow you, then you should delete your Twitter account.

Of course, it could be that you love the whole Twitter thing, perhaps even to the extent that you’ve created multiple Twitter accounts. Lots of people juggle multiple Twitter identities (I have two, myself), but it requires lots of logging in and out, and lots of extra work updating and maintaining each account. If it all just gets to be too much, you might want to delete one or more of your accounts so you can finally get some sleep at night.

If you need to go the multiple-account route, then I strongly suggest using a third-party tool that supports multiple Twitter accounts, such as TweetDeck. See Chapter 8 for a look at some of these powerful tweeting tools.

Fortunately, unlike a lot of online services that bury their account-removal features in some obscure nook or cranny of their site (or, worse, require you to call the company to have your account terminated), Twitter makes it nearly painless to delete an account. Here’s what you do:

1. Sign in to your Twitter account.

2. Click Settings. The Settings page appears.

3. Click the Account tab.

4. Near the bottom of the page, click the Deactivate my account link. The Is this goodbye? page appears, which asks if you really want to go through with this.

5. Click Okay, fine, deactivate my account. Twitter deletes your account.

Did you click the Okay, fine, deactivate my account button and then immediately regret your rash decision? Not to worry, because Twitter actually keeps your account in limbo for six months. If you change your mind within that time, you can get your deleted account restored with almost no fuss.

1. Direct your nearest Web browser to http://twitter.com/account/deleted.

2. Use the text box to type the username or e-mail address associated with the account.

3. Click Restore my account. You’ll receive an e-mail message that offers a link, and you click that link to restore your account.

Yes, it is really that easy, providing you restore it when your account is still in that limbo period.

Chapter 2: What Can I Do to Customize My Twitter Profile?

When you first sign up with Twitter, your account is about as bare-bones as it gets. You have no updates, no replies, no direct messages, no followers, and no one who you’re following. Zeroes across the board! You soon fix all that. For now, though, you need to get ready to meet your public. This means taking a few minutes to customize your Twitter profile by filling in some of the missing details, choosing your all-important picture, sprucing up your Twitter home with colors and a background image, and configuring how Twitter notifies you of account events.

Filling In Your Profile Details

Setting Your Twitter Picture

Applying a Theme to Your Profile

Selecting a Background Image

Choosing Your Profile’s Colors

Stopping Twitter from Sending New Follower Messages

Filling In Your Profile Details

When you created your Twitter account, you only had to specify four things about yourself: your name, the Twitter username you preferred, a password for your account, and your e-mail address. That made the signup procedure blessedly quick, but it doesn’t give folks much to chew on when they access your profile. Fortunately, Twitter lets you fill in a few more details after your account is set up, including your time zone, your Web site address, a short bio, your location in the real world, and the language you prefer. Of these, your Web address, bio, and location are the most important because they appear directly on your Twitter home page (as does your real name), so anyone (even nontweeters) can see them.

Here are the steps to follow to fill in these profile details:

1. Sign in to your Twitter account.

2. Click Settings. The Settings page appears.

3. Click the Profile tab.

4. If you want to adjust your real name, edit the Name text box. Remember that other Twitter users usually rely on the real name to find people, so don’t be shy about using your full name (although remember that you only get 20 characters to play with here).

5. Use the Location text box to type your city, state, country, GPS coordinates, or any combination of the four (up to 30 characters).

6. If you have a separate Web site or blog, use the Web text box to type the address. Twitter displays this address as a link on your Twitter home page so folks can easily click over to your site.

7. In the one line Bio text box, type a short description of yourself. Somewhat oddly, Twitter gives you 160 characters here; limiting this field to 140 characters would seem more in keeping with the Twitter vibe, but there you go. Figure 2.1 shows a Profile tab with the various fields filled in.

8. Click the Account tab.

9.