tweet!tweet!
DESCRIPTION
An overview of how Twitter works as well as trends and history.TRANSCRIPT
Tweet! Tweet! Using Twitter to Reach an Audience
Richard Harrington, PMPCEO – RHED Pixel
twitter.com/rhedpixel
linkedin.com/in/richardharrington
facebook.com/RichHarringtonStuff
youtube.com/rhedpixeltv
•Social Networking is becoming increasingly important to the modern professional
•Works for business development or a private support network
•Excellent way to build an audience and stay in touch
•But getting started can be a little intimidating (especially if you’re late to the party)
State of the InternetJust who’s out there?
Internet for the Masses
0
20
40
60
80
100
50% 55%62%
72% 75% 79% 81% 81% 83% 82% 85% 84%
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Arbitron/Edison Research Media
Residential Broadband
0
20
40
60
80
100
78%68%
60%
48%
38%
28%20%
15% 13%
21%28%
37%
48%
58%
69%76%
82% 84%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Dial-‐Up BroadbandArbitron/Edison Research Media
People Who’ve Watched Internet Video Last Week
0
8
16
24
32
40
3%7% 8%
12%15%
18%
27%29%
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Arbitron/Edison Research Media
All Adults Who Have aSocial Networking Profile
48%52%
Yes No
2010
Arbitron/Edison Research Media
12–24 Year Olds Who Have aSocial Networking Profile
77%
23%
Yes NoArbitron/Edison Research Media
2010
Social Media Overview What’s social got to do with business?
Social Networking•Good for reconnecting
with colleagues and former co-‐workers
•Do not overstep
•Share your personality and passions
•Use good taste
Social Media Outlets•Blogging
•Business Networking
•Social Networking
•Mobile Networking
Social Media Outlets•Twitter
•Ning
•Online Forums
•Community Help
What is Twitter?I know I’ve heard of it...
What is Twitter?
•A micro-‐blogging platform (similar to texting)
•Limited to only 140 characters
•You can insert links
•Photos with helper services
•Audio and video also available
What is Twitter?
•You can follow people and they can follow you
•You can feed a blog or Facebook into Twitter
•Twitter draws 6 million unique visitors per month
•You can embed Twitter on a blog or website
•Available for mobile phones
•Leads to passive intimacy
Twitter’s Core Technology
•Device agnostic message routing system
•Contains rudimentary social networking features.
•Accepts messages from SMS, web, mobile web, instant message, and third-‐party API projects
•Twitter is designed to be easy to-‐use
Twitter Has Grown
•Awareness of Twitter has exploded from 5% of Americans 12+ in 2008 to 92% in 2010 (by comparison, Facebook's awareness is 95%)
•Twitter trails Facebook significantly in usage: 8% of Americans while 41% maintain a profile page on Facebook.
•Nearly two-‐thirds of active Twitter users access social networking sites using a mobile phone
•51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks
Twitter Has Grown
•New users are signing up at the rate of 300,000 per day
•180 million unique visitors come to the site every month
•75% of Twitter traffic comes from outside Twitter.com
•Twitter users are, in total, tweeting an average of 55 million tweets a day
•Twitter's search engine receives around 600 million search queries per day
Twitter Has Grown
•Over half of all tweets (60 percent) come from third party applications.
•Twitter has a user retention rate around 40%
•Twitter users are 3 times more likely to follow brands than Facebook users
•Twitter users’ propensity to interact with brands make them a huge potential source for Mass Influencers
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
5%
26%
87%92%
20082009
20102011Awareness
Category Title
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
0.5%
2%
7%
8%
20082009
20102011USAGE
Category Title
28%
7%8%14%
15%
27%
Socializing Publishing ResearchWork Marketing Professional
Who Uses Twitter?
•The majority of Twitter users are “lurkers,” passively following and reading the updates of others without contributing updates of their own.
•Most (70%) regular Twitter users do post status updates to some social networking service (likely Facebook).
•Twitter appears to be functioning as more of a broadcast medium compared to Facebook and many other social networking sites and services.
12-‐1718%
18-‐2411%
25-‐3433%
35-‐4419%
45-‐5412%
55+7%
12-‐17 18-‐24 25-‐34 35-‐44 45-‐54 55+
Who Uses Twitter?
•Strong with early adopters and tech-‐savvy audience
•Big following in California
•Government agencies, Media, and Businesses rapid growth
•Biggest group 25-‐34
69%
16%
3%11% 1%
Caucasian African American AsianHispanic Other
Who Uses Twitter?
•The percentage of Twitter users who are African-‐American currently stands at roughly 25%
•Approximately double the percentage of African-‐Americans in the current U.S. population.
•Many of the “trending topics” on Twitter on a typical day are reflective of African-‐American culture and topics.
•This segment of the U.S. population may be using Twitter more conversationally than other Twitter users.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
17%16%
30%
23%
12%
2%Usage
Advanced Degree Some Graduate CreditsFour-‐Year College 1-‐3 Years of CollegeHigh School/Less No Reply
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
23%
49%
28%
9%
7%
28%
10%
3%
iPhone
iPod
Blackberry
Kindle/eBook
Twitter US
1. Los Angeles
2. New York
3. San Francisco
4.Washington, DC
5. Hollywood
6. Chicago
7. Atlanta
8. Las Vegas
9. Seattle
10.Austin
Top 10 Cities for Twitter
Where did Twitter come from?An abbreviated history...
History of Twitter
•Created by Jack Dorsey who had grown interested in the simple idea of being able to know what his friends were doing
•Saw an opportunity to build something compelling around this a simple status update which others could follow.
•Twitter was funded initially by Obvious, a creative environment in San Francisco, CA
History of Twitter
•The first prototype was built in March 2006 (in only two weeks) and launched publicly in August of 2006.
•The service grew very popular very quickly
•It made sense to move it into its own product
•In May 2007, Twitter Incorporated was founded
Build a Twitter ProfilePut your best foot forward...
Creating a New Account
•A Twitter account is free to set up
•Many users set up multiple accounts
•One account per email address
Build a Twitter Profile
•Choose an easy-‐to-‐remember, branded user name (≤ 15 characters)
•Write a one line bio (limited to 160 characters)
•Use a clear photo or logo (must be square)
•JPEG or PNG
•Less than 700k
Effective bios are specific
Michael Tolosa: “I’m a professional writer,
blogger, and fashion photographer. I also do
improv comedy acting and produce video podcasts.”
Build a Twitter Profile
•Experiment with a custom background image
•Change the default colors
•Match your brand
•Keep the text dark and the background light
•Consider creating more than one Twitter profile
•One for each business use, for each product, etc.
Twitter in ActionWhat exactly happens in the Twitterverse?
Advice on TweetingJust what should you say?
Good Tweeting Habits
•Post updates whenever you add new blog post
•Post quick tips related to your content
•Ask provocative/open-‐ended questions
•Share good news and accomplishments
•Include links to useful articles relevant to your interests
•Engage others and comment
Some Special Language
•Use hashtags # to indicate the subject of your tweet
•hashtags.org – directory to tags
•Use @ to indicate the person you are tweeting
•@rhedpixel to talk to me
•Re-‐Tweet something you want to share
•Start tweet with RT
•Consider official Retweet function
Use Twitter to Build a Following
•Who do you want to meet?
•What characterizes your niche?
•Follow people who are in that niche
•Next... follow their followers (they will often follow you back)
Ray Ortega’s Produce Picker Twitter Page•Custom background and colors
reflect his preferences and brand
•Good ratio of following to followers
•Personal updates make it authentic and interesting
•Landed guest spot on Emeril Live
Gotta have a sense of humorAmerican Red Cross
Twitter GoodiesOfficial Twitter Guide – twitter.com/goodies
Useful Twitter ToolsGet more done with some help...
Useful Twitter Tools
•Bit.ly – URL shortener
•Twitpic – Add photos to tweets
•Tweetscan – Like Google Alerts ($20/year)
•Twitterfeed – Promote blog posts or Podcast
•TwInbox – Integrates Microsoft Outlook
Useful Twitter Tools
•CoTweet – Several tools for business
•Twitter.grader.com – Provides statistics for a Twitter user
•Twuffer – Schedule tweets
•Twtpoll – Run a poll
•Twendz – Watch a keyword over time
Useful Twitter Tools
•TweetMic – Add audio posts to Twitter
•BackUpMyTweets – Archive service
•Chirpstats – Track who stops following you
•Friend or Follow – Who is not following you back?
•Favstar.fm – See your most popular tweets
•FollowCost – How annoying will it be to follow someone?
Mobile TwitterSocial Media on the Go
Dedicated Applications•iPhone
•Palm
•Android
•Symbian
•Blackberry
•Windows Mobile
•Widsets
Crowd SourcingAn Exercise in Twitter
Questions &Answers
Richard Harrington, PMP
twitter.com/rhedpixel
linkedin.com/in/richardharrington
facebook.com/RichHarringtonStuff
RichardHarringtonBlog.com
Tweeting, Friending, and Linking
Richard Harrington, PMPCEO – RHED Pixel
twitter.com/rhedpixel
linkedin.com/in/richardharrington
facebook.com/RichHarringtonStuff
youtube.com/rhedpixeltv