Head first with Twitter

Clement Levallois, #twGalway2016

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For the next hour

1. First steps

2. Twitter: what for?

3. Practical exercise: create a Twitter account and using Tweetdeck

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You will learn how to…

1. Tweet, retweet, using hashtags and mentions

2. Identify use cases for Twitter in your professional environment

3. Use Tweetdeck, a leading tool to manage your communication and information on Twitter.

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1) FIRST STEPS Starting with Twitter in a professional environment

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Origins • Twitter: company created

in 2006

Twitter is a social network where users can send and read short messages made of 140 characters max, called “tweets”.

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"Jack Dorsey-20080723" by Joi Ito from Inbamura, Japan - Jack Dorsey. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jack_Dorsey-20080723.jpg#/media/File:Jack_Dorsey-20080723.jpg

• « Twitter » is the brand and the company’s name

• A « tweet » is the 140-char message

• To « tweet » = writing and sending such a message

• « Retweeting » = reposting a tweet written by somebody else

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Definitions

What does a tweet look like?

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The text

The author

Infos and further actions

Mentions and hashtags

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A « Hashtag »

A « mention »

Hashtags start with a # and have no space. They play the role of thematic signposts: The use of the same hashtag by several persons allows to search for all tweets which mentioned this hashtag, hence we can find all tweets on this topic. Your turn: search for #socnet on www.twitter.com/search We can invent any hashtag. In general, hashtags are short (to leave space for the rest of the tweet!) and should be distinctive (so that it can’t be confused with others)

Mentions start with a @ They are simply the accounts of Twitter users, called « Twitter handles ». It signals to the person mentioned that s/he was mentioned in a tweet. -> Here, @emlyon will be notified that somebody mentioned them. -> users which have an interest in @emlyon will be notified of this tweet, even if they don’t usually read the tweets of Wagemann

140 characters max, but… … a tweet can contain: • Links to web pages

• Up to 4 pictures

• Since April 2015, it is possible to write tweets quoting

other tweets.

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Links in tweets • One of the most frequent

motives for tweeting

1) Spreading an info seen on the

web

2) We are the author of the page (blog post, news on your company website) and want to publicize it

Links can be very long, as they get shortened automatically by Twitter:

They can fit in much less than 140 chars.

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The link

Pics in in tweets…

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Interesting function in pics

• It is possible to tag up to 10 Twitter users on pics inserted in the tweets

• In the same way that you tag friends on pics on Facebook

• Great advantage: you can get the attention of 10 personnes with just a tweet

12 In this example, last year the community manager for EMLYON had tagged the sponsors of the conference in a tweet announcing the conference

Tweets and retweets • To tweet: posting a tweet

• Retweeting: this is sharing somebody else’s tweet

– Retweet is often shortened as « RT ».

• Why is retweeting interesting?

– Because Twitter can be used to curate information for an audience: you retweet the content which is relevant to people following you.

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Click on this button to retweet it yourself

Number of times this tweet has been retweeted

Who reads my tweets?

1. Tweets are public and can be read by anybody, including by non Twitter users.

2. By default, tweets will be displayed only to those who follow you (a bit like the Facebook wall, that your friends can see)

3. If you mention« #twGalway2016 » in a tweet, then this tweet will be shown to all the persons who asked to be notified when tweets mentioning this hashtag are published.

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Twitter – who actually reads my tweets?

Case 1: the typical public tweet -> the followers of @seinecle see this tweet on their « wall » -> @romainhuet receives a notification that he was mentioned in this tweet -> it also appears on the Twitter page of @seinecle_FR -> somebody making a search on Google or elsewhere can find it as well

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Twitter – who actually reads my tweets?

Case 2: the semi-public conversation Because the tweet starts with a mention (@romainhuet), it is not displayed to the followers of Clement. An exchange of tweets can start between @seinecle_FR and @RomainHuet without disturbing the people who follow one or the other. -> this tweet appears only on the wall of the users who follow both @seinecle_FR and @romainhuet (so, a very limited set of people!) 17

Twitter – who actually reads my tweets?

Case 3: a dialogue, still visible for outsiders -> pay attention to the dot in front of @romainhuet -> this tweet can be seen by all the followers of @seinecle_FR -> @romainhuet still gets notified Here, there is a play between public and private conversations: -> I talk directly to Romain Huet, but I make it so that the rest of the audience can « listen »

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Twitter and privacy

It is possible to create « protected accounts »

1. Tweets are visible only to persons who were authorized by the user

2. You choose who follows you

3. Tweets can’t be retweeted (because then they would become public)

4. Why protected accounts: to use Twitter as for very personal expression.

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All Twitter users (who have public or protected accounts) can use a private messaging system.

1. A bit like Facebook Messenger

2. In practice, it is used often between users of Twitter who have an intensive use.

Can I delete or edit a tweet?

Spelling mistake, a tweet you regret to have written…

1. Yes: each tweet has a « delete » button which makes it disappear.

2. But somebody will have probably read it already

3. And screen shots can be made. Rule of thumb: assume that everything you tweet outside of private messaging can leave a public trace.

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• One idea per tweet. Don’t try to squeeze in a paragraph.

• Pictures have a tredemendous effect on engagement. – Or at least a link

• Don’t forget to add the person’s Twitter handle, instead of their names – Write @romainhuet, not Romain Huet

• Use hashtags as relevant

– Hashtags are useful when they pertain to specialized topics, because it is likely that people follow these niche topics.

– However, using general hashtags like #the #weather #is #changing makes no sense.

• Write the tweet at a time when your audience is active (not on a Friday at 7pm…)

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1) Advice on the style of the tweet

How to write a tweet that finds an audience?

• One piece of information per tweet.

• Not ego centered (« Leaving work now to pick my kids at school »)

• Related to an expertise (key take away!!) – Your own expertise, or from your company, industry, profession…

• You can mix a personal viewpoint on these expert topics, or just echo

neutrally a news you read somewhere. – Both are ok, but a personal touch is more engaging to your readers.

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2) Advice on the content of the tweet

How to write a tweet that finds an audience?

2) TWITTER: USE CASES Starting with Twitter in a professional environment

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Common misconceptions about Twitter

« I am neither a journalist nor in an ad agency, why would I use Twitter? » « I am a professor and I teach very complex things, this will never fit in 140 characters » « Thank you very much but I don’t like sharing my private life on public forums » « Hashtag madness, stars chatting and bragging on Twitter… I don’t see the relation with my job. »

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1) Reach your audience

• Twitter is not just populated by Beliebers football fans.

• Your clients are there too. And your competitors.

– And also your colleagues, the mayor of your city, your bank, your daily newspaper, the sports club of your kids, your favorite book writer, etc.

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2) Direct communication, targeted, amplified

• Direct: a tweet is immediatly visible – No email, no subscription to groups , …

• Targeted:

– With hashtags, mentions and your own followers, a tweet is made visibile to a very targeted audience.

• Amplified: your tweets can be retweeted – Then you reach an audience which is much wider than your personal

network, and for free: how would you do that without Twitter?

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3) Communication in informal mode

• Twitter is at the frontier between the personal and pro spheres – Used for professional reasons, also as individuals, and often a mix of

the two.

• This allows for a degree of informal communication, which is rare: – Facebook: not pro! – LinkedIn: too pro! – Twitter: the right mix, to reach informally to persons that in other

circumstances would never find the time for this. – Extreme example: « #HowardUnCafé » campaign by Michel & Augustin

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4) Publicize content • A tweet is a good way to advertise the headline of a news hosted

on a separate webpage.

• Besides the catchy title, the tweet includes a link to the web page. It gives a way to redirect the reader of the tweet to the full version of the information.

• Is it a small impact? – No: it drives qualified traffic to your web page, which is hard to get

otherwise.

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5) Information monitoring • Twitter is a place to write … and read.

• Follow persons and hashtag relating to your

professional interests.

• Strengths: handy way to collect diverse sources of info in one place, and prime access: news spread on Twitter first. 30

« My expertise is too technical, I doubt I’ll find anything on Twitter »

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If you teach Bessel functions… If you are interested in the aerodynamics of

winglets for planes:

3) TWITTER IN PRACTICE WITH TWEETDECK

Starting with Twitter in a professional environment

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Steps

1. Create a Twitter account (you need a valid email address)

2. Follow a couple of users

3. Write some tweets

4. Open Tweetdeck

5. Experiment with Tweetdeck functions

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1) Creating a Twitter account

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• www.twitter.com

• Choose a « Twitter handle »: @....

– Often: initials + last name

2) Finding persons to follow on Twitter

• Use the advanced search page on Twitter – https://twitter.com/search-advanced?lang=en

– Lookup colleagues, competitors and key stakeholders

from your domain (in your industry, knowledge domain, professional network…)

– You can filter for geographical location and other features

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3) Write a couple of tweets

• Your first tweets can have a personal tone, just announcing your first steps on Twitter.

• Then maybe add a couple of tweets on what’s your occupation, and your professional centers of interest? Insert #hashtags if possible!

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4) Open Tweetdeck

• Tweetdeck is a web application owned by Twitter – www.tweetdeck.com

• When one is following many users, Tweetdeck is made to group these users in different columns, making it easier to read their tweets.

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What’s next? Time is needed • Twitter becomes more interesting with time because:

– You end up finding and following users who post fascinating content

– You take the habit to share interesting content (your own, or the one you posted by other users), and you get positive feedbacks from your audience

– Interesting bridges develop between your offline activities and your activities on Twitter:

Your offline activities become more visible thanks to Twitter

Twitter enrich your readings, meetings with new individuals and discovering new events

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To know more, follow me on Twitter! :-)

@seinecle

I tweet mainly about digital innovation and data science

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