Twitter: Your How-to Questions Answered

There’s a good chance you’ve heard about Twitter by now. However, it’s still a relatively new service that a lot of people are learning their way around. And while participating in a community like Twitter can be fun, it’s even better when you know how to use it.

Below are a few answers to some common how-to questions that Twitter users — new and old, alike — have been asking. Knowing these answers should make your Twitter experience all the more enjoyable.

How do I automatically follow someone who follows me?

You might have noticed that a lot of people on Twitter will follow you immediately after you follow them. That’s not the result of magic or Twitter ninjas. It’s just an auto-follow feature provided by a service called TweetLater (http://www.tweetlater.com).

The site lets you do a variety of things related to Twitter such as scheduling future tweets and sending automatic “thank you” notes to new followers. Tweetlater is great for the active individual who wants to be a productive tweeter.

How do I find more people to follow?

One issue a lot of tweeters face at some time is the question, “who do I follow?” Your Twitter life could get off to a slow start (or become stagnant) if you don’t know where and how to find others to connect with.

Easily trump this problem by using Twitter’s own site to find people in your email contacts. Provide your login credentials, then Twitter will return a list of people you already know who have Twitter accounts.

In addition, Twubble (http://crazybob.org/twubble) is another service you can use to find interesting people to follow. It works by searching your current friends list for people with interests and activities similar to yours. It then returns a list of cool, follow-worthy peeps.

How do I change my username?

Twitter actually makes it ridiculously easy to change your username. And I love them for that! There are plenty of reasons why you might want to change it: branding purposes, something easier to type/remember, et cetera.

In fact, I’ve changed my name before — and given my spontaneous attitude, I just might do it again.  The best part about changing it: I didn’t lose any followers! It’s as simple as going to Twitter.com, clicking on “settings” at the top, and changing your username. Twitter power user, Rick Butts, has a short and concise blog post about his name changing experience.

How do I add my Twitter posts (aka “tweets”) to my blog?

On my blog, I have a section in the footer that displays my latest Twitter posts. It’s a nice addition to have on a website or blog. It adds a certain element of “freshness” to it.

In addition, it also appeals to other Twitter users who might stumble on my site. Once they see I’m an active user of Twitter, they’ll be more inclined to contact and connect with me.

Bringing your Twitter tweets into your blog is simple. All you need is a WordPress blog and the help of a little piece of code we call the plugin. I’m currently using the aptly named Twitter for WordPress plugin. Installation is quick and customizing it is even faster. There’s not much more you could want from a plugin.

How do I add my Twitter tweets to my Facebook profile?

If you’ve ever seen someone’s Facebook status update and noticed that it looked like a traditional Twitter tweet (with “@” symbol and all), that’s because it is a Twitter tweet. Thanks to a simple application, it’s possible to send your tweets to your Facebook profile as status updates, too.

To make this work, simply access your Facebook account, then search for Twitter under the “applications” section. Once you’ve added the app, check the box that asks whether you want Twitter to update your Facebook status, too. Simple as that!

Now, that some of the most common questions have been answered, feel free to get out there and explore.

About The Author

Carol Hansen, a Twitter specialist focusing on building and monetizing your network. You can connect with Carol on Twitter or Facebook and follow her latest projects, blog posts and cool tips on building and monetizing your Twitter following.

About The Author

Dali Burgado, also known as "The Dali Blogger" teaches creative entrepreneurs how to carve a web presence that connects with their Inner Guru and their target audience. Her first online marketing love is SEO. She's an avid connector on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. When she's not coaching or teaching, she's tweaking sites for Search Engine Visibility, working on her PHP and Javascript coding skills, Singing Opera, or learning about gardening. Circle Dali on Google+