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I get asked all the time how twitter works.  So instead of explaining it to each one of you individually I will jot down the few things you need to know about the basics of Twitter.  I find Twitter 1000x better on a smart phone than on a pc.   Here it goes:

Twitter is NOT Facebook

Come to twitter for information and NOT gossip like facebook!  Everyday I am amazed at the information on twitter – if you follow the right people!  It is the best place to be for information with all things agriculture!  You don’t come to twitter to find old friends, but people that are interested in the same things you are.

Add a Avatar – profile picture *Very Important*

Just add a picture!  To be taken serious at all please don’t be an “egg head”.  Don’t ask why – just do it!

My Twitter Avatar

Add a small description of yourself  *Very Important*

Add a description to your profile so people know what you are about.  They want to know your interest.  Again, don’t ask why – just do it!

My Twitter Profile Description

Find people to follow

Twitter is useless unless you follow people.  People are defined by a “@” in front of their names (Twitter handle).  Again Twitter is not Facebook – don’t be scared to follow people.  They want more followers and will be very happy that you are following them.  Here are a few people to follow in the agriculture community.  Again, don’t ask why – just do it!  @JeffFowle @KMRivard @RayProck @gilmerdairy @IndianaGrainCo  Now go to their profiles and see who they are talking to.  There you will find other people you will want to follow.  Oh yeah – don’t forget to follow @FunWithBulls and @SDBreeders too!

People I follow on Twitter

 Tweet 

Tweet something – anything!  Your followers will see this in their timelines.  Actually the whole world can see these tweets if they happen to be searching for the terms you are using.  140 Characters only.  Why?  I don’t know!  But it keeps your timeline with short and sweet tweets.  Don’t complain – just deal with it!  If you try to tweet something and it won’t tweet – its because you are over 140 characters and you need to shorten it.

Reply

If you see a tweet you want to respond to – press Reply on that individual tweet.  It will automatically place their twitter handle in the tweet.  YES!  You have to have that there or the people you are Replying to won’t know you are replying to their tweet and you won’t get a response back!

Retweet 

AKA as a RT.  You RT tweets that you like, agree with or just find funny.  Yes!  You will be RT people as time goes on.  On mobile devises you can “quote RT”  You use this to add to a tweet.  You will figure this out as time goes on.  Again don’t ask to many questions….

Typical ReTweet

Hashtags

These are basically punctuations and topics.  They are usually added to tweets so people know exactly what they are tweeting about without needing to explain it.  Some great Ag Hashtags are:  #agchat #agvocate #agnerd #dairy #beef #foodchat #ranchlife #agproud  You will find more hashtags as you go along.  If you search these you will find great people to follow who are talking about these topics!

Tweet With Ag Hashtags

Followers

You will get followers – be proud!  Yes!  You will get spammers following you – don’t worry about them they are harmless!  You can report and block them if you want, but they usually disappear over time.

Some of my Twitter Followers

Direct Message

You can DM someone if you want to keep a conversation private.  Only you and the person you are DMing can see these tweets.  If you get a DM from someone that you know that says “have you seen what people are talking about you” or “Have you seen this picture of you” or similar messages – DO NOT click on the link.  They got hacked and you will too!  If you get hacked just change your password right away.

Direct Message Spam - Do NOT Click on link

I hope this helps all you new people to Twitter and please comment below if you have any questions!  And don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!