Since we started twittering our blog posts a couple of months ago, several of you have asked about Twitter, how it works and how to use it. So I decided to put together this quick guide. I would also like to thank Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com for his contribution to this guide.

What is Twitter?
Twitter is a service that enables you to stay in touch and keep up with friends no matter where you are.

What is Twittering?
Twittering is similar to sending SMS text messages from your cell phone. However instead of it being from one to one it is from one to many. Any message sent on Twitter is public.

What is Twitter Used For?
Twitter is commonly used for instant updates. On the WebGuild site we use Twitter to send an instant alert when a new post is made. The Los Angeles Fire Department uses Twitter to keep the community apprised of fire emergences (LAFD). Mostly it is used to notify friends and family of what you are doing at any given moment.

Examples of Tweets
Here is an example of some Tweets (messages sent via Twitter) and the messages that you send have to be short, 140 characters or less. If you messages are over 140 characters it will get cut off.

Having drinks at the Horseshoe Bar with my co-workers.

zappos 2 minutes ago

——————— OR ———————-

Yahoo Takeover Imminent http://tinyurl.com/3e6806

webguild Jan 13, 2008

Anyone Can Follow You On Twitter
You send an SMS text message to Twitter with your note, and your message will be automatically broadcast (like CB radio) to whoever is choosing to follow you (your friends). If people don’t care what you’re doing, they won’t follow you, so don’t worry about sending out trivial messages. Twitter is free, however depending on plan your phone carrier might charge you for sending and receiving tweets (similar to text messages).

So here’s an example where Twitter came in handy for Tony. He was at a bar and he twittered. “I’m at bar X” and the message was broadcast to his Twitter network. A couple of his friends happened to be close by, so they stopped by and they all had a drink. Pretty cool!

Here’s another example: I was flying in to the Vegas airport, and I twittered “Just landed in Vegas airport.” I would have never texted anyone that message, but in the Twitter culture, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. It just so happened that someone on my Twitter network was about to fly out of Vegas, so we met up at the airport bar and had a drink. I would have never known otherwise that this person was at the airport, nor would I have ever sent him a text message or called him that I had just landed.

Setting Up Twitter
1. Go to twitter.com and click on “Join”
2. Create a username, password etc. and click “Create my account”.
3. Click on “Skip” at the bottom of the next page, don’t worry about signing up your friends yet.
4. Click on “Settings” at the top of the next page
5. Update your name (first name only is fine), Time Zone, and Location and click “Save“. You can fill out the rest later. Do not choose “Protect my updates” for now. You can always change your mind later, but to really understand the full power of Twitter, you should go for the first 2 weeks doing what most people on Twitter do, which is have everything be public.
6. Click on the Devices tab, enter your phone number, check the box under your phone number and hit “Save“.
7. You will be given a 6 letter code.
8. On your cell phone, create a new address book entry called “Twitter“, and use 40404 as the phone number (for those in the United States).
9. Send a text message to Twitter on your cell phone with the 6 letter code that you saw on the web site. You should get a confirmation text message back from Twitter.
10. Your account is set up! Now you just need to follow some people and have people follow you. Let your friends know what your username on Twitter is and tell them to follow you. If you have friends already on Twitter, you can follow them. To follow someone, just send a text message to twitter in the following format: follow username

Add & Remove Twitter Followers
To follow our blog updates simply type follow webguild. So send a text message to Twitter: follow username.Then, anytime I send a message to Twitter or post a blog, then my message will show up in your cell phone.

And to start following our blog send a text message to Twitter: follow webguild

And to stop following our blog send a text message to Twitter: leave username

Tracking Keywords
One really cool feature that Twitter has is the “track” feature. Basically, it allows you to track any keyword or phrase, and anytime anyone in the world twitters something using that phrase, you will see it on your cell phone (remember, Twitter broadcasts are public). So it’s a great way to overhear conversations. I use it to track what other people in the world are saying about WebGuild. To use the track feature, simply text message: track keyword

And to start tracking a keyword, text message Twitter: track webguild

And to stop tracking a keyword, text message Twitter: untrack keyword

If you need help or forget the Twitter commands, text message Twitter: help

That’s it for getting started! I recommend you track something you’re interested in when you first start so that you can get an idea of what the Twitter culture is like and how other people are using it. For example, if you love clowns, then text “track clowns” and also text “track clown”. You can untrack them at anytime or once you get the hang of it.

Twitter & Marketing
Twitter is now being recognized as a valuable marketing tool and I will cover some in a follow-up post. If you would like to share your ideas or experience please twitter webguild (there is a way to send direct messages on Twitter) or email webguild.