You don’t need a computer science degree to understand why Tweets are so important. These are the basic units of communication on Twitter. Think of them as short posts. You need a free account to post. You also need an audience. If you don’t have followers, you’re just shouting into the void.
Most people think of their profile as a public blog. These messages are visible to everyone. However, if you want to have a real conversation, you need to invite friends as well. This is a social network. It works like a digital dinner party where everyone is talking at the same time.
Build your network and Managing Feeds
Once you have an account, you can start following people. You invite contacts. Check out their posts. Here is the catch. Only a small part of the whole story is shown.
If your friend replies to someone you don’t follow, you’ll lose their reply. You see the direct post. The context is missing. This creates a fragmented picture of the conversation. It’s frustrating for people who like full stories. This works if you just want to want headlines.
Twitter’s design still follows the origins of text messages. That’s why early Tweets were just text. There is a character limit due to the limitations of old mobile phones. You get 140 characters. The system cuts off the rest for mobile users.
The entire text can be read online. Or use a third-party app. But mobile experiences have their limits. It forces brevity.
Multimedia and sharing mechanisms
The rules have changed. Words are no longer enough. Tweets now include images. Also includes videos. Vine was acquired by Twitter in 2012. This provides the user with a 6 second clip.
You don’t have to be creative. You can share directly. It is digital forwarding. You take someone else’s Tweet. Send it to your followers. This is a digital forwarding.
Hashtags group these posts together. Use hash symbol. Add a subject. #newcar. #Porsche. #bankaccountempty. These tags make your post searchable. People can find your opinion on topics without following you directly.
Twitter gives you control over your feed. If someone attacks you, you can unfollow them. You can easily opt out of networks.
The platform has continued to evolve since its early days. The applications are vast is very wide. The next step is to familiarize yourself with these tools.
