Dr Natalie HarrowerManager, Education and OutreachDigital Repository of Ireland Royal Irish Academy

@dri_ireland@natalieharrower

Social Repository of Ireland

Getting the most out of Twitter

How to increase reach and impact

1. What kind of platform is Twitter?2. Basic protocol3. Social conventions & strategy 4. Tools: time-savers, analytics,

extenders

Types of Platforms

• Exists primarily as a social sharing platform• Specifically for sharing individual A/V• Scrapbooking/curating• Discussion boards • Websites/news sites with social media slant

Types of Platforms

• Exists primarily as a social sharing platform• Specifically for sharing individual A/V• Scrapbooking/curating• Discussion boards • Websites/news sites with social media slant

Social Sharing Platform

• Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Meetup

• It’s about having something to share

• … and also about networking

• Content and social experience are primary

• Content could be a personal statement (e.g. status), or a link/photo/like/share

Source: http://www.ipsosmrbi.com/social-networking-quarterly-survey-february-2015.html

Other types of platforms

Sharing A/V: YouTube, Instagram, Slideshare,

Vimeo, Flickr, Vine (mobile apps increasing)

Scrapbooking/curating: Pinterest, Scoop.it,

Paper.li, Storify

Discussion boards: Boards.ie, Tumblr, Reddit

Websites/news sites with social media slant:

boingboing.net, journal.ie, reddit.ie

Basic Protocol

• 140 characters max• short lifespan of a tweet• use @username to tag someone (mention)• use #keyword to contribute to a topic (hashtag)• frequently includes a URL• Take care in setting up your profile

Setting up your Profile

Social Conventions: Etiquette & Strategy

• Develop a Twitter ‘personality’• Alter the times of day you post• Practice variety – type and tone• Run a small tweet campaign• Join communities and tag people - #hashtags and

@mentions (note about #events)• Direct traffic back to your website/more info• ***Use pictures***

Example: from ok to better!• Example: I find an article that is relevant to my project, but that also gets

people thinking. E.g. Article in Guardian about how to use the word ‘data’ – plural only, or singular?

a. First try, post the link:

b. Add the title so people know what the link refers to:

Example: from ok to better!c. Shorten the link to make it cleaner: d. Ask a question:

e. Use # to tag some key topics: f. Tag someone to elicit their response (great way to make

friends)

Tools

• Time-savers: Instagram, Hootsuite• Analytics: Tweriod, Klout• Extenders: Storify

Instagram• Popular photo-sharing app• Connects to other social media accounts

Hootsuite• Social Media Management• Allows you to schedule tweets, view multiple accounts

Tweriod : best time to tweet

Klout• Assess your impact on social media• Shows which posts had the most engagement

Storify• Curate & Archive social media

Thanks!

n.harrower@ria.ie@natalieharrower