Irene E. McDermottInterim City Librarian, Crowell Public LibraryIMcDermott@CityofSanMarino.orgAuthor, Internet Book of Life (2011)

Twitter: OriginsMarch 21, 2006: First tweet.July 2006: Launched by Jack Dorsey, Biz

Stone, Noah Glass, Evan Williams.March 2007: Twitter is a hit at the South by

Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference.Now: Twitter is the 8th most popular site in

the United States.

Why Use Twitter?Share your own thoughts.Get breaking news.Follow interesting people, like comedians

and celebrities. Even talk back to them! Communicate with shy relatives.Follow trends with hashtags: #Get customer service.

Share Your ThoughtsTalk to your followers in 140 characters or

less.Share a web site.Share a photo or video.Mention fellow Twitter users with @ sign.Mark your tweet with a searchable subject

word using a hash tag: #

HashtagA hasthtag (or pound sign) marks key words or

topics.If you insert a hashtag before an important word

in your tweet, that word becomes #searchable.Search or follow trends with words marked by

hashtags. They are clickable.#TheGreatGatsby soundtrack conjures a

consistent mood of noirish, doomed romance.

Get Breaking NewsFollow your favorite

news organizations and even newscasters.

Search for news by subject hashtag.

Click on “Trends.”@KNX1070 BREAKING

Magnitude 3.0 #quake, centered 2 miles SE of Marina Del Rey

Twitter News ProblemsSometimes news is unconfirmed and wrong.Sunil Tripathi was named as the Boston Marathon

bomber on Twitter and Reddit. Tripathi was later found dead.

Sometimes Twitter accounts can be hijacked. On April 23, AP feed falsely said that Obama had been hurt in a bombing. Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility.

Big disasters will attract spammers.

Follow Interesting PeopleComedians and

celebrities. Even talk back to

them! @ConanOBrien I

really liked your show last night.

@andersoncooper@jimmyfallon@William Shatner

Communicate with RelativesFor families too shy to use FaceBook.Who don’t want to say too much or start a

dialogue in email. Can communicate with several at once. @mmcd21, @jhmcde, @a1rfoyle How are

you guys?

Follow Popular TrendsDiscover on the left

hand side of the screen.Search with keywords

with hashtag. #IRSClick on keyword with

hashtag on a tweet.Brad Pitt calls

#AngelinaJolie heroic.

Get Customer ServiceMajor companies have

Twitter feeds that they monitor.

Get help from airlines: @DeltaAssist

Long queue for phone help? Tweet. You will get a DM (direct message) back.

Why isn't our Internet working??? #ATTsucks

Where to Learn More Twitter 101

https://support.twitter.com/articles/215585-twitter-101-getting-started-with-twitter

Twitter Guide Book http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

Twitter: Getting Started http://www.dummies.com/how-to/internet/Blogging-Social-Networking/Twitter/Getting-Started.html

Questions?