Tweetups, Twittersphere, Tweeps, Twitworking, Twestivals & Twitter

These are some notes and homework to serve as a guide for my New Media and Web Development at BCIT – Class 2. 🙂

Before we embark on this adventure I’d like to warn you about a couple of things.

First, the land of Twitter otherwise annoyingly referred to by TwitterHeads as the Twitterverse or Twittersphere… is awash with used car salesman, get rich quick dudes, snake oil peddlers, hacks, loudmouths & know-it-alls. Don’t let it turn you off. Don’t think that’s an ok way to act online. This however shouldn’t be any reason to not engage in the medium but instead probably some sort of proof point that there is in fact something new and special happening here.

Second, I want you to know that Twitter isn’t just people talking about mundane things. People all over the world are right this second sharing knowledge, ideas, stories, intimate details, connections, and emotions – to audiences known and unknown. Not just miscellania but real intimate discourse. By participating in some little corner of the Net, you are contributing to the organic growth of something much larger – a collective consciousness of info, art and emotion — and by doing this we are contributing to the overall health of the public domain and our culture.

@Replies
– a public message directed to an individual account. the equivalent of talking to someone and knowing others are listening.

Direct Messages (DM’s)
– a private message directed to an individual account. the equivalent of whispering in someone’s ear

ReTweets (RTs)
– Twitter’s equivalent of a forward, +1, or ‘ME TOO!’.

#Hashtags
– similar to a ‘tag’ generally but the ‘#” hash designation differentiates the tags from the content of the Tweet.
– good way to string a conversation together or add meta-data to the Tweet payload.

Twitter Clients:
– HootSuite
– TweetDeck

Twitter Search:
– realtime search on search.twitter.com vs. persistent searches in your Twitter client

Trending on Twitter:

Archiving Twitter:
– TwapperKeeper
– Backupify.com
– The Archivest
– http://www.tweetguard.com/

Twitter Lists
– a great way to organize followers or Twitterers by subject, geography, or any other designation

Homework:

– read “The Twitter Guide Book” by @mashable
– signup for HootSuite or download TweetDeck
– create 3 persistent searches in your Twitter client
– subscribe to 2 #hasttags
– send out at least 1 standard message, 1 @ reply, 1 Direct Message & 1 ReTweet.
– start 1 Twitter list
– follow 20 interesting people

Bonus:
– signup for either TED x Vancouver or BarCamp Vancouver
– start a Twitter list for this class comprising the Twitter usernames of each student in the class.
– find 2 interesting tools of the vast expanse of Twitter tools available out there and share them with the class next week.