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How ANYONE can start Twittering like a pro in under 5 minutes
Twitter is one of the simplest applications to use that I’ve seen and it won’t take you long before you’re using it like a pro.
If you’re not sure what Twitter even is, check out my previous post: Introduction to Online Social Networks (and how they can help you to lose weight).
The first thing you need to do is create a Twitter profile, so head on over to Twitter and click on the button that says ‘Get Started - Join!’
The registration form is pretty straight forward.
You’ll need to enter a username (this also becomes your Twitter profile address, so choose something that is easy to remember and your comfortable having other people see. Password and email address are self explanatory, the ‘humanness‘ section just contains two words that are drawn a little funny, this is just to stop automatic programs coming through and registering accounts to spam with, so to prove you’re human, go ahead and enter the two words you see (if you have trouble reading them, click on the refresh button (the top, red, icon) and it will give you another two words.
It’s up to you on whether you want to check the box ‘Get the Inside Scoop - please send me email updates!’, they’ll update you on anything interesting happening with Twitter, you can change your mind later once you’ve registered.
That’s it - click on ‘I accept, Create my Account’ and your profile will be created. The next screen will ask if you want to search to see if your friends are on twitter - if you have an Internet mail account like GMail or Hotmail it can search your address book from their and see if anyone with those email addresses have twitter accounts, or you can just click on ‘Skip’ which is in the very top, right corner of the page (usually easiest to just click ’skip’).
Once you’ve logged in, go to the ‘Twitter Settings‘ link at the top of your profile and add some information about yourself. You’re just about ready to tweet!
You’re next job is to add some friends, you can start by adding me! click here: Lose40kg - my Twitter Profile and click on the ‘follow’ button.
Once you’ve done that - you’ll hear all my ‘tweets’, they’ll be shown on your account home page. Every few days I’ll go and ‘follow’ everyone who ‘follows’ me, so once I’ve added you I’ll also be able to hear you. Go ahead and click on some of the profiles of other people who are following me, find a couple who you seem to be posting tweets that sound interesting and ‘follow’ them too, this is how you start to build up your network.
To post a tweet, go to your home page, post something and hit send. It’s that easy!
Note: If you want to send a message to someone who isn’t following you or want to direct a response to a particular user, just put @username at the front of your message. So to send one to me, you can start your tweet with @lose40kg
Quick Tip: The best way to use Twitter is by downloading and installing one of the many desktop clients. This will save you having to log into the Twitter website each time you want to use it and keep you connected to your circle of friends much easier. Try these popular ones to get you started:
Twhirl (Windows/Mac)
Snitter (Windows/Mac)
Twitteroo (Windows)
Twitterific (Mac)
Twitux (Linux)
Introduction to Online Social Networks (and how they can help you lose weight)
Over the past few years there have been some amazing advances in social networking across the Internet.
I’m sure you’ve heard of MySpace and Facebook, two of the biggest online communities in existence, but there are literally hundreds of websites that allow you to connect with people in similar ways – chances are there will be at least one out there that you will find useful.
Originally these social networking hubs were very much the domain of the ‘younger generation’, but more recently have become popular with all walks of life (much to the annoyance of many teenagers who now have to deal with their parents understanding how to use Facebook and invading their circle of ‘friends’). The ease of connecting to people all over the world who share similar interests to you, and the depth and simplicity that you can interact with them is on a scale we have never seen before – the general public is only just starting to wake up to these possibilities. It doesn’t matter if you are a teenager wanting to find a group of friends to talk about the Indie music scene, a professional wanting to network with other people in their industry – or an average person trying to lose weight, wanting to build a support network of friends going through a similar stage in their life, the use of online social networks makes connecting with the right people a breeze.
All the networks behave a bit differently, but the main concept that we are interested in here is the ability to interact with a group of people that you choose to interact with. Think of web based forums – if you’ve been a member of one somewhere before you’ll know they can be a great place to meet people with similar interests and share some really useful information… which is great, but they do have at least one major drawback, you have no control over who else becomes a part of that group. With most social networks that control is in your hands – you choose your ‘friends’, and you choose whether to be part of a small tightly knit group or to continue growing your group and becoming part of a larger, more diverse group – the way you approach it is totally up to you, you’re in control and it couldn’t be easier to get involved.
Tweet, Tweet, Tweet
The main network that I’m interested in right now is Twitter. Twitter is a very simple system that is quite similar to Instant Messaging. All messages (they call them ‘Tweets’) are limited to a maximum of 140 characters (so you have to keep things short!) and are sent instantly to your group of ‘followers’ (people who are interested in what you have to say). Of course people can then respond back to you in real time, giving you that instant connection with your circle of friends.
Twitter was originally conceived to answer the question ‘What are you doing?’ and as such, many comments still posted to Twitter are kind of mundane (eg. ‘just going to hang out the washing…’) – for some people, that’s the kind of interaction they are looking for, others look for something more interesting. The point is you can choose the people you want to follow and block out the chatter from those you don’t. Personally, I’m looking at building a community of Twitterer’s that are interested in losing weight and supporting each other to help them achieve that goal, if you think you would like to be part of a community who regularly interacts like ‘Hey, just found this excellent recipe for honey, soy, teriyaki chicken wings – check it out’ (one of my faves btw), or ‘a chocolate bar on my desk is mocking me (looks so yummy, grrr)… how do you guys get past the temptation?’, then rock on over to Twitter, create an account, then point your browser to my Twitter profile and click ‘follow’. You’ll then hear everything I have to say, and once I follow you I’ll hear everything you say too!
If you’re still a little confused, I’ll put together a post for tomorrow that focuses on how to get started on Twitter and walk you through each step, as well as show you some excellent desktop applications you can use (to make it even more like Instant Messaging) so you don’t need to log into their clunky web site each time.
Technorati Tags: Social Networks, Twitter, Weight Loss
Share this article, I appreciate your support.The Biggest Loser (Australia)
The New series of ‘The Biggest Loser’ (Australian version) starts tonight and I think this year I’ll probably end up watching most of it.
I have watched episodes of previous series before, and really do quite like the show, but I’ve never built up a religious following to it or anything, I guess on some level it made me feel a bit disappointed with my weight (fair enough), and so I never really embraced it as I probably should. As a motivational source to lose weight, the show can really provide some stunning stories - some of the guys on last years series weighed less than me and this year I’m still pretty close in my weight to a couple of them, so just by watching them achieve their weight goals has got to provide positive support for me trying to reach mine.
While I’m obviously not going to attempt to lose the weight in a couple of months like these contestants are doing, some of the fitness and workout tips they cover are definitely something that I can implement into my own weight loss strategy, and it’s those weight loss and fitness tips that I will be covering here throughout the series.
Technorati Tags: biggest loser, tv shows
Share this article, I appreciate your support.My blog page on Squidoo
You’ve probably got no idea what Squidoo is, and for the most part you’re not really missing out on too much – it’s just a site that lets anyone make a simple web page. They give you heaps of tools to add cool stuff to it, you provide the content, they slap a heap of advertising on it and split the profits with you or distribute it to charity and away you go.
For anyone looking at building a few simple web pages, or create a few additional links back to your blog, then it’s probably worth the small amount of time you spend on it.
Anyway, I’ve set up a page How I am going to lose 40kg in 12 months which gives a brief summary of my blog. I’ll add a bit of additional stuff up there from time to time, but it’s another way to get the word out a little more. Why don’t you head on over there and let me know what you think?
Share this article, I appreciate your support.Using free Internet tools to help you lose weight
I’m a pretty keen Internet user, in fact I spend just as much time surfing around reading stuff online as I do work (usually the line between ‘work’ and ‘play’ overlaps, so I do have a bit of an excuse).
One of the main topics I want to explore in this blog is how some of the fantastic tools available online (most of them free), can help us lose weight. I’m really keen to dig a little deeper into the many social networks and build a huge support network that we all can feed off and help motivate each other.
The first web site I will be looking at is Twitter – I won’t go into too many details right now (it deserves a whole post that I’ll put together early next week), but essentially it is like an Instant Messaging service where people can not only type messages to each other in real time, but follow the thoughts of a whole network of people. It’s like having all your friends in the one room, if you say something, they will all hear it… think of the possibilities, if you’re thinking about eating that ice-cream and need a little extra motivation to leave it alone, send a tweet on Twitter and get instant feedback from some of your friends to help build your resolve.
If you’re already on Twitter, you can follow my conversations by going to my Twitter page, it’s a bit empty right now as I’ve only just setup the profile, but I’m keen to grow a network of people who follow this blog, so ‘follow me, and I’ll follow you!’.
Share this article, I appreciate your support.