Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service which allows you to send "tweets" to the rest of the twitter world. Tweets are posts limited to 140 characters which can be about any subject you want to discuss. You can receive and send updates to and from Twitter using a short message service (text), RSS, Instant Messaging, email or through a third party application. Twitter itself is free to use but if you are using a cell phone you may be charged for the text by your phone provider. Twitter users must set up their cell phone for Twitter to work from it.http://support.twitter.com/entries/14014-twitter-phone-faqs

Although many people use Twitter exclusively to keep up-to-date with their friends some users sign up for other reasons. Many businesses and news sources now use Twitter. When a user signs up for business or news tweets, they can see what is happening in real time. Twitter says it is like receiving a newspaper with headlines that are interesting.http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics/topics/104-welcome-to-twitter-support/articles/215585-twitter-101-how-should-i-get-started-using-twitter Tweets about headlines or businesses may include a URL to a news story or a coupon from the business.

The Twitter service was created by Jack Dorsey in 2006.http://www.digitaltrends.com/how-to/how-to-use-twitter/ By June 2010, the micro-blogging site processed over 65 million tweets per day or 2 billion tweets per month.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7812501/Twitter-hits-two-billion-tweets-a-month.html More than 300,000 people sign up for new Twitter accounts each day.http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/49970615-79/data-twitter-center-area.html.csp

One of the first steps in learning how to use Twitter is to learn what Twitter is. Chris Gore from Attack of the Show and G4 shares his knowledge on the social networking micro blogging site which can be accessed from your cell phone. Twitter users can follow the tweets of family, friends, businesses or celebrities.

• You can join Twitter for free by going to their sign-up page.http://twitter.com/signup Once there, you will need to do the following:

1. Choose a user name.
2. Choose a password. It needs to be at least 6 characters long.
3. Insert your email address.
4. Type in the words for the CAPTCHA device.
5. Click on the Terms of Service.http://twitter.com/tos It will pop-up in a new window or tab. Read it carefully. Then return to the sign-up page.
6. If you want email updates, click on the box.
7. Click "I accept. Create my account".

• After you accept, you will be brought to a screen that asks Are your friends on Twitter? This will help you find any friends you might have on Twitter by accessing your MSN Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, or AOL email accounts. Essentially, it looks at your contacts and then matches email addresses. It does not work with any other type of email accounts.

• You will need to either:

1. Find Your Friends: Insert your email address and password, and click "continue".
2. Skip This Step: Click on the skip link. This link is not boxed, but appears in blue underneath the continue box.

• Don't worry. If you skip this part, but want to attempt it later, you can. Once you are finished, you will find yourself at the "find & follow" page of Twitter. You're ready to move onto the next step.

• Once you've signed up, you will be taken to your personal homepage. You will be presented with three options: "Tell us what you're doing," "Find some friends" and "Turn on your mobile phone."

Posting your first Tweet -

The first thing you will notice is the message "What are you doing?" above an empty text box.

1. Type an answer to the prompt in 140 characters or less.
2. Click on the gray update box.
3. You've posted your first Tweet!

Getting Connected -

Clicking on the text "Turn on your mobile phone to update your friends on the go" will help you set up your mobile phone to send and receive Twitter messages.

1. Twitter will ask for your phone number and country code.
2. If you're in the United States or Canada, add "+1" to your nine digit number.
3. Once you have completed that step, you will need to verify your number by texting a code to 40404 in the U.S.

Clicking on the link "Find some Friends and Follow What They're Doing" will allow you to either find friends via your email account or invite friends who are not using Twitter yet to join.

Inviting Friends to Join Twitter

1. To invite friends, click on the gray tab that says Invite by Email.
2. Type in an email address. You can enter more than one email address by separating them with a comma.
3. If you want to see what your friends will be getting, click on the blue text that says "What will this look like?"
4. When you are finished, click on send.

Find Friends on Twitter How do you find friends while you're waiting for your other friends to sign up?

1. At the very top of the page, to the left of the Twitter logo, there is a search box.
2. Type in a word or phrase and see what pops up.
3. Once you've found a friend or someone you'd like to follow, click the gray follow button on the right side of the search result box.

• The next thing you will want to do is adjust your settings. Look at the top of the page. You will see a set of words in blue. Click on Settings. From your Settings page, you will be able to change or adjust the following:

Account

Account is the default screen, or the first one you will see after clicking on the settings selection. On this page you can change your name, user name, email address and time zone. You can also add the following information:

1. More Info URL: A link to your homepage or blog
2. One Line Bio: Your life story in 160 letters or less
3. Your Location: It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where you are?
4. Your Language

One of the most important things you can do on the Account screen is protect your updates. There is a "protect my updates" checkbox located at the bottom of a screen. If you click on the box, your profile will no longer be visible on Twitter's public timeline.http://twitter.com/public_timeline This means only people that you approve can follow your updates. If you are a minor or concerned with your privacy, check this box.

Password

This section allows you to change your password. Twitter will ask you to enter your new password twice.

Devices

If you wish to send and receive Twitter updates via your mobile phone, this screen will allow you to enter and verify your cell number.

Picture

This is where you can change your image. The maximum image size is 700k.

Design

This tab allows you to change your page design in Twitter. It allows you to change your background color, background image, text color, name color, link color, sidebar fill color and sidebar border color. All design options, except background image, require you to insert the six digit color value.

In this part of your account, you can change how often you are notified about new posts or followers by text message, instant message or email. You have several options; some are automatically selected for you.

1. Auto Nudge: This will text message or instant message you if you have not updated your page in twenty-four hours. The default for this is off.
2. @ Replies: This will show you all, some or no replies in your timeline from other people on Twitter.
   • An @ reply (or @reply) is a public Twitter update directed at a certain person. It starts with "@username." For example, to do an @reply toward me, you would type "@darcylogan" along with whatever message you wished to send me.
   • From the Settings page, you have three options which apply to @replies:
     1. See all @ replies: See all of the @replies made by people you follow, whether or not you follow the person to whom the reply is directed.
     2. See @ replies of everyone you are following: See @replies from people you follow directed at other people you follow. (Default)
     3. See no @ replies: Never see @replies on your timeline.
3. New Follower Emails: This box is automatically checked, which means you will be sent emails anytime someone starts "following" you on Twitter. If you don't want to receive emails, make sure the box is not checked.
4. Direct Text Emails: This box emails you when you receive a direct message. It is automatically checked. If you don't want to receive emails, you need to uncheck it.
5. Email Newsletter: If you want email updates, this is the box to check. It is not checked by default.

Check out these other helpful Mahalo How To pages to learn more about using Twitter:

1. How to Send a Direct Message on Twitter
2. How to Find Friends on Twitter
3. How to Follow Someone on Twitter
4. How to Get More Followers on Twitter
5. How to Post a Picture on Twitter
6. How to Retweet on Twitter
7. How to Protect Your Tweets on Twitter
8. How to Change Your Profile Picture on Twitter
9. How to Block Someone on Twitter
10. How to Follow Friday on Twitter
11. How to Join Twitter
12. How to Mention Someone on Twitter
13. How to Post Links on Twitter
14. How to Reply to Someone on Twitter
15. How to Tweet on Twitter
16. How to Unfollow People on Twitter
17. How to Use Twitter Lists
18. How to Use Trending Topics on Twitter
19. Twitter and Dating
20. Twitter Do's and Dont's
21. How to Use Twitter Hashtags
22. How to Update Your Profile on Twitter
23. Verified Celebrities on Twitter
24. What is Twitter