As online social networking sites go, Twitter is one of the most basic; there are a few simple rules:
The @ symbol is your new best friend. Use it to direct your tweets (posts) to specific people. For example, @mammymaccabe put on the dinner.
The letter D is another new discovery. D + space + message = a private message. For example, D mammymaccabe can you please iron my dress (because you don’t want the whole world to know about your fear of domestic appliances and or ineptitude)
Keep an eye on the who’s who of the Twitter world. Following @LaurenConrad may seem like a lot of fun, but there are only so many exclamation marks one can cope with. Try @KarlLagerfeld instead; he’s witty and insightful, and not a smiley emoticon to be seen.
Don’t snipe about anyone. They will find out, Ireland being the tiniest place in the world (as you should well know by now). Anyway, that’s what e-mails are for.
Don’t give out private information. You have to bear in mind that your Twitter page, despite the fact that it’s only read by your friends, is in the public domain.
Don’t use it to market anything, unless you’re transparent about it.
Keep it succinct. New programs will allow you to expand beyond 140 characters but nobody’s interested in your musings on Sartre. For that, they’ll go to your blog, howtolosefriendsthroughexistentialism.blogspot.com.
