1. AboutTwitter
Twitter is a real­time information network powered by people
all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s
happening now.
Twitter asks “what’s happening” and makes the answer spread across the globe to millions,
immediately.
What Twitter Does
Whether it’s breaking news, a local traffic jam, a deal at your favorite shop or a funny pick­me­up
from a friend, Twitter keeps you informed with what matters most to you today and helps you
discover what might matter to you most tomorrow.
The timely bits of information that spread through Twitter can help you make better choices and
decisions and, should you so desire, creates a platform for you to influence what’s being talked
about around the world.
Twitter can give a voice to even the weakest signals because of its simplicity. Users can
access Twitter on powerful broadband connections via a video game console or through faint
connections in rural areas via SMS on a simple mobile phone. You can also access Twitter through
more than 50,000 third­party Internet and mobile applications.
Just remember, how you use Twitter is completely up to you. Follow hundreds of people. Follow a
dozen. Post every hour. Post never. Search for your favorite topics and create lists. Or not. You are in
control on Twitter.
Twitter for Businesses
Twitter is a simple tool that helps connect businesses more meaningfully with the right audience at
the right time.
For real world tips and case studies from businesses that have effectively used Twitter to build their
brand and connect more personally with their customers, check out Twitter 101 for Businesses, our
guide to doing business on Twitter.
Where’s Twitter?
Twitter may be based in San Francisco, but it's used by folks in nearly every country in the world.
So, we’re working quickly to add as many additional language options as we can.
History
Twitter was born about three years ago,

2. HOW TO USE TWITTER FOR BUSINESS
Learn more about the How to Use Twitter for Business ­ Webinar on 10/22/09
How Does Twitter Work?
How Does Twitter Help You Work?
If you join Twitter you can “follow” other tweeple, which causes their updates to appear on your
home page. In turn, they can follow you, a form of permission­based marketing. You can also
direct message them, but always in 140 characters or less.
How Does Twitter Help You Work?
Within this participating audience of exhibitionists are a growing
number of people who are using Twitter for business.
there are professionals who are using Twitter as a communications tool. (Imagine that!)
Here’s how you might use Twitter for business:
Follow industry leaders who post links to important resources and influence conversations
Post questions for quick answers and answer others’ questions to establish your credibility and
expertise
• Create links to your Web site or blog (don’t over do it!)
• Keep up on the buzz in your industry
• Network with like­minded people.
How to Find (The Right) People on Twitter
The Twitter search box will search matches in others’ profiles, but not in individual tweets. Here are
a couple of 3rd party tools that allow for more advanced searches:
•
Who Should I Follow?
: Finds and suggests like­minded people based on your tweets.
•
Summize
: Allows you to search tweets for keywords and offers lots of customization tools.
How to Get People to Follow You
The more people who follow you on Twitter, the more influence and networking opportunities you
have. Thus, it makes sense to try and build a following.
Follow them.
Post some good tweets right before following someone else.
Complete your bio
Add your Twitter feed to your blog or to other social media profiles.

3. Reply to people you are following, especially if they’re not yet following you
Ideas on Getting the Most Out of Twitter
While the guidelines of Twitter etiquette are still evolving, guidelines from other social media
sites can used:
• Treat others with respect
• Participate in the community
• Do more than promote your own agenda.
Professionals and consultants have had the most impact at Twitter; most businesses are still
trying to figure out how to use Twitter as a communications tool. If you’re not a one­person
shop, here are a few ideas to help get your creative juices flowing:
• A restaurant tweets their daily specials
• A ticket agency tweets about­to­expire tickets
• A realtor tweets new homes on the market
• A chamber of commerce tweets local events and promotions.
Internet Marketing
A Web site that converts prospects into customers
•
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
•
Email Marketing
•
Business Blogs or Blog Marketing
•
Web Strategy Consulting
4 Ways Companies Use Twitter for Business
This post is part of our ReadWriteEnterprise channel, which is a resource and guide for IT
managers and technologists in the Enterprise. The channel is sponsored by Intel
. As you're
exploring solutions for your enterprise, check out this helpful resource from our sponsors:
All
New 2010 Intel Core vPro Processors and Microsoft Office 2010: Your Best Choice for
Business PCs
Twitter URL
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a web address that points to a unique page on the internet.
Find out how to shorten links.
API
An Application Programming Interface. Contains all Twitter data and is used to build applications
that access Twitter much like our website does.

4. Application (Third­Party)
A third­party application is a product created by a company other than Twitter and used to access
Tweets and other Twitter data. Read about how to get help with a third­party application.
FF
#FF stands for "Follow Friday." Twitter users often suggest who others should follow on Fridays by
tweeting with the hashtag #FF.
Favorite
To favorite a Tweet means to mark it as one of your favorites by clicking the yellow star next to the
message. You can also favorite via SMS. Read more about favorites.
Find People
The Find People tab (to find people) is Twitter's search feature used to locate friends on the site.
Learn how to find others on Twitter, or read about what to do if you're not in Find People search.
Follow Count
The numbers that reflect how many people you follow, and how many people follow you. Found on
your Twitter Profile. Read more about following.
Follower
A follower is another Twitter user who has followed you. Find out more about following, or learn
how to follow others.
Following
Your following number reflects the quantity of other Twitter users you have chosen to follow on the
site. Find out more about following.
Goodies
A tab at the bottom of your Twitter homepage containing links to widgets, buttons, and other nifty
third­party website integration tools. http://twitter.com/goodies
Twitter's website tailored to fit your mobile device. Visit it at mobile.twitter.com.
Find out how to
use mobile.twitter.com.
Mobile Web
Twitter's website tailored to fit your mobile device. Visit it at mobile.twitter.com. Find out how to
use mobile.twitter.com.
Open­Source
Used to describe a company whose API is open for developers to access and use to build new tools
with. Twitter is open­source.

5. Profile
A Twitter page displaying information about a user, as well as all the Tweets they have posted from
their account. Learn how to change your profile information.
SMS
Short Message Service (SMS) is most commonly known as text messaging. Most messages are a
maximum of 140 characters. Learn how to send a Tweet via SMS.
Widget
A bit of code that can be placed anywhere on the web. Updates regularly with one's Twitter updates
in real time. Read more about badges and widgets.
1About
Dom Sagolla on August 8th, 2008
Meet Dom Sagolla.
Dom started programming in grade 5, using Logo on an Apple IIc in a small town outside of
Boston, MA. He bought Dom.net for $100 in 1996 while studying hypertext and music at
Swarthmore College in Pennsylv with ania, and became an engineer at HP Laboratories in Palo Alto
upon graduation.
After HP, Dom returned to the original Bay Area to study at Harvard in 2000, and intern with the
inventor of Logo, Seymour Papert at the MIT Media Lab. Inspired by the “Demo or Die” spirit of
the Media Lab, Dom started his own company in 2001, which led him to consult for, and eventually
join Macromedia in 2003.
In 2005, Dom left Macromedia to join Odeo and help create Twitter. When Odeo was dissolved,
Dom joined Adobe for research and development pre­1.0 products. Dom co­founded
iPhoneDevCamp in 2007, bringing the ideals of Open Source to the iPhone development
community. Since then, the community has met internationally and locally here in San Francisco,
tripling in size this year.
DollarApp was founded at the Start Conference in 2008, focused on producing specialized iPhone
Apps for a common price.
Sign up for email updates, or just follow ‘dollarapp’ on Twitter.
• About DollarApp
Dom has a small team of iPhone experts in San Francisco shipping social apps.
• Twitter / Dollarapp
• Skype call with our secret agent in Warsaw, discussing plans within plans. 10 hrs ago
• @cyrusstoller learns fast. in reply to cyrusstoller 2 days ago
• "The simpler you make your idea, the easier it is... to understand the market and get it out
there." @Dom on BBC News: http://j.mp/9AHOEp 2 days ago

6. •
More updates...
•
•
•
•
•
•
Top Mid­Market News
Wireless Broadband Spectrum May Double in Next Ten Years
A Presidential Memorandum signed by President Obama would nearly double the amount of
wireless broadband spectrum, through an auction, for governmental and commercial use, the
White House said. The actual amount will depend on effective implementation and additional
design details, but based on past auctions, some analysts believe the revenue potential could
reach in the tens of billions of dollars.
•
Top IT Management News
Employee Cuts at Microsoft
Microsoft has not made an official statement but job cuts are the buzz on the websites where
Microsoft employees, or former employees, often post about the latest internal machinations
and gossip.
Article
How Twitter Was Born
140characters.com — @Jack was still just an engineer, and the service was only a few months old
when the group acquired Twitter.com and re­branded. Back then, we had no character limit on our
system. Messages longer than 160 characters (the common SMS carrier limit) were split into
multiple texts and delivered (somewhat) sequentially. (Submitted by adamjackson1984) More...
Behold the only screenshot in the book 140 Characters. It was generated using Wordle. The rest of
the book consists of words, and is written about words.
This site began as an experiment in collective word design. Over the years, we as a community have
generated new hypertext conventions like the @ reply, the mention, and the hashtag.
This work exists to document and standardize this new language as a short form of communication.
The short form can be comedic, dramatic, momentary, or timeless.
As @Jack says in the Foreword to 140 Characters, we’ve only described 1% of this new medium.
The remaining 99% is up to you.
Update: An expanded form of this History is now available as the Introduction to “140 Characters:

7. A Style Guide for the Short Form”.
@Jack was still just an engineer, and the service was only a few months old when the group
acquired Twitter.com and re­branded. Back then, we had no character limit on our system. Messages
longer than 160 characters (the common SMS carrier limit) were split into multiple texts and
delivered (somewhat) sequentially. There were other bugs, and a mounting SMS bill. The team
decided to place a limit on the number of characters that would go out via SMS for each post. They
settled on 140, in order to leave room for the username and the colon in front of the message. In
February of 2007 @Jack wrote something which inspired me to get started on this project: “One
could change the world with one hundred and forty characters.”
2Community standards and participation guidelines
10 guidelines which we expect all participants in guardian.co.uk's community areas to abide by
Community standards
There are 10 simple guidelines which we expect all participants in the community areas of
guardian.co.uk to abide by, all of which directly inform our approach to community moderation
(detailed below). These apply across the site, while moderation decisions are also informed by the
context in which comments are made.
Community FAQ
There is a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions about participation and community
moderation, which also provides more detail about particular examples of the standards listed above.
Surprising Statistics About Twitter in America
1. Twitter is Ubiquitous
Like Terrell Owens, Carrie Underwood, and Coke Zero, Twitter is almost universally on the radar of
Americans. 87% of respondents had heard of Twitter, compared to 88% who had heard of
Facebook. (Note that the survey population was 12 and up, including a representative portion of
seniors). Thus, we can safely assume that with the exception of Amish, prisoners, and sea creatures,
the entirety of the country knows about Twitter.

8. 2. Twitter Sucks at Converting Awareness to
Usage
Known by 87%, just 7% of Americans use Twitter. Thus, fewer than one in 13 Americans who know
about Twitter, actually use Twitter. Compare that ratio to Facebook, where 88% have heard of it, and
41% have a profile (a conversion rate approaching 50%).
3. Twitter is the Important, Vocal Minority
While only 7% of Americans are using it, the Twitter population is still 17 million people, which is
roughly equivalent to the combined populations of Connecticut, Oregon, Kentucky, Kansas, and
Oklahoma. And while substantially smaller than the Facebook brigade, the Twitter crew is tuned in
to brands like nowhere else on the social Web.
49% of monthly Twitter users follow brands or companies, compared to just 16% of social network
users overall. Put another way, Twitter users are 3 times more likely to follow brands than Facebook
users. Combined with their above average income and above average education, Twitter users’
propensity to interact with brands make them a huge potential source for Mass Influencers
(although Forrester’s research says Facebook is a better pool).
4. Brand Interaction is a Major Part of Life on Twitter
In addition to following brands, Twitter users research and engage with companies. 42% learn about
products and services via Twitter. 41% provide opinions about products/services. 19% seek
customer support.
“Twitter users talking about marketing and brands far exceeds the usag
e on the other social networks,” said Tom Webster,
the VP of Strategy & Marketing at Edison (and the study author), when I interviewed him for this
post.
I maintain that as Facebook continues to tie together the real­time Web
the open graph, Twitter usage will inexorably shift from person to person connectivity, to customer
to company connectivity. I believe Twitter will ultimately be the way that we interact with brands,

9. and will power the social CRM movement. Tom agrees, and included that concept in the Executive
Summary.
5. Twitter is Disproportionately Popular with
African Americans
Forrester’s Tamara Barber recently published a report showing Hispanic usage of Facebook and
other social networks far outpacing usage by non­Hispanic White Americans.
This Edison Research shows that for Black Americans, the social network of choice may very well
be Twitter, as 25% of Twitter users are African Americans (approximately double the U.S.
population).
Tom Webster theorizes this may be due to Twitter’s functional similarity to text messaging, as
several studies have shown Black Americans use the mobile Web at rates roughly double that to
non­Hispanic Whites.
Just the Facts: Statistics from Twitter Chirp
Twitter has 105,779,710 registered users
• 300,000 new users sign up per day
• Approximately 60% of them are coming from outside the U.S
• Twitter receives 180 million unique visitors per month
• 75% of Twitter traffic comes from third­party applications
• 60% of all tweets come from third­party apps
• Since the new Blackberry application was launched, it has accounted for 7 to 8% of new sign
• Twitter now has 175 employees, up from 25 one year ago
• There are 600 million search queries on Twitter per day
• There are over 100,000 Twitter applications
• Twitter gets 3 billion requests a day through its API
• 37% of active Twitter users use their phone to tweet

10. 3ery Interesting Social Media Statistics: Facebook, Twitter,
Flickr, Linkedin and more…
Social Media Statistics
• Facebook claims that 50% of active users log into the site each day. This would mean at
least 175m users every 24 hours.
• Twitter now has 75m user accounts, but only around 15m are active users on a regular basis.
• LinkedIn has over 50m members worldwide..
• Facebook currently has in excess of 350 million active users on global basis.Six months
ago, this was 250m…This means over 40% growth in less than 6 months.
• Flickr now hosts more than 4 billion images.
• More than 35m Facebook users update their status each day.
• Wikipedia currently has in excess of 14m articles, meaning that it’s 85,000 contributors
have written nearly a million new posts in six months.
• Photo uploads to Facebook have increased by more than 100%. Currently, there are around
2.5bn uploads to the site each month.
• Back in 2009, the average user had 120 friends within Facebook. This is now around 130.
• Mobile is even bigger than before for Facebook, with more than 65m users accessing the
site through mobile­based devices. In six months, this is over 100% increase.
• There are more than 3.5bn pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, etc.)
shared each week on Facebook.
• There are now 11m LinkedIn users across Europe.
• Towards the end of last year, the average number of tweets per day was over 27.3 million.
• The average number of tweets per hour was around 1.3m.
• 15% of bloggers spend 10 or more hours each week blogging, according to Technorati’s new
State of the Blogosphere.
• At the current rate, Twitter will process almost 10 billion tweets in a single year.
• About 70% of Facebook users are outside the USA.
• India is currently the fastest­growing country to use LinkedIn, with around 3m total
users.
• More than 250 Facebook applications have over a million combined users each month.
• 70% of bloggers are organically talking about brands on their blog.
• 38% of bloggers post brand or product reviews.
• More than 80,000 websites have implemented Facebook Connect since December 2008 and
more than 60m Facebook users engage with it across these external sites each month.
Mind­blogging statistics uhh…. Think how they will change in next 2­3 years ! We will literally be

11. living our lives online rather than offline !