twe2 is a free service that allows you to receive @replies, direct messages via SMS in other countries. They do add an advertisement to the bottom of your message, but it’s a great service. You’d be paying for each text with any phone carrier. You will still have to pay to send your text messages, unless you reply through a Twitter client in which case you would pay for the data transfer.
They will need your username and password, but they swear it is safe.
Twitter breaks sometimes or goes down for maintenance and when it does Twitter makes is easier for us by sending us cute drawings. The most famous it the beloved Fail Whale.
If you built a following under a name you regret and want to change it don’t worry, you can do this as of the date this post was written. Take note of the steps below and make sure you don’t screw up. Hold your breath, now go.
1. Create a new account with the name you want (hopefully it’s available) for the sake of trying to keep this simple let’s call it newname.
2. Login to the new account (the one you with the name you want) at Twitter.com and go to Settings and change the newname to /newname123 (You will be asked for your password)
Now log out.
3. Login to the old account (you know the one with all your precious followers) and change /oldname to /newname (without the 123)
Log out.
4. Login to the new account (the one without the followers) that you renamed /newname123 and change that username to /oldname – so nobody can steal it and so that any links pointing to your oldname will not be dead. Make your last Tweet there a notifier of your newname with a link.
I know this is scary, so good luck and …disclaimer…I am not responsible if this doesn’t work for you. It is a simple process that can be complicated if you don’t understand what you are doing. Good luck and contact support (at) twitter (dot) com if you have a problem.
Choosing your name depends on why you are using Twitter, but choosing wisely is very important (kind of like choosing a domain name) so use these guidelines:
Avoid using underscores (_) or anything that will make your name longer. Remember that it is part of the 140 character limit and people will be typing it in, sometimes on their cell phone so the easier the better.
If you have enough of a following it’s also likely that it will show up in Google search results when people query your name. If your name is already taken, then you will have to try an alternate name. If someone brand jacked your company name try emailing support (at) twitter (dot) com. Most people that I know of have had good results, but I think that you have to be a big brand or the user hasn’t really used the account very much at all.
If you already have a name with a big following then you can change your name. Check out – Changing Your Twitter Name.
Receiving tweets to your cell phone via SMS is easy, but make sure of two things:
1 – You have unlimited texting.
2 – Don’t follow everyone you follow via mobile. This may result in way too many text messages and you may end up HATING Twitter.
Start by logging in to your Twitter account and going to the Devices page. From there you will have to sync your mobile phone to your Twitter account. To do this Twitter will give you a code that you will have to text back from your cell to 40404. Once that is done, Twitter knows that your phone is you and anytime you text to 40404 it will come from your account. You must confirm the phone within 24 hours. If you wait too long it won’t work, so just request a new code from the devices page.
You can choose who you want to follow to your mobile by simply logging in and then clicking the following button located on the top right corner of your profile. From there you select On or Off for the people you want to follow. You can also do this by typing in their Twitter url and going to their profile page. This may be easier than searching through your followers if you know exactly who you want to add to your mobile tweets.
After you have turned the tweets on, now go to your profile page and hit On under Device Updates. Viola. To turn them OFF, simply hit the off button on the Device Updates section and all the mobile tweets will turn off.
Note that this is different from installing a Twitter app on your phone that allows you to use Twitter without using your SMS.
A Twitter direct message (aka DM) only goes to one person. You cannot send a DM to more than one person at a time. To send a DM via SMS you must add a d before the user name and text 40404.
So it would look like this:
d soandso Just wanted to say hi. (Notice there is no @) The @ represents reply, so if you put that then everyone will see it.
Many apps like Twhirl and Tweetdeck make sending a DM very easy, but if you don’t know the user name off the top of your head, you’ll have to search for it. If you are using Twitter.com log in then you will see the Direct Messages link on the right. From there open the drop down and note that you can just type in a letter to get to that group alphabetically.
A retweet is re-sending someone else’s tweet in your status window.
For example, say you really liked a link that someone you follow tweeted. To retweet it you would copy and paste it in to your status, but add RT or retweeting (if you have room) (the users Twitter name) then the link.
It would look like this:
RT @soandso Check out this funny link to blah blah http://www.blahblah.com
Certain Twitter clients like Twhirl and Tweetdeck make it easy to retweet. They usually have a button you can easily click. If you are retweeting via SMS you will have to type in all of the above and text to 40404.
The person you are retweeting will be notified that you did it because you have added the @ in front of their name. That symbol represents reply.
Once you have registered with Twitter all you do is answer the question: What Are You Doing? Submitting your answer is a tweet or sometimes called a twitter. Twitter is really the correct term since the whole site is named after how birds communicate (twittering), but tweet has grown to be a more popular way to say What You Are Doing. You can put whatever you want in the box(including urls), but it has to be less than 140 characters. If you want to tweet an image you have to link to an outside source like Twitpic or your own personal blog, etc.
The short answer is you can simply go to search.twitter.com and type in a word to see who is talking about it.
Depending on the word or phrase you type in, you may have to refine your query to get the results you are looking for and not be bombarded with new search results every second.
Here’s an example. You’ll notice in this search result for the term “tweetup” we get results for tweetups from all over, even Edinburgh.
What I’m really looking for is a tweetup I can go to in Los Angeles, so after refining my query I get this.
You can search Twitter for anything. The biggest use of search Twitter often is by people searching for their name or a brand monitoring their reputation online. Many businesses tweet so they monitor what people are saying about them so they can respond appropriately.
There are many apps such as, Twitt(url)y and TweetBeep, that help you track tweets with the terms you are looking for.
A tweetup is a real life gathering of more than one person that have come together through the online world of Twitter.
Basically what happens is a Twitter user organizes a tweetup by just choosing a location. This user then announces (tweets) the tweetup by updating his/her status on Twitter. People that follow this person are notified of the tweetup and often retweet the event to their followers.
If the person that organized it is popular enough this will result in a nice size gathering.
There aren’t really any rules to a tweetup other than you should assume you will be paying for your own food or drinks.
Sometimes companies will sponsor a tweetup and might ask you to follow them or to do something wacky like write the name of their company on your hand to enter. Tweetups can also be formed as a fundraiser for a certain cause. In this case, attendees can assume that they will be asked for a donation. Tweetups can also be formed as a sign of protest.
If you plan a tweetup expect that people will be tweeting from the event so it better be good otherwise the whole Twitterverse will know it sucked.
