How to Find us on Twitter

If you are have a Twitter account follow @LFHHSOnline
Use the Search box to find us! - Figure 1
Click on the LFHHS Online Icon to be taken to our Twitter page and Follow us!
All our posts will appear on your home feed.
Use the Search box to find us! - Figure 1
Click on the LFHHS Online Icon to be taken to our Twitter page and Follow us!
All our posts will appear on your home feed.

Figure 1
Twitter for Beginners
Just follow these steps.
Set up your account. Go to Twitter www.twitter.com to get started.
Enter your name, email, and a password.
Click Sign up.
You will now be taken to a second screen where can select a username. This is the name by which you will be known on Twitter. What name should you use?
Your real name is best—if it’s available. If not, you can try using a middle initial or prefacing it with something like “the” or “real” (e.g., “TheFrankDavis” or “Real FrankDavis”).
Also, I recommend using initial caps and in-word caps. It will make your username more readable and memorable.
Now click on the Create my account button. That’s it. You are now official a member of the Twitter community. Congratulations!
Next, Twitter will assist you in getting started. It will explain what a tweet is and give you the opportunity to “follow” a few friends, popular people, or brands. You can opt out of these steps for now if you wish. Simply click the Skip this step link.
Don’t forget to follow @LFHHSOnline!!!!!
Twitter will also give you a chance to see if some of your friends are on Twitter by checking your online address book. However, your contacts will have to be in one of the supported services: GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or AOL. Also, you’ll only see users who have allowed their accounts to be found by email address.
If you get stuck, forget this step. You can add your friends later.
Tweak your settings. Make sure you are on your Twitter home page. Click on the Settings link. You should be on the Account tab. Set the time zone.
Do not check “Protect my updates” unless you only want those whom you approve to be able to get your updates. Personally, if you check this, it will seriously limit the fun. Make whatever other changes you want. Click the Save button.
Now click on the Profile tab. Upload your picture. Some feel this is important as many Twitter users will not follow users without photos, because it is a tell-tale sign of a spammer. Remember that the maximum upload size of your photo is 700k, so you may have to re-size your image to meet this requirement.
Enter the rest of your information, including your location, website or blog (if any), and a brief bio. This, too, is important to keep you from getting flagged as a possible spammer. Your bio can either be serious or fun, but it must be brief—no more than 160 characters.
Note that you can also connect your Twitter account to Facebook on this page. This will post all your Tweets directly to Facebook. Personally, I don’t recommend this, but you may want to do it. You can always change the setting later.
When you are finished, click the Save button.
Follow family and friends. If you haven’t done so already, add your family and friends by clicking in the “Search” field at the top of your home page. You can type in a username or first and last name. When you do, you will get a list of users who match your search criteria.
You can also do a more advanced search (e.g., searching by location) by clicking on “Refine results” or by going directly to the Advanced Search page.
You can begin “following” them by simply clicking on the Follow button.
You can use Twitter just to follow people like @LFHHSOnline you do not have to tweet yourself but if you want to tweet then you can think of Twitter as a room full of people, all sitting in a circle. It’s a conversation. When you update your status, you are speaking to the whole group. Everyone can hear what you have to say.
Replies. If you want to direct your comments to one specific person in the circle, but loud enough that everyone else can hear, use the “Reply” function. You address the person by using their Twitter user name preceded by the “@” symbol. For example:
@spencesmith I get my haircut at Basher Bates .
Everyone who is following Spence and me will see the message, but I am specifically directing it to Spence. (Those who are not following both of us will not see the message.)
You can also use the Reply function to refer to someone by name. For example:
I’m headed to dinner at Tin Angel with @gailhyatt and @meghmiller. I am looking forward to trying the new menu.
The thing about replies is that they are “clickable links.” If someone who is following me, clicks on one of the names, they will automatically go to that person’s Twitter page. This will give them the opportunity to follow that person, too.
Direct Messages. Continuing with the metaphor of a conversation with a room full of people, you can also use the “direct message” function. This is like whispering in one person’s ear. They can hear you, but no one else can. You are directing the message to them and only them. For example:
d lnobles Can you bring my Business Review notebook down to the cafeteria conference room?
Or:
d gailhyatt It looks like I will not be able to leave the office for another 30 minutes
Hash tags. You are probably familiar with tagging photos with a short piece of text. Twitter has this capability, too.
The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. If you click on a hash tag, it will show you all the other tweets associated with a hashtag.
I have attended conferences where an official hashtag was announced. This enables everyone at the conference to track what everyone is saying about the conference.
For example, someone might say:
I loved @MikeCoyle’s opening talk. He never ceases to speak to me. #LFHHSConference
#LFHHSConference was the hashtag for the Conference!
This can also be useto group Tweets – like using #Genealogy #LFHHS #Lancashire
You can find answers to almost every other Twitter question in the Twitter Help Center.
So now you are all setup. It’s time to start Twittering. You can do this from your Twitter home page.
The main thing you need to know is that the message can be no longer than 140 characters long. If you use the Web page, the entry field will automatically count your characters. If you go over your limit, it’s no big deal. Your message will just be truncated.
When tweeting be careful. It’s probably not a good idea to say something like, “I’m headed to the seaside for a week.” Bad idea. For obvious reasons.
You need to think about the fact that crazy people and criminals have Twitter accounts, too. You especially need to be cautious about sharing too much private information that could compromise your safety or that of your loved ones.
Twitter is something that is best learned by using it. The most important thing you can do is get started. You really can’t make that many mistakes. Just remember to have fun and enjoy the people you meet online.
Set up your account. Go to Twitter www.twitter.com to get started.
Enter your name, email, and a password.
Click Sign up.
You will now be taken to a second screen where can select a username. This is the name by which you will be known on Twitter. What name should you use?
Your real name is best—if it’s available. If not, you can try using a middle initial or prefacing it with something like “the” or “real” (e.g., “TheFrankDavis” or “Real FrankDavis”).
Also, I recommend using initial caps and in-word caps. It will make your username more readable and memorable.
Now click on the Create my account button. That’s it. You are now official a member of the Twitter community. Congratulations!
Next, Twitter will assist you in getting started. It will explain what a tweet is and give you the opportunity to “follow” a few friends, popular people, or brands. You can opt out of these steps for now if you wish. Simply click the Skip this step link.
Don’t forget to follow @LFHHSOnline!!!!!
Twitter will also give you a chance to see if some of your friends are on Twitter by checking your online address book. However, your contacts will have to be in one of the supported services: GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or AOL. Also, you’ll only see users who have allowed their accounts to be found by email address.
If you get stuck, forget this step. You can add your friends later.
Tweak your settings. Make sure you are on your Twitter home page. Click on the Settings link. You should be on the Account tab. Set the time zone.
Do not check “Protect my updates” unless you only want those whom you approve to be able to get your updates. Personally, if you check this, it will seriously limit the fun. Make whatever other changes you want. Click the Save button.
Now click on the Profile tab. Upload your picture. Some feel this is important as many Twitter users will not follow users without photos, because it is a tell-tale sign of a spammer. Remember that the maximum upload size of your photo is 700k, so you may have to re-size your image to meet this requirement.
Enter the rest of your information, including your location, website or blog (if any), and a brief bio. This, too, is important to keep you from getting flagged as a possible spammer. Your bio can either be serious or fun, but it must be brief—no more than 160 characters.
Note that you can also connect your Twitter account to Facebook on this page. This will post all your Tweets directly to Facebook. Personally, I don’t recommend this, but you may want to do it. You can always change the setting later.
When you are finished, click the Save button.
Follow family and friends. If you haven’t done so already, add your family and friends by clicking in the “Search” field at the top of your home page. You can type in a username or first and last name. When you do, you will get a list of users who match your search criteria.
You can also do a more advanced search (e.g., searching by location) by clicking on “Refine results” or by going directly to the Advanced Search page.
You can begin “following” them by simply clicking on the Follow button.
You can use Twitter just to follow people like @LFHHSOnline you do not have to tweet yourself but if you want to tweet then you can think of Twitter as a room full of people, all sitting in a circle. It’s a conversation. When you update your status, you are speaking to the whole group. Everyone can hear what you have to say.
Replies. If you want to direct your comments to one specific person in the circle, but loud enough that everyone else can hear, use the “Reply” function. You address the person by using their Twitter user name preceded by the “@” symbol. For example:
@spencesmith I get my haircut at Basher Bates .
Everyone who is following Spence and me will see the message, but I am specifically directing it to Spence. (Those who are not following both of us will not see the message.)
You can also use the Reply function to refer to someone by name. For example:
I’m headed to dinner at Tin Angel with @gailhyatt and @meghmiller. I am looking forward to trying the new menu.
The thing about replies is that they are “clickable links.” If someone who is following me, clicks on one of the names, they will automatically go to that person’s Twitter page. This will give them the opportunity to follow that person, too.
Direct Messages. Continuing with the metaphor of a conversation with a room full of people, you can also use the “direct message” function. This is like whispering in one person’s ear. They can hear you, but no one else can. You are directing the message to them and only them. For example:
d lnobles Can you bring my Business Review notebook down to the cafeteria conference room?
Or:
d gailhyatt It looks like I will not be able to leave the office for another 30 minutes
Hash tags. You are probably familiar with tagging photos with a short piece of text. Twitter has this capability, too.
The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. If you click on a hash tag, it will show you all the other tweets associated with a hashtag.
I have attended conferences where an official hashtag was announced. This enables everyone at the conference to track what everyone is saying about the conference.
For example, someone might say:
I loved @MikeCoyle’s opening talk. He never ceases to speak to me. #LFHHSConference
#LFHHSConference was the hashtag for the Conference!
This can also be useto group Tweets – like using #Genealogy #LFHHS #Lancashire
You can find answers to almost every other Twitter question in the Twitter Help Center.
So now you are all setup. It’s time to start Twittering. You can do this from your Twitter home page.
The main thing you need to know is that the message can be no longer than 140 characters long. If you use the Web page, the entry field will automatically count your characters. If you go over your limit, it’s no big deal. Your message will just be truncated.
When tweeting be careful. It’s probably not a good idea to say something like, “I’m headed to the seaside for a week.” Bad idea. For obvious reasons.
You need to think about the fact that crazy people and criminals have Twitter accounts, too. You especially need to be cautious about sharing too much private information that could compromise your safety or that of your loved ones.
Twitter is something that is best learned by using it. The most important thing you can do is get started. You really can’t make that many mistakes. Just remember to have fun and enjoy the people you meet online.