To ask you to explain the nitty gritty of Twitter?

[lougle]

I know the basics -140 chars, @ is the person you are talking to, # is the topic.

But.

How do you join a discussion.

How do you find a discussion.

How do you get your tweet out there for people to read if you have no followers? And how to do you get followers if you don't have anything out there for people to read?

You follow people and talk to them. Then they'll talk b to you. And retweet you and their followers will follow you.

Follow me. Same name as on here.

I don't understand the # bit of it.

hashtags as well, don't forget the hashtags! For example, there's a Mumsnet Local chat meet up once a week - to find all the tweets in the conversation end the tweets #mumsnetlocal or whatever the word is, and that way all the tweets are easily found in the same place.

Think of the subjects you might be interested in.

It may be

milking cows
red shoes
books

Now search for those particular subjects using the search engine on Twitter. Find (sane) people who are either interested in those who are in those industry. Follow them. Their conversations (unless protected) will come on on your feed. If you are lucky, people might instantly follow you back - but it's best to chat to a few people or organisations first - then you look more open and friendly. Don't be an egg - have a picture of yourself - even a vague one. Think about your profile and in that profile, write about the things you like.

It will take time to build up but think of it like a party - you are going around the room and getting to know people.

I'm a writer and journalist - so I connect with other writers, authors and publishers. I learn about events, competitions and even get work from Twitter. It is very useful and actually as a writer, I am expected to use Twitter. Agents and publishers prefer social media-savvy writers who can be marketed. So don't listen to people who say Twitter is pointless. Like any form of communication it is how you use it. 10 million people in THE UK use it - so it is more powerful that any newspaper.

Good luck and have fun.

It's #mnlocal

Every Tuesday night, 8-9 pm

MmeLindt has written a guide about it- I'll nudge her for you.

She's got friends over from the States BOF, so not sure she's around today.

Thanks for the nudge, BOF. It's obviously an important question that requires me to take a break from scraping wallpaper off the walls :)

First, stop thinking of Twitter as being like Mumsnet or Facebook. It's more like small talk at a dinner party than an involved conversation with a group of friends.

As others have said, look for similar minded people by searching your hobbies or interests. You can then follow their followers and check who is following them.

Your twitter feed will be v different to your neighbours feed - because you are choosing who to listen to. It's not like Mumsnet where you hear lots of different opinions - unless you consciously decide to follow those who you don't agree wth.

I've a short guide here which might help.

xP tee.

Friends gone. I'm back scraping walls. Oh. Joy.

Oh, okay. Enjoy that.

How's the project anyway?

Looking great but going to take much longer than we'd hoped.

Well that's a bummer. Sending speedy DIY thoughts.

Thank you all so much! I think I need to dip my toe in.

I will follow you guys..get the hang of it.

Btw, can you change your handle, or once registered are you always known by it?

You can change your name, so long as someone else doesn't have it. And your 'display' name can be completely different from your @ name.

Bump.

V useful to a Twitter virgin.

...although I don't necessarily agree that Twitter is always just small talk. It has to be concise - more concise than conversation - but with the right friends, the right discussions, it can be just as meaningful....

That is true, Punk. It certainly teaches one to be concise in discussions.