To take over 2 years to understand Twitter?

[Delphiniumsblue]

I have been on there for well over 2 years and I finally got a Eureka moment today and can see it is is quite fun!
I must be doing something right because I doubled my followers and had a photograph that I tweeted 3 months ago re-tweeted several times!
If someone can explain hash tags I will finally have it cracked.

Hashtags, makes it easy to search for tweets on a popular topic (as long as everyone uses the same hashtag).

Some twitter clients (app) will let you click the hashtag in a tweet and show you recent tweets containing that hashtag.

Thanks. How do I use them, and should I use them if I tweet?

I don't understand Twitter and I've got a degree in IT and twelve years' professional experience. The bit I least understand is why everything written in it seems to be such utter shite.

That is what I thought, boris, until I started interacting.

You use them if you want to add a term that people might search for. If you're at an event or conference, or watching a popular TV show, they'll probably suggest a hashtag. eg #stobart, #scd, #mariamiller, #everydaysexism. Then when you click on the highlighted hashtag, it brings up other people's tweets that have used the same hashtag.

Or you use it ironically as a sort of comment e.g #whatwasIthinkng, #indulgent selfie.

Twitter does take a while to get the hang of, so you're not being unreasonable there. And ther's an AWFUL lot of "noise", so one of the tricks is learning how to weed that out.

I used it to great effect last week. I still don't get it though!

I was having problems with phone company, tried to sort it, got rude person telling me I had to listen to him!

I remembered MN advice to tweet, so did! 'Call that customer service.' They were on it so quickly I couldn't believe it! Issues sorted within an hour of speaking to someone!

I don't get it either. I have tried.

I managed to follow plans for a tweet and greet appearance by a singer last week, and got DD to the right place generally, but then got so frustrated that I ended up just phoning the person arranging it instead. Luckily I could do that ( insider knowledge) It was very amusing watching teen girls running around squealing trying to find the singer, there was a bit of hysteria, so I can see how these things do work.

I have had success tweeting the rail company when there are travel disruptions and always get good information that way. And Perez Hilton retweeted me when he appeared on Sunday Brunch. But otherwise I find I don't really have anything to say and I can't be bothered Tweeting/retweeting stuff just to get follows.

Thanks for the bit on hashtags, I think I am happy without them.
I just used to think it was incredibly boring,but I can now find it interesting if you are selective about who you follow.

Is there an idiot's guide to Twitter around? I don't really get it but I've never sat down and tried to work it all out.

I don't get Twitter so I kind of type stuff and hope, it seems to work but I still don't get exactly how.

It's a means of communication, with a few quirks which make it attractive to those who want their message to be heard.

Say you're a musician, and you've just recorded a new song. You can tweet a link to it, all your followers will receive that message, and then hopefully they will retweet to all THEIR followers - so it gets spread to a wider audience.

It's a way of connecting directly to someone - I found Gatwick Airport and Translink are FAR more responsive to a tweet asking a question, than on the phone. I've also used it to connect with a local radio DJ, which resulted in Jedward singing Happy Birthday to my SN stepson.

Some sleb tweeters are quite amusing - Will Wheaton, Richard Osman and Simon Pegg are among my favourites.

It has up to date local travel information.

But I read more than I tweet myself - it's a fun way to pass 5-10 minutes waiting for the bus.

Book written by a fellow MNetter. Not me, I hasten to add

My two younger teens understand it perfectly and stalk their idols on it too (which appears to be one of the main uses).

I joined twitter many years ago and have used it aprox 8 times. I dont see the point, particularly as I was being followed by scantily clad young ladies and had no idea how to get rid of them!

I think I have a much too boring life for twitter.

I don't get it either. My account occasionally gets hacked and that's when I log in and change the PW.