Tweet This

Twitter has taken center stage lately as an online space for people to talk about common
interests. Want to see what people are saying about an episode of The Walking Dead while you’re watching it? Or the State of the Union Address?  Why not visit Twitter to find out?

 

Twitter is essentially a blogging site, but your posts, or “tweets,” have to be 140 characters or less – including spaces!  Links to websites are shortened to keep the majority of characters reserved for your message.

 

To see what others are saying about an event, place, or even your favorite show, go to search.twitter.com and search the hashtag (keyword) associated with it.  For example, the hashtag for The Walking Dead is #WalkingDead, while the hashtag for the President’s recent State of the Union address was #SOTU.  There are hashtags for almost everything.  

Finding people isn’t hard either – Twitter users have “handles” which begin with the @ symbol. Some are nicknames, while others are simply full names.  For example, Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is @RGIII, Justin Bieber is @justinbieber, and Virginian-Pilot columnist Kerry Dougherty is @kerrydougherty.

Want to learn more?  The staff at the Bayside & Special Services Library is offering a class from 5:30-6:30 on Feb. 27th. Call 385-2680 to register.   Twitter has a helpful Support site that will answer a lot of your questions, and there’s a great “Twitter 101” online tutorial offered by the Goodwill Community Foundation.