Getting Started with Twitter - Social Media Guides Andrea Kitta and Virginia Siegel - The American Folklore Society
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Getting Started with
Twitter
Promoting Folklore Online:
Social Media for Public Engagement Series
Social Media Guides
Andrea Kitta and Virginia Siegel
American Folklore Society Media and Public Outreach Committee
Table of Contents
Creating an Account p. 3
Effective Engagement p. 14
First Steps p. 20
Credits and Contact Info p. 25
Page 2
Creating an Account
1. Access/Download Twitter
Where do you want to access Twitter? Your computer or your mobile device?
Desktop Computer/Internet Browser – visit: https://twitter.com/
Android Mobile Device – Download the Twitter app from your device’s app store!
You can also get to the app store by visiting this link on your mobile device:
https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-for-android
Page 3
Apple/iOS Mobile Device – Download the Twitter app from your device’s app store!
You can also get to the app store by visiting this link on your mobile device:
https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-ios-app
2. Create an Account
https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/create-twitter-account
Page 4
a. Enter your name, phone b. Look for the
number/email, and date of option to switch
birth. Your birthday will not between phone
be made public. number or email
address depending
on your preference.
Page 5
c. Turning tracking off is the d. You will return to your login
more private option, FYI. info and click “sign-up” to
confirm your contact info and
create an account.
Page 6
e. To confirm your f. Create your password
identity/contact info, you will (minimum of 8 characters).
be sent a verification code to
either your phone or email
(whichever you provided).
Check your text messages or
email for the code.
Page 7
g. You’ve created an account! h. Choose a brief biographic
Now let’s get it set up and description (you can always
personalized. First, select your change this later).
profile picture.
Page 8
i. For mobile devices, you j. Twitter can recommend
have the option of importing news items to you. At this
your contacts, but you can stage, you have the option to
skip this step. Twitter enter some keywords for your
connects to your list of interests if you would like.
contacts to see who else has a
Twitter account.
Page 9
k. You’re almost there! l. You’re ready! Before you
Twitter will offer some initial start tweeting, let’s make sure
suggestions for people to to customize your handle
follow, but you can skip this. (that’s your username). Click
on your profile picture at the
top to access your settings.
NOTE: For web browsers, click
on “more” on the left-side
menu.
Page 10m. On your profile, n. Select
you’ll find that account.
Twitter assigned you
a handle. You can
change it by clicking
on settings and
privacy.
Page 11Click on username to change it.
More info on usernames here:
https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/create-twitter-account
Page 12You are signed up!
Page 13Effective Engagement
Welcome to Twitter!
Why Twitter?
• It’s easy
• It’s effective
• Others are using it (#FolkloreThursday)
• It’s a great way to stay connected throughout the year
• It can lead to other opportunities
• Let’s start with some terms:
• Tweeting – is what one does on Twitter, as in “Hey look, I just
tweeted for the first time!”
• Retweeting – is when you take someone’s content and share it
to your Twitter feed (with or without comment).
• Hashtags – how you find stuff on Twitter and how you get
found on Twitter, as in “I’m #KillingIt at creating a great tweet
for #FolkloreThursday #AskaFolklorist “
• DMs – are Direct Messages, this is the way someone can
contact you on Twitter
• Threads – This is stringing together a bunch of tweets to create
a narrative.
Page 14What does a good tweet need?
It should:
• Be intriguing
• Be brief (280 characters or less)
• Be engaging
• Be honest and genuine
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A TWEET!
• This is something Andrea Kitta
retweeted from someone she
didn’t know who is also a fan of
the TV show Lovecraft Country.
• @MorganJerkins started by asking
people about Sundown Towns,
which was a theme in the show, it
took off and resulted in a very
popular map of current Sundown
Towns in the US.
• @MorganJerkins ended up
engaging initially fans of the show,
then others who retweeted her,
which made the tweet popular
enough to be noticed by the
actors, directors, and producers of
the show. This resulted in more
retweets, more people seeing it,
and more people being involved,
including a lot of people who
don’t even watch the show.
Page 15Don’t be afraid of self-promoting
• There’s nothing wrong with showing your
expertise in your profile or your pinned
tweet.
• You can change your name, your profile
information, and your pinned tweet as
often as you like.
• It’s all in how you want to project yourself.
THIS IS PURELY AN ATTENTION-GETTING TWEET
And it worked!
• 44 retweets and 140 likes!
• Plus it engaged people.
Why did it work?
• It’s a simple and fun idea that gets
people talking
• Yes, it’s simplistic, but you can
complicate it in the responses and
thread
• It engaged people that didn’t even
know me because I used #Folklore
and #FolkloreThursday
Page 16Additional Tips:
Don’t be afraid to make jokes.
• This was a retweet with comment posted by
Andrea Kitta which highlighted a viewer from a
supernatural convention where she gave a talk
about Slender Man
• The original poster made a joke, but was
complementary overall and he enjoyed that
Kitta joked back and retweeted him, so it’s
win/win all around.
• Any time you can be a positive influence, do it.
It’s Ok to be a little sarcastic/curmudgeonly
sometimes….
• Someone else tagged Kitta in a retweet of
this post, so she retweeted it herself with
this mildly sarcastic comment.
• It helps that a friend of Kitta also made a
more sarcastic comment in reply.
• It all depends on the presentation of self
you want to make.
Page 17Additional Tips:
It’s ok to fight when you feel it’s necessary.
• Let’s just admit it, we’re all annoyed by Aaron Mahnke and the Lore podcast.
• Mahnke does a
great job of defusing
the situation in the
example in the
screenshot.
• It also helps to have
your friends jump
in.
• Fight when it’s
necessary, but don’t
make it a habit.
Page 18Additional Tips:
Don’t FEED the trolls!
People may antagonize you just for fun,
ignore them.
Friends and colleagues help, so help them out too!
Page 19First Steps:
1. Follow the American Folklore Society and other accounts you’re
interested in.
2. Set up alerts if you are interested.
Page 203. If nothing else, retweet AFS and a few others you trust.
4. You can comment (or not) on your
retweets.
• Just hit “Retweet” if you don’t want
to comment.
• Hit “Quote Tweet” if you do want to
comment.
Page 215. Use and follow hashtags.
Following hashtags is the best way to find and spread information
Common hashtags used by folklorists
• #AskAFolklorist
• #AFS365
• #Folklore
• #FolkloreThursday
• #FolkloreEveryday
6. Feel free to direct message (DM) other Twitter users.
• DM’ing is how people contact you on Twitter (and how you can
contact them)
• Click on the envelope icon.
Page 227. Use threads if you want to say more than you have room to do.
Threads are created by commenting on your own tweets. You can
number them manually as well.
Page 23In short:
Twitter can be what you want it to be.
Twitter can be a useful tool for engaging and getting
folkloristics out there.
Twitter takes practice (and you can always delete!)
Page 24Questions? Having Trouble Signing Up?
We can help!
American Folklore Society
Media and Public Outreach Committee
Social Media Subcommittee Co-Chairs
Andrea Kitta
kittaa@ecu.edu
Twitter Handle: @AndreaKitta
Virginia Siegel
vdsiegel@uark.edu
Twitter Handle: @g__see
Stay in Touch!
The AFS Media and Public Outreach Committee plans to offer future
webinars and workshops on various social media platforms based on
member interest.
Page 25You can also read
