basics

The following article about how to create a tweet was excerpted from Twitter In 30 Minutes, by author Ian Lamont. 

Creating a new tweet is a cinch, and Twitter gives you multiple ways to do it. This post explains how to create a tweet using Twitter’s Web or mobile app interfaces for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android.

Online

Go to twitter.com and make sure you are logged in. Look for the What’s happening field at the top of the screen, above your home timeline:

1. Place your cursor in the field, and start typing.
2. As you type, a counter below the field counts down how many characters you have left. Once you have typed 140 characters, the number will turn negative, meaning the tweet will be truncated to 140 characters unless you manually reduce the overage.
3. When you are ready to release your tweet to the world, click the Tweet button.

There’s another way to compose a new tweet. In the upper right corner of the browser window, next to your profile icon in the Twitter toolbar, is a rectangular button overlaid with a feather-like icon. Click it to write a new tweet.

Twitter app

Twitter’s mobile apps are also easy to use, although they will require you to use a smaller keyboard.

1. On Apple devices, find the Compose icon, which looks like a small rectangle with a feather lying across it. On Android, look for the What’s happening prompt at the bottom of the home screen, or tap the feather icon.
2. Use the keyboard or the dictation function on your device to create the tweet. The dictation function can usually be activated by tapping an icon that looks like a microphone. It’s a huge time saver!
3. Tap the Tweet button when you are ready to send it.

This article about creating tweets using Twitter’s Web and mobile apps was excerpted from Twitter In 30 Minutes, by author Ian Lamont. Download or purchase the book here.

I received a question last week from a reader of Twitter In 30 Minutes. The reader was puzzled why no one was reading his tweets, or responding:

“No one reads my tweets. I send tweets to Fox News and other places and have never had anyone read or respond to my tweets or follow me. Any suggestions?”

From his email, it was apparent that there were actually several problems:

1. No one is following him on Twitter
2. No one is reading his tweets
3. When he @mentions another account, no one responds

It is very frustrating when you start a Twitter account and begin tweeting, but don’t have interactions — not even other people following your account!

Fortunately, this reader had a partial fix to the “no one is following me” problem. I took a quick look at his profile, and determined that his account was protected. This means the only people who could read his tweets are those who he had approved. I emailed back and explained why that was causing an issue, and recommended that he remove the protection:

“People you don’t know are less likely to follow protected accounts (mainly because they can’t see what you are tweeting about!) so my first recommendation is to open your account so anyone can follow you and see what you are tweeting about. You can do this by clicking on the gear icon on Twitter.com and then selecting “Security and Privacy” and then uncheck the box that says ‘Protect my tweets’”

You can see the “Protect my tweets” box in the screenshot below:

I also suggested that he start following more people and responding to them from time to time. In Chapter 3 of Twitter In 30 Minutes, I actually recommend several tactics for following interesting accounts and friends.

In addition, there was his specific question around @FoxNews (4+ million followers), which also applies to other popular accounts, from Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk, 14+ million followers) to @Oprah (25 million followers and climbing!):

“Once you have started following accounts and responding to them, don’t be surprised if some people respond to you while others don’t. This is particularly true of famous people or accounts with millions of followers, like Fox News — it would take too much time for them to respond to everyone who mentions them in a Tweet, so they almost never respond to anyone.”

Lastly, I let the reader know that I would follow him — you can, too, by clicking on @ilamont and pressing the follow button.