Twitter Tuesday

I'm awful with social media. It intimidates me. It confuses me. But Twitter I love!

The 140-character world has caught on since the first tweet in March 2006. According to StatisticBrain.com, over 600 million people use the service, with over 130,000 new signups every day. Though there are over 50 million new tweets each day, it's influence goes far beyond that number. There are over two billion search engine queries each and every day about Twitter.

Those are serious numbers.

Twitterspeak

Twitter users have developed an entire new language called Twitterspeak. It can get a little confusing. I've listed a few of the most common terms and methods of sending tweets below.

• Tweet--this one most people understand. It is the infamous 140 characters you have to get your message out to the world.
• Hashtags, or #--what follows the number sign is a word for a specific event or a topic that a number of people are interested in. For example, if you like the hit TV show Scandal, just search #scandal for tweets for updates and chat. You can make up your own for topics that interest your Twitter followers. If you just did your first triathlon, for example, tweet using #firsttri. You might be surprised at the responses you get.
• Retweet--if you like a tweet, send it along to your network by using the double-arrow retweet icon. Correct etiquette says you retweet, not claim someone else's as your own.
• Reply--use the @ symbol, followed by the screen name of the person you are sending the tweet to. She sees the message that follows, as does everyone else in your network.
• Direct message--if you want to send a private message, one that only a single user can see, use this feature. You can get to it by clicking the envelope icon at the top of your twitter screen.

Day 2 and counting

Onward with my 30-day challenge. I have started the Level 1 lessons several times in the past so I moved pretty quickly through Lessons 1 to 5.

On Day 1 I got a new website in the works, with domain and Wordpress set up. I'll be starting Lesson 6 today. Time to do something with SEO beside read about it!

Happy April Fool's Day

I emailed a friend this morning. I told her that I just got on the scale after avoiding it for several months. And I lost 20 pounds.

She believed me. It was almost too easy. She believed me last year too. Next year it will be true and she won't believe me.