A space for short and quick interactions? A social network to complain about absolutely everything? A place to get to know all the memes before they lose their fun? After all, what is Twitter?
Twitter started gaining popularity in 2008 and ever since then, it’d been growing continuously. According to the Twitter authority, in 2022, the social network reached the mark of 186 million users worldwide, an increase of 34% compared to 2021.
Therefore, if you want to use Twitter as a marketing tool, indeed, it’s a great idea. However, knowing the platform is essential for the success of your actions!
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social network that simulates a personal blog. The platform offers a space of 280 characters for you to send messages about "What's going on?" to all your followers. On Twitter, these messages are called "Tweets".
You simply write your text and click the "Tweet" button to spread across the social network and start impacting people.
The news flowing on Twitter is dynamic and fast. By having a short space to write (in the "ice age" of Twitter it was only 140 characters), people end up being more objective and getting to the point.
Because of this dynamism, Twitter has undergone several updates, innovating the way to communicate over the years. In addition, because it has so much information, it is able to dominate newspapers and release first-hand news. When Michael Jackson passed away, Twitter announced about the same 45 minutes earlier than the media/newspapers.
The Twitter story
Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone, four visionary partners from Silicon Valley (USA) created this wonderful social media platform in 2006.
Before succeeding with Twitter, they had some setbacks and difficulties in creating a social network. Neither the experience of creating Blogger nor the years of working at Google gave Evan Williams nor do Biz Stone the necessary background to get it right the first time.
After leaving Google, the two partners started Odeo, a podcast company that didn't make it. This was great since after that they teamed up with Jack Dorsey and Noah Glass to create Twitter.
The meaning of the word Twitter
It was not at first that the four partners got the name of the social network right, either. Initially called "Status", the social network was merely a platform for sending text messages via cell phone - hence the 140-character limit was there in Twitter's history!
Time passed and, after a dictionary search for similar names, the partners found the term "Twitter", which means "a small explosion of information" and "bird chirps". Everything to do with social networking, right?
But it was only in 2007, during the music and new talent festival SXSW, the platform gained its popularity.
At the event, huge screens showing Twitter messages in real-time were set up. The success was so great that the volume of postings on the social network tripled during the event.
What is Twitter for?
Twitter serves to bring all users together - regardless of whether they are companies, famous people, or anonymous. Interactions are free, so you can get in touch with anyone on the social network - except blocked users.
Twitter has become a space to share moments, facts that are happening in real-time, events that are on television, memes and even personal content.
Unlike Facebook and Instagram, Twitter's algorithm does not create difficulties in the delivery of messages - because there is no limitation made to appear on the followers' timeline. All your followers receive your content, regardless of whether they interact with you frequently or not.
The difference is, because of the volume of messages, your tweet can get lost in the timeline. But there are different ways to create a compelling message to stand out - as we will see below.
How to create a Twitter Account?
If you are not yet a part of Twitter, we will teach you step by step how to create your profile!
Step zero is very simple, just go to: www.twitter.com. And define your @. Twitter interactions are made by mentions of your "@". This does not necessarily have to be your profile name, but a way for people to find you on the social network.
There are 15 characters reserved for you to define what your @ will be like. You can use special characters such as "_", "-" or numbers.
Once done, choose your profile name. Your profile name is highlighted on your Twitter account. In all tweets, it will appear together with your @ and will be highlighted in bold.
Unlike the @, the profile name can be changed whenever you feel necessary, without hindering mentions made by your followers and other users. In addition, you have more characters at your disposal to define the name, and you can even use emojis.
The next step is, setting the cover photo and profile picture. It’s the way to way to generate immediate identification with the network's users. It can help you set the tone that will be used on the network, showing people if you are a humorous, sarcastic, creative person, etc.
The cover image needs to be 600 x 200 pixels in size, so it is not worth making artwork that is heavy and distorts your profile header.
On Twitter, there are many profiles that choose to put pictures of drawings and animations, which can generate mistrust, since there are many bots and robots that hide your image to spread false or negative news - the wave of fake news was so big that Twitter launched a feature to detect them. So, always go for uploading original and trustworthy images.
How to place a bio?
The Twitter bio helps you to introduce yourself to people, and you can use the space to make interesting links and generate engagement on other pages. The space is not very big, so be direct. Put the information clearly and objectively.
For business accounts, the bio plays quite a vital role. Besides validating that the profile is really belonging to a brand, you can use the space to generate traffic to your site - just put it as a link.
The bio helps the Twitter algorithm identify your account and introduce it to other users who are not following you yet.
Hope this helps!
