What is Twitter?

Twitter is a hybrid of texting, blogging and instant messaging. You can send very short messages through your cell phone or online and your list of approved people in your network will all receive the update at the same time, and vice versa.

Adults find this a good way to stay in touch with other people in their industry, office, or work group. For example, if you are attending a trade show and you see something notable, you whip out your cell phone and type a short message to your Twitter account. All of the people in your group instantly get your message and are up to speed. Of course you can set up your family to be in a Twitter network so you can quickly and easily send an update to all the members of your family with one post or text message.

Imagine this family texting conversation:
From mom, “Going to be late. Someone pick up a pizza.”
From dad, “Driving past a pizza place right now. I’ll get it.”
From kid, “Make it pepperoni.”
From mom, “Make it 2 pizzas, one pepperoni, one all cheese. My stomach is acting up.”
All members of the family receive all of these messages, so everyone is in the loop.

Lee LeFever of CommonCraft.com does a really great job of explaining Twitter and how it works.  It is more fun to watch the video than have me explain it to you. Here’s your tutorial:

You can use Twitter online only, if you choose. And that would be fine if you spend most of your day at the computer. But if you are on the move, it is best to activate it to work with your cell phone. Make sure you have an “unlimited” texting plan and you’re all set.

Once your phone is verified to send and receive Twitter messages (Twitter walks you through this process), you text 140 character (maximum) messages to the following numbers:
- If you’re in the US, send to 40404
- If you’re in Canada, send to 21212
- If you’re in India, send to 5566511
- If you’re not in any of the three above, send to the UK long code +44762480142