You can skip sections by using the slider control at the bottom of the video clip.

All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (-5hrs). So the first time (07:35) is the equivalent of 1:35pm BST for UK and 3.35pm in Finland.

07:35:15  Toby Parkins : Hi Ryan and Martin=
07:51:05 uknetweb : Hi everyone. We will be starting shortly. There is no sound yet by the way.
07:55:54 habeyhl : Do I have to call in to hear the audio, or can I hear it through the web?
07:56:25 uknetweb : Audio is being switched on now
07:56:41 habeyhl : thanks!
07:59:05 habeyhl : is there a twitter hash tag for this?
08:03:35 Ray Bolitho : Nice shirt Toby!
08:03:59 Tony Conte : hearing you loud and clear Toby!
08:04:00 cathy : Hello
08:04:15 Charla Symons : Hi from Totally Truro
08:04:57 Follett Stock : Good afternoon everyone – Follett Stock Solicitors & FS Media
08:05:24 Kristin Zhivago : hi
08:05:31 Ryan Mcfarlane : Hello
08:05:38 Dougie Woods : Hi Toby!
08:05:56 Matt : Good afternoon from Matt, Rob and Mark from WDL
08:06:01 Jemiina Hautamäki : Hello from Finland, from Persoona
08:13:06 Toby Parkins : Hi Dougie, well done – you made it
08:13:45 Toby Parkins : Hi Jemiina, thanks for coming
08:24:18 Gary J : Twitter
08:24:22 habeyhl : Twitter
08:24:25 Tony Conte : Blogs/wordpress
08:24:26 Charla Symons : Facebook and Twitter
08:24:37 Craig : WordPress / facebook / twitter
08:24:41 Kristin Zhivago : Blog – since 2004, Twitter (business), facebook (personal only)
08:24:50 Dougie Woods : facebook
08:24:52 John Knowles : As a company? Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Youtube, LinkedIn
08:24:54 Follett Stock : Facebook/Twitter/UGC
08:24:58 Jemiina Hautamäki : Twitter, Skype, Facebook, blogs
08:24:59 Ryan Mcfarlane : Blogs, skype, facebook
08:25:08 evolutionpd : facebook, twitter, blog, slideshare, linkedin
08:25:18 Ray Bolitho : none I’m afraid
08:25:20 Kristin Zhivago : Kristin Zhivago here – agree with you about virtual worlds
08:25:36 Kristin Zhivago : Also skype
08:25:41 Toby Parkins : Yeah, virtual worlds are really powerful
08:25:54 Gary J : Just starting with wordpress
08:27:59 Josef Nankivell : twitter is always a great place to have a web dev question answered – with a transactive memory like twitter the answers find you
08:29:12 John Knowles : Gordon Brown on #w elovethenhs
08:34:06 habeyhl : what are ABC1s, C2DEs?
08:34:26 Matt : social bandings
08:34:37 Toby Parkins : marketing groups
08:34:56 habeyhl : thanks
08:36:07 Toby Parkins : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_gradefor more information on Social Grading
08:36:28 Toby Parkins : (the link should open in a new window/tab
08:36:45 Toby Parkins : It’s a UK system
08:38:13 Paul : Not at all currently
08:38:14 Tony Conte : to increase SEO and drive more traffic
08:38:17 Gary J : Awareness, marketing, driving clients to site and SEO
08:38:29 John Knowles : Research, identifying/qualifying prospects, driving offline PR
08:38:33 Toby Parkins : at UKNetWeb we are finding that 70% of new business comes through some kind of Social Media
08:38:33 Ryan Mcfarlane : SEO
08:38:33 Kristin Zhivago : will be using it to launch my next book
08:38:41 evolutionpd : marketing, awareness, engagement,
08:38:48 habeyhl : we’re not using it well
08:38:49 Follett Stock : posting links to articles, driving traffic to site, a bit of PR and marketing
08:38:56 Charla Symons : Awareness of events and driving traffic to www.enjoytruro.co.uk
08:39:07 habeyhl : (thanks for the link Toby)
08:39:08 Josef Nankivell : using social media for research into starting a web business
08:39:19 John Knowles : also online PR.
08:39:25 Kristin Zhivago : already using it to raise awareness. and helping clients adopt it
08:39:49 Kristin Zhivago : Yes, already using a blog for that
08:39:50 cathy : Not using it in the offices-some volunteers are on it -casual references to our charity?
08:39:52 John Knowles : Even where our clients’ eventual targets aren’t that interested in social media, the journalists who cater for them usually are.
08:39:54 Kristin Zhivago : And Twitter
08:40:17 John Knowles : (In fact, you get a faster response from Facebook / Twitter than from email or phone!)
08:40:26 Kristin Zhivago : absolutely
08:40:30 Ray Bolitho : not using it at all but really feel that I need to
08:40:38 Josef Nankivell : very true, John
08:40:44 Toby Parkins : It’s really important to ensure that your Social Media strategy is integrated with the rest of your communication strategy
08:41:19 John Knowles : Toby… how much of this presentation is being recorded? (Just the slideshow & Aren, or chat etc too?)
08:41:38 Toby Parkins : Not sure if all chat is recorded.
08:41:51 Toby Parkins : The main presentation window and audio are recorded.
08:42:19 Toby Parkins : We may be able to record the chat for future use. Please let me know if there is anything commercially sensitive
08:42:54 John Knowles : That would be useful, Toby – it’s hard to read all the comments and concentrate on Aren at the same time!
08:43:07 Elliot Smith : Copy & paste into notebook
08:43:17 Elliot Smith : er.. notepad
08:44:03 Toby Parkins : Need to eat more fish and enhance your Corpus Callosum
08:49:08 Elliot Smith : Thanks Toby. Just suffering from sleep deprivation
08:53:11 Tony Conte : not getting google screen
08:53:19 Tony Conte : still showing Business Cornwall
08:53:56 John Knowles : Are Twilerts available within Twitter?
08:55:52 Toby Parkins : It’s available as a seperate site although I think it’s down at the moment
09:04:35 cathy : Can you join any of these at a “corporate ” level or do you have to have an individual as a front at least?
09:05:38 Toby Parkins : Cathy, I’ll let Aren answer that one
09:05:38 John Knowles : Some of them are a bit of both – on Facebook and LinkedIn etc. you can have a corporate page with linked personal profiles
09:06:15 Kristin Zhivago : do you advise CEOs to twitter? eg Zappos CEO – constantly twittering
09:06:37 cathy : I have no wish to “share ” with the world myself but it might help our charity
09:07:09 Kristin Zhivago : mostly i work with b2b companies
09:07:43 Kristin Zhivago : the problem is time management – the CEO seldom has the time
09:07:44 Gary J : C athy: We use our company name as our twitter handle
09:08:26 cathy : Thank you for those replies.Will try for a more general presence
09:09:04 Gary J : We are also just about to launch a new site (in a couple of weeks), so have used the URL (www.TheAntCan.com) as my twitter handle (theantcan)and use the logo as my twitter picture.
09:09:14 John Knowles : Cathy – a friend of mine has certinaly taken that approach. She’s self-employed, and has moved entirely from a personal to a business presence.
09:09:46 John Knowles : How easy is it to set up the sharing functionality if you’re non-technical?
09:09:55 Gary J : If using wordpress, how do you get the sahre this link
09:10:13 Elliot Smith : Every business should consider registering their company name / url on social networking sites, even if it’s only to protect your name
09:10:33 Gary J : What plugin do you use? and for retweeting?
09:10:48 John Knowles : Is wordpress subscription based?
09:10:49 Tony Conte : which is better, WordPress hosted or on wordpress server? from an SEO point of view?
09:11:08 Gary J : WordPress is free – we have it on our own server
09:11:10 cathy : Are there any downsides to all this? Does it take up a lot of time tracking and monitoring?
09:11:39 Gary J : Thanks
09:12:36 Josef Nankivell : When starting an online business, do you think it is important to share your new experiences/issues with others? Or wait until your business is at a certain level of success before using social media?
09:12:38 Tony Conte : makes sense, thanks
09:12:58 Gary J : Do you find the google adsense detractss from content on your site or do your clients linke it?
09:13:44 John Knowles : Cathy – as much as you let it, really. I suppose the main danger is that you spend ages catering for a very few people. You need to be very clear about objectives and how much time it’s worth to you, I’d say.
09:14:30 Elliot Smith : How about Facebook as an advertising platform?
09:14:38 Gary J : What’s best – adsense or paid-for banner ads?
09:15:00 Josef Nankivell : Thanks very much, I was thinkning along the same lines.
09:15:17 John Knowles : From whose point of view, Gary?
09:15:26 Gary J : Aren – this is really useful stuff. Thank you.
09:16:34 Elliot Smith : thanks!
09:16:48 Kristin Zhivago : thank you
09:16:54 John Knowles : Thanks Aren
09:17:03 Ryan Mcfarlane : Nice work – cheers
09:17:08 John Knowles : Media with a K?
09:17:10 John Knowles :
09:17:20 Paul : Interesting stuff. Thanks.
09:17:21 Josef Nankivell : Thank you Aren. This has been very helpful!
09:17:24 evolutionpd : Thanks Aren
09:17:32 Tony Conte : thanks Aren
09:18:46 habeyhl : managing
09:18:53 Charla Symons : Managing a website
09:18:53 cathy : Managing
09:18:56 John Knowles : As a company, we’re in the process of developing a new site
09:18:56 Elliot Smith : Just about managing
09:19:04 Jemiina Hautamäki : managing, designing & developing
09:19:04 Charla Symons : ww.enjoytruro.co.uk
09:19:17 Gary J : We have a wesbite, are launching a network www.theantcan.comand just starting to develop a wordpress site.
09:19:17 Joona : designing
09:19:19 habeyhl : www.womenshealth.gov
09:19:22 Craig : www.websitedesign.co.uk
09:19:22 Kristin Zhivago : had a website since 1995 or so – http://www.zhivago.comand blog since 2004 http://www.revenuejournal.com
09:19:31 Paul : Contributing and developing new site(s)
09:19:31 Tony Conte : design, manage and develop, plus offline.
09:19:48 John Knowles : For reference, we’re www.jkc.co.uk- although there’s not much there now!
09:19:52 Josef Nankivell : contributing to Bright Hub as a writer http://www.brighthub.com/members/kivster.aspx
09:22:07 Gary J : Can you recommend a banned words filter as part of an automatic upload feature?
09:22:44 John Knowles : Are blog homepages more effective as a list of full articles, or just headlines / first paragraphs where you can click through?
09:26:04 Mark : im going camping this weekend
09:26:15 John Knowles : Ooh… that’s interesting. Why did you choose Dimdim?
09:26:40 John Knowles : Hold on – if Toby’s doing the presentation, who’s anwering the questions? Oh…
09:26:44 Aren : Not me – another Aren by the way
09:27:05 John Knowles : Surely there can’t be two Arens!
09:27:38 Aren : I believe he’s actually called Joe.
09:27:41 cathy : What’s on your ceiling?
09:28:27 Aren : Sorry with regards to Q’s I will pass to Toby when he stops unless best answered by me.
09:28:36 Aren : On the ceiling?
09:29:05 cathy : Something keeps catching Toby’s eye up there!
09:29:11 Ryan Mcfarlane : Live Chat – surly its just a good way for a company to have a low cost base in india and use images / names of british people to make them look like they are using local staff?
09:29:31 Kristin Zhivago : good way?
09:29:42 Kristin Zhivago : I wouldn’t call that “good.”
09:30:23 Aren : In the example used the live chat is managed locally.
09:30:47 Aren : I am sure some companies may use it to outsource customer service abroad.
09:30:55 Josef Nankivell : That’s a very good idea. I have purchased several items due to a friend’s regarding the product!
09:31:02 habeyhl : I’ve found it’s often call center staff that staff the live chat. I’ve gone from chat to phone call with the same person sometimes
09:31:03 Charla Symons : Very locally – i went to school with Aaron!
09:31:07 John Knowles : Risky though
09:31:14 Josef Nankivell : friend’s excitment*
09:32:21 John Knowles : You have to be pretty confident to say: “Here. Ask your friends to help you find a cheaper price”
09:32:24 Aren : By the way, Toby is not looking at the ceiling – we have a projector screen in front / above displaying the view you see
09:33:52 John Knowles : Still not very clear on Facebook connect. is it to facilitate you sharing content without leaving a site, or are you effectively adding that site as a facebook friend? Or something else?
09:33:53 Ryan Mcfarlane : haha – yeah not good as in good – if that makes any sense!
09:34:31 Craig : Facebook connect is an API that enables visitors to your site to use 1 link to share the content on their facebook profile
09:34:45 Craig : developers.facebook.com/connect.php
09:34:52 John Knowles : How does that differ from a “share” plugin?
09:35:26 Kristin Zhivago : seems to me that faking faces would lead to the company being “outed” for the fakery…!
09:35:28 Aren : The ‘Share’ plugin allows users to pos content to a variety of sites
09:35:41 Craig : an API is a bunch of code that a developer codes into your site.
09:35:57 Aren : Yes, Kristin.. very true
09:36:07 Kristin Zhivago : API = application programming interface, I think – a code module
09:36:11 John Knowles : I don’t see why Facebook connect would be better
09:36:13 Kristin Zhivago : with hooks
09:36:40 Aren : Facebook connect links the profile to the website and allows them to login in the future.
09:37:11 Aren : Share this functionality allows users to share content with their friends, followers etc only
09:37:12 Josef Nankivell : It is similar, however, it usually allows the site to broadcast to your facebook prfile
09:37:24 John Knowles : Sort of like a share button that remembers you?
09:37:52 Aren : Well, sort of.. however, share this buttons can recognise you and let you login to their service only
09:38:16 Josef Nankivell : for example, “Josef registered for an event using Eventbrite! Webinar: Social Media for Business Taster”. Opposed to “I am attending an event using Eventbright!”
09:38:16 Aren : Toby can say more during Qs – I don’t do technical, ha ha
09:39:30 John Knowles : So your activity with the website is automatically posted to your profile? (I’m not technical – after more of a “what it does” level answer!)
09:39:51 Josef Nankivell : it depends, but that is a possibility
09:40:02 John Knowles : Wouldn’t that just be really annoying?
09:40:47 Josef Nankivell : It wouldn’t be in a companies best interest to be annoying with the facebook connect feature
09:41:00 Aren : Yes, possibly… it depends on what that content is. Spammy content can do more harm than good
09:41:21 John Knowles : Well, exactly. I’m struggling to think of an example where it would be a good thing for the user.
09:41:45 Aren : In defining a strategy you need to take time to consider the options. Just because a feature exists it doesn’t always make it a good idea to use.
09:42:22 Josef Nankivell : if you look at my profile http://facebook.com/josefnankivellyou might be able to see some examples, such as Eventbright.
09:42:38 John Knowles : Thanks Josef
09:43:45 Josef Nankivell : no worries
09:48:42 John Knowles : I keep hearing RSS. What is it?
09:48:43 John Knowles : (Sorry – too many questions)
09:49:12 Elliot Smith : Really simple syndication
09:49:45 Josef Nankivell : its a way of having information that you are interested in come to you
09:50:10 Josef Nankivell : instead of visiting a news website, you could have news headline appear in your RSS “feed”
09:50:45 Kristin Zhivago : it’s the orange button on a lot of sites. If you click on it, you can get that site’s content sent to you via an RSS reader like Google reader
09:50:59 Kristin Zhivago : go to google reader and you’ll get started
09:51:04 habeyhl : and you can view a RSS feed in igoogle or google reader, or display a feed on your web site
09:51:27 Aren : Wikipedia definition: An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”,[3] or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically.
09:52:03 Josef Nankivell : when you subscribe to more than one rss feed in your rss reader, it becomes a very powerful tool allowing you to get information relevant to you in one place
09:52:05 Aren : We use RSS (naturally present on WordPress blogs) to feed info across to other sites. i.e. To Facebook profiles
09:53:26 Aren : And as Josef says.. you can use RSS as a method to subscribe to the stories /articles from a site and read them in your RSS reader such as Google Reader
09:53:45 Aren : instead of visiting those sites to check for new content all the time
09:55:37 Josef Nankivell : Exactly! If it helps John, imagine one tv channel with all your favourite programmes on all day!
09:55:47 Kristin Zhivago : you can also set up an automatic feed – from your RSS reader to tweets – using twitterfeed.com
09:56:20 Aren : Yes, this is how Business Cornwall sends new stories out on twitter
09:57:17 cathy : It’s been very interesting ,thank you.Some of it went over my head but I will see how it might help us at www.penhaligonsfriends.org.ukin the 3rd sector.
09:57:46 Tony Conte : would you say then regsitering a Facebook business page is better than a personal one?
09:57:47 John Knowles : Just a few. Sorry…
09:58:05 Tony Conte : sunny
09:58:15 Gary J : When moderating comments, do you have an automatic banned words filter? What do you recommend?
09:59:40 Tony Conte : thanks Toby
09:59:41 Kristin Zhivago : do you see that linked in is all business, twitter is a mix, and facebook is becoming more personal?
09:59:50 Josef Nankivell : I think you are providing a very useful service to people who are unsure about social media. Once you help set them up, you are introducing them to a community full of helpful people!
10:00:51 Aren : LinkedIn is mostly business, Twitter and FB are what you want them to be, in my opinion… it depends on your friends / followers- you are in control
10:00:54 Josef Nankivell : I do not know of many businesses that offer that “leg-up” into social media for small businesses
10:01:02 Ray Bolitho : Thanks Toby & Aren. I’ll be in touch with Toby shortly.
10:01:23 John Knowles : Everything in moderation!
10:04:19 Kristin Zhivago : good summary, thanks
10:04:56 Gary J : All done – great info Thank you
10:04:57 John Knowles : me: me: Are blog homepages more effective as a list of full articles, or just headlines / first paragraphs where you can click through? me: What about Facebook Causes? Can you communicate with everyone at once on those?
10:05:01 Kristin Zhivago : how do we contact you?
10:05:27 Charla Symons : Thank you very much Aren & Toby, Totally Truro has found this webinar very useful
10:05:40 Aren : To contact Toby call +44 (0)1872 555933 or email toby@uknetweb.com
10:06:07 Aren : My contacts are: 07501 259000, aren@tonickmedia.com
10:06:23 Kristin Zhivago : thanks
10:06:27 Paul : Lot of good info to think about/explore. Thanks.
10:06:35 Aren : search our names on Google to find profiles and other contact details
10:06:42 cathy : I wanted to know which if any you would most recommend for a charity viz last statement ?
10:08:01 Josef Nankivell : Using facebook for fundraising events would be useful!
10:08:27 Kristin Zhivago : muxt go thanks so much. great meeting
10:08:37 Kristin Zhivago : will be in touch as soon as I reboot
10:08:45 habeyhl : can a facebook (fan) page post an event?
10:08:47 Jemiina Hautamäki : thank you very much, this was a good two hours! will follow you guys on twitter
10:09:08 Aren : Thank you
10:09:32 Gary J : Thanks – see ya !
10:09:38 Tony Conte : many thanks guys, much appreciated.
10:09:48 habeyhl : thanks, this was great
10:09:48 John Knowles : Tom and David want to know if you’re all at Skinners later.
10:09:50 Josef Nankivell : Thanks very much Toby & Aren! It has bee a very enjoyable and helpful experience!
10:09:57 Aren : Yes I will be at Skinners
10:10:20 Aren : For the Cornish delegates – pls check out http://cornwall.twestival.com
10:10:21 John Knowles : Well, have a great time!
10:11:19 Aren : Thanks John, I’m sure I will. Are you not going?

Here is my list of celebs and radio shows currently using Twitter…

General Celebrities

Stephen Fry – http://twitter.com/stephenfry
Jonathan Ross – http://twitter.com/wossy
Phillip Schofield – http://twitter.com/Schofe
Britney Spears – http://twitter.com/britneyspears
MC Hammer – http://twitter.com/MCHammer
Robert Llewellyn – http://twitter.com/bobbyllew

BBC Radio

Radio One – http://twitter.com/the_4th_floor
Radio Two – http://twitter.com/BBC_Radio_2
Radio Three – http://twitter.com/bbcradio3live
Radio Four (Today Programme) – http://twitter.com/r4today
Radio Five Live – http://twitter.com/bbc5live

Chris Moyles and the Radio One Breakfast Team:

Chris Moyles – http://twitter.com/CHRISDJMOYLES
Aled Haydn Jones – http://twitter.com/ahj
Dominic Byrne – http://twitter.com/domisatwit
Carrie – http://twitter.com/sportycarrie
Rachel – http://twitter.com/ProducerRach
Matt Fincham – http://twitter.com/mattfincham

Other Radio Personalities

Fearne Cotton – http://twitter.com/Fearnecotton
Andi Peters – http://twitter.com/xxandip

And finally, the rather random…

Darth Vader – http://twitter.com/darthvader

It has probably occurred to you that it seems like an odd idea to spend time sending 140 character messages over the internet to a group of people you might never meet. Entering a strange world where people have ‘followers’ and ‘tweet’ like birds all sounds a little bit odd to say the very least.

Probably the most difficult aspect of explaining Twitter to a new user is to explain what the big fuss is all about. It’s such a simple act to send short messages over the internet that it seems odd that such subtlety and complexity has built up around it.

Twitter can be different things to different people. Please take this post as it is intended – my own viewpoint on some of its many uses.

A Social Network

Twitter offers a space to meet new people and extend your social network. Likewise, it offers you another route to stay in touch and connect with the people you already know.

Unlike other networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace, Twitter places the emphasis on the words expressed in your messages (tweets) and your interactions with other users.

Space for biographies, photos and other items is limited to just a few small boxes on your homepage. The connections made through Twitter are based more on shared interests or lifestyles and less on location, past contact or other factors.

By ‘following’ another user you are opening a window to their messages. You will need to ensure that those messages coming in are relevant and interesting to you the majority of the time to avoid getting overloaded with too much content.

Your reasons for extending your ‘social network’ will be personal to you. You might want to meet new people, you may be looking to market your business or possibly you want to gather new perspectives on an idea or subject. Whatever your reason, Twitter can be a very effective social networking tool.

In later posts I will explain some more ways to find people on Twitter. For some basic ideas please go back to my first post.

A News Channel

Twitter can become your very own news channel, feeding you the news you are interested in, as it happens.

Apart from the many traditional media organisations feeding news flashes out through Twitter (BBC, Sky, The Daily Mail, The Guardian and so on) you will also find users acting as ‘citizen journalists’. People just like you and I, who hear a story, see an event or are on location providing commentary.

Take the recent Hudson River Plane Crash in the US as an example. One Twitter user was stood on a ferry heading out into the middle of the river to rescue the survivors and took the very first picture and sent it out through Twitter. (Click here to read the Telegraph’s report)

Hundreds of users subsequently added their own comments or passed the story onwards to other users, breaking the story before many news teams could even make it to the scene.

Similarly, there are a number of commentators on Twitter who report on, or feed information on, a particular area or subject. For example, in social media, users such as Robert Scoble or Jason Calacanis will often report from conferences or events, helping other users like me keep up to date with the latest developments within the industry.

You will find your own news sources and commentators as you begin to become accustomed to the site.

In future posts I will provide you with links to some of the tools you can use to find your own news sources.

A Search Engine

Your traditional search engine such as Google or Yahoo allow you to search for sites offering relevant content based on a number of factors such as; the number of sites linking to it, the frequency of relevant words or phrases on the page or how recently the information was updated.

Twitter offers a more human led approach to the search engine model.

By fostering your own group of experts you can pose questions to them instead of trying to search for the information yourself. You will know the opinions to trust as you will have been listening to and interacting with those in your community (the people who you follow or those following you).

Likewise, when one of your own community posts a question, you might be the best person to answer it. We all have our own areas of knowledge, Twitter helps facilitate communications between those needing an answer and those with the knowledge to answer it.

Further still, by fostering a group of people with similar interests to you own, you are often fed information in the form of links before you even go looking for it.

Later posts will go into more detail on fostering your own team of experts.

A Marketing Tool

Twitter offers those in business another tool to market their products or services.

Unlike, most traditional media, Twitter offers two way communication between the ‘marketer’ and the ‘marketed to. This can be a daunting prospect for traditional marketers who are wary of allowing their customers to add to the conversation.

However, let’s make this clear, should a marketer not enter the communication in the first place, they have no control over what is said! If someone wants to talk about them they can, whether they’re taking part or not.

The challenge from a business and marketing angle is the age old ‘return on investment’. What do I get out of this? Why should I invest my energy?

Social Media Marketing (encompassing Twitter, Facebook and Blogging amongst others) can be difficult to quantify or measure results from. So before you start engaging in any activity be clear on what you are looking to achieve and work out how best to monitor success.

Spamming (the sending of bulk unsolicited sales messages) is more likely to damage your reputation than build it. Users found to be spamming on Twitter often find themselves becoming the topic of potentially damaging negative conversation.

An Organisational / Communication Tool

Twitter can be highly effective as a communication or organisational tool. Whether planning a night out with friends, organising a dinner party or a business event you will find Twitter built for the job (providing those involved are using Twitter too!)

Take the upcoming Twestival as an example. The event is taking place in over 180 locations across the globe with the bulk of communication and organisation taking place over Twitter.

Messaging made simple:

• Through using the ‘Direct Message’ function you can message individuals privately.
• Through ‘@replies’ you can ensure that multiple recipients are aware of the same details.
• Through ‘Protected Updates’ you can protect information that you would like to keep between a team or private group.

Please refer to Twitter for Beginners Part One: Getting Started for further explanation on using these functions.

In future posts we will look at some of the freely available web based tools that link with Twitter to take its organisational or communication capabilities a step further.

This concludes the second post in our series, Twitter for Beginners. Future posts will look at some of the great tools designed to aid you in getting the most out of Twitter.

We would love to hear about your own experiences, please feel free to Tweet @arengrimshaw or @uknetweb with your views or leave a comment at the end of this post.

We have released this post to help new users get to grips with the site, which we believe has a number of uses to individuals and businesses alike.

We have published this in the run up to the Cornwall Twestival – a global event organised through Twitter to raise money for Charity:Water. The event promises to be an insightful and enjoyable get together of the diverse users (and potential users) of Twitter. For more information or to book a ticket please click here.

The Basics – What is Twitter and Where Do I Start?

Twitter is a social network and messaging system which allows its users to post short messages (140 characters in length) with information on their movements, interests, links to articles, websites or other content that they feel will be of interest to others. [Click here for the Wikipedia entry for Twitter]

Each user of the site needs their own account which is available free of charge at Twitter.com. Once an account is setup the user can choose to ‘Follow’ others, enabling those users of the site to send direct (private) messages to you. (Often referred to as a Tweet).

As you use the service to post your own messages, those interested in what you have to say will begin to follow you. Likewise, as you read the messages of others you will see people that you may want to follow.

This process occurs because all messages you send through the site are openly available to other users of Twitter (unless you have selected to keep your updates private). Users can use the Twitter Search System to identify messages (Tweets) that mention words or keyphrases of interest to them.

Those that you follow on Twitter are listed under ‘Following’ on your Twitter homepage and those that follow you are called ‘Followers’.

Why should I be interested?

There are a number of ways Twitter can be useful to you.

As a business it creates opportunities to extend your network and meet new people, cultivate a group of people with similar interests or expertise and keep ahead of news or information relevant to your business interests.

Further still, Twitter can be useful in marketing your own products or services; however, it should be noted that some care is advised to avoid spamming (over marketing products in a ‘buy, buy, buy…’ kind of manner).

As an individual Twitter can help you meet people with similar interests, follow your favourite celebrity, talk to your MP, keep abreast of the news and much more. It has the potential to be a great social network, news site and search engine all in one.

We will uncover more on these areas in future posts.

How do I use it?

It’s really very simple…

1. Create an Account

Go to Twitter and create an account. You will need to specify a Username (Twitter ID). This name will be the name that appears on your messages and the name used by other members to message you.

You will need to add a short bit of detail about yourself (your bio) and you may want to add a website address or link to a blog or other site.

*Remember to keep your updates public if you want others to be able to find you. If you select to protect your updates other members of Twitter will not be able to read your messages.

2. Follow People

Once your account is set up search for people that you think would be of interest to you.

If you’re a business try searching for others in your industry.

If you’re an individual try looking for people listing similar interests to you.

In both cases have a look and see who else in your area is using the service.

You can perform searches to find these people or businesses by visiting http://search.twitter.com and selecting the ‘Advanced Search’ option. Using the Advanced Search you can look for locations, interests, message content and much more.

3. Listen to Others

Take a while to see what others are messaging. Where you find a member interesting continue following them and where you find a member’s messages boring or irrelevant drop them off your list be clicking on their name and selecting ‘Remove’.

You are looking to cultivate a group of users that you find interesting and you in turn can be of interest to.

4. Start Messaging (Tweeting)

Once you are comfortable with the site start messaging.

Try to avoid sending erroneous messages about the content of your lunch or what time you woke up this morning. Try to make your messages interesting and relevant to the people ‘following’ you.

People can message you directly by typing the letter ‘d’, then a space followed by your Twitter ID i.e. ‘d arengrimshaw This is a direct message’. Likewise you can do the same; however, the person you are messaging will need to be ‘following’ you before you can do this.

You can send a message out to be flagged as a ‘reply’ to a particular person or number of people by adding the prefix ‘@’ to a Twitter username i.e. ‘@arengrimshaw You can find that information here – www.uknetweb.com’.

Where ‘@’ is used, the message will be publicly available to everyone and will show up on the referenced user’s ‘replies’ when they log in to Twitter.

This concludes the first in our series on Twitter for Beginners. In future posts we will look at using Twitter for business in more detail, Tips, tricks and tools you might find helpful and other subjects that will help you get the most of this exciting service.