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.

Cornish users of an internet based network are to take part in an international charity event taking place across 100 locations worldwide on the evening of Thursday 12th February 2009.

The Cornwall Twestival aims to bring together users of the social networking site, Twitter, which provides its members with opportunities to meet, discuss and share ideas through the posting of short messages over the internet.

Organisers hope the event will bring together Cornish users of the site; predominantly students, business people and journalists, in a night of networking, celebration and fundraising for water charity, ‘Charity:Water’ to be hosted in a converted Engine House on the cliff tops overlooking St.Agnes.

The first Twestival, held last year, was confined to locations in or around London; however, after much interest from other locations the organisers have rolled it out to become a worldwide event, with local volunteers arranging events in cities across the globe.

The Cornwall Twestival is being organised by local web developers, UKNetWeb, who have played host to a number of innovative events over the past 12 months, including a series of topical virtual conferences aimed at small businesses.

Commenting on the event, UKNetWeb Account Manager, Aren Grimshaw said,

“We hope that by hosting this event in Cornwall we can show that Cornwall is not behind the times when it comes to creativity and innovation. It is often thought that we are a country backwater, running behind the times; however, this is clearly not the case.”

“By hosting our event within a converted Engine House we are bringing together Cornwall’s past and future, showing the world that we have been at the forefront of innovation both now and in the past.” He continued.

It is expected that around 50 people will attend the event raising valuable funds for the charity, Charity:Water, which helps provide those in developing nations with access to clean, safe drinking water.

The exact details are yet to be announced; however, plans are underway to provide link ups with other locations, entertainment from local artists and musicians, as well as fundraising activities such as raffles or auctions.

Local companies and regional organisations are being sought for sponsorship and donations, with opportunities for local, national and global exposure through the event. Anyone interested in sponsoring or attending the event should visit http://cornwall.twestival.com or call UKNetWeb’s offices on 01872 555933.

It is great to see we already have a lot of interest in the Cornwall Twestival planned for the evening of 12th February. We are now looking to put together a working group to ensure the evening is a major success. We would love it if you could be involved.

Areas that need attention include:

• Sponsorship
• Donations / Raffle Prizes
• Drinks and Food
• Media Coverage and Partnerships
• Format for the Evening

If you would like to be part of this working group we would love to have you on-board. As time is of the essence we are looking at a quick get together one evening early next week – Mon / Tues? If you could spare an hour to come along on one of these evenings we can host the meeting here at the Engine House in St.Agnes.

Please message me with your availability and we will start to put together the details.

Many thanks for your interest – We look forward to meeting you all very soon… Aren (@arengrimshaw)

Web development company, UKNetWeb, which advises businesses on their use of Social Media, has issued the warning after noticing a number of local business people had fallen victim to the virus which spreads itself through messages sent to each member of a their friend list.

The title of the dodgy message varies with messages such as “Maan,yyou’re great!” and “your ass looks not bad in this video” forming part of the message body or Facebook wall posting.

Anyone receiving messages of this kind should not press the link under any circumstances and should delete the message from their inbox or wall immediately.

Once clicked, these links forward you to a site which hunts for a file on your PC referred to as a cookie and prompts the user to update their video or flash software. Once accepted the Trojan virus proceeds to lock the user out of their account and messages each of the friends on their friend list with a similar message, further spreading the virus.

UKNetWeb Managing Director, Toby Parkins says, “Issues of this kind are not uncommon; however, they can be extremely disruptive and annoying to the individuals involved.”

“It is always best to exercise caution and where suspicious do not take any chances. You should ensure that your computer has the latest anti-virus and anti-phishing software installed and run on a daily basis”. He continued.

Facebook has now taken steps to deactivate malicious links in messages through the network; however, it is still possible that some may get through. Anyone worried about their security should seek the advice of their web developer or IT specialist.

Cornish web developers, UKNetWeb, have announced the speaker for their next monthly virtual conference session to be entitled ‘Insight: Convergence’.

South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), Innovation and Enterprise Convergence Manager, Josie Linton, will take the keynote speech with other members of SWRDA team supporting her at the conference.

The conference will take place online at 12.30pm on Tuesday 7th October. Guests can log in at anytime from 12 noon on the day by following instructions posted on the site http://www.uknetweb.com.

Josie will endeavour to explain how Convergence business support will be implemented; with regards to business support the aims of the funding and how it will affect businesses operating within the county.

The purpose of the Convergence Programmes is to speed up the economic development of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly particularly through investing in: skills and helping people into work; the development of a more knowledge based economy; business productivity and innovation; and in infrastructure for a more modern economy.

The Convergence Programme follows on from the Objective One Programme which closed for investment on the 31st December 2006.

Talking about the conference, UKNetWeb Managing Director, Toby Parkins said,

“We are really excited to have members of the Regional Development agency on hand to explain more about  Convergence funding and what it means for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Our aim with the Insight Sessions is to give businesses access to more detailed information around a specific issue or subject of a topical nature and you can’t get more topical than the plans for Convergence”.

Insight: Convergence will be the second virtual conference organised by UKNetWeb with the previous session, Insight: Recession, featuring a keynote speech from economist and former Finance Cornwall Chief Executive, Lord Teverson.

The sessions usually last around an hour with a transcript of the sessions published online following the event. Anyone interested to learn more, including future speaking opportunities, should contact Aren Grimshaw at UKNetWeb on 01872 555933 or email aren@uknetweb.com.

Notes to Editor:

• For more information on the Convergence Programme visit http://www.objectiveone.com/O1htm/01-convergence/convergence.htm
• For more information on UKNetWeb visit http://www.uknetweb.com
• For information on past UKNetWeb Insight Session please visit http://www.uknetweb.com/blog/tag/insight-sessions/

The virtual event which took place on Tuesday (2nd September) featured a keynote speech from respected economist, and former Finance Cornwall Chief Executive, Lord Robin Teverson.

Guests at the event included a range of local business owners as well as Stephen Bohane, Head of Business Development in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly within The South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) and Terrye Teverson, Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Truro and Falmouth.

Talking about the Cornish economy Lord Teverson said,

“We’ve had the accepted mantra that when the rest of the UK plunges into recession, Cornwall is hit even harder – certainly in terms of unemployment – and we then come out of recession later than the rest of the country. But over the last decade, since the last recession in the early 1990s, Cornwall has arguably become more confident and resilient.”

“It’s received a lot of European funding which has meant that new investment in people, infrastructure, and businesses has taken place. Distance has become less important because of information technologies, and Cornwall has had a high take up of broadband. “

“A number of SMEs will fall by the wayside – but by managing costs very carefully, keeping the sales and marketing going, and avoiding bad debts they can survive and be even stronger on the other side when things get better.”

“SMEs need to make sure they keep close not just to their customers but also their staff and suppliers.  Loyalty and trust gets to be pretty important during difficult times.” He continued.

Discussion and questions followed the main presentation with topics discussed including; the continuing improvements to the ICT infrastructure in Cornwall, bad weather and the tourism sector, manufacturing, business cash flow and budgets, the government’s announcement on Stamp Duty and the rise of Eastern Economies such as China and India.

Overall the mood was optimistic with many businesses not yet feeling the effects of any downturn. A direct question from Stephen Bohane on how individual businesses were fairing prompted responses of ‘never busier’ and ‘we are forging ahead with our growth’ from the assembled business owners.

The virtual event entitled ‘Insight:Recession’ is the first part of a series of events planned by UKNetWeb to help businesses in Cornwall and further afield gain insight into a particular subject of relevance to an SME operating within the county.

Commenting on the first session Toby Parkins, UKNetWeb Managing Director said,

“Given the amount of discussion and media coverage presently surrounding fears that the UK is falling into a recession we felt is was time to help businesses in Cornwall improve their understanding of them and their potential effect on our local economy.

“Lord Teverson has a lot of knowledge on the economy in general; however, his deep insight into the local economy made him an ideal candidate to explain how a recession might play out within the region.

“We were very pleased with the turnout and believe that everybody was able to take something useful away from the experience.”

A full transcript of Lord Teverson’s speech and the following discussion is available to download from http://www.uknetweb.com/docs/insight-recession.pdf. For information on future events please contact Aren Grimshaw at UKNetWeb on 01872 555933 or email info@uknetweb.com.

The innovative party was planned by the company to demonstrate how businesses can use emerging technology to cut business running costs while adding new and exciting ways of promoting their businesses.

The party began at 12.30 on Tuesday (29th July) when a link was published on the old UKNetWeb site. Guests were told to go to the company website, UKNetWeb.com and follow the on-screen instructions to enter a virtual room.

On entering the room, guests could select their own music from a selection of preloaded tracks and carry out conversations with other attendees via on screen text based chat. At 1.00pm Managing Director, Toby Parkins, made a speech to the room where he introduced the new site and recession guide.

All guests were given an opportunity to introduce themselves to the room, following a similar structure to conventional face to face networking events. Guests came from all over Cornwall and further afield, with at least one international guest signing in from an Icelandic advertising agency.

The launch of the new site and recession guide was well received with over 300 people accessing the site and over 150 downloads of the recession guide within the 24 hour period after the launch.

Toby Parkins, MD, UKNetWeb

Managing Director, Toby Parkins said, “The possibilities opened up by emerging technology offers exciting prospects for businesses that want to cut costs and attract new sales. This launch party demonstrated that there are alternatives to travel and we hope that businesses will adopt some of the ideas within the guide to help them through more difficult times.”

“Since the event we have been inundated with interest in similar events. It seems everyone who attended has been telling their friends about it and now there is a real buzz for more virtual events to be organised.” Toby continued.

The new website can be found at www.uknetweb.com with the recession guide available for download at www.uknetweb.com/recession-guide.

St.Agnes based, UKNetWeb, and neighbouring business, Forward ITC, both undertook the ISO 9001 accreditation process last year and will be presented with their certificates, marking completion of the application process, at a special event later this month.

The event aimed at helping interested businesses to understand the business benefits associated with ISO status will feature talks from the two companies, as well as a presentation from the company responsible for assessing and granting the new statuses.

Toby Parkins, Managing Director of UKNetWeb said, “We have worked very hard to achieve the ISO status and have seen the positive effects on our business and planning model. We aim to help other businesses, who may want to gain the status for themselves, understand what it means to apply, and what the process can do for their business.”

“Many businesses may be under the impression that the status is nothing more than a marketing ploy but there is so much more to it than that. It is about putting the customer at the centre of everything you do and committing to a set of standards that are universally adopted across your organisation.”

The event will take place over lunch on Wednesday the 18th June, starting at 12.30pm. Rojer Isaacson of Forward ITC, Toby Parkins of UKNetWeb and Roger Preston from International Management Systems Marketing (IMSM) will each present a short presentation and then be on hand to offer advice to interested businesses.

Anyone wanting to find out more should contact Aren Grimshaw at UKNetWeb for more details on 01872 555933.

The system built for Travel Smith Limited, based in the South East, required more than 400 hours of complex programming over a period of 6 months. This was needed to ensure that a range of back end systems could work together seamlessly to assist those booking holidays on the Channel Islands.

Built by St. Agnes based, UKnetweb, the new system allows customers accessing travelsmith.co.uk to book flights and accommodation through the one site building on their previous success in arranging accommodation and ferry travel for customers throughout the UK.

Although flight booking systems of this kind often appear relatively simple to the consumer using them, they involve a range of highly complex programming languages to ensure that the different parts involved in the process work together to generate the required results.

“Many people could be forgiven for thinking that the site is pretty simple, after all, that’s how the customer should see it. However, behind the scenes we have to ensure that thousands of processes work hand in hand to deliver the service they expect.” Says Toby Parkins, UKnetweb’s Managing Director.

“As a company we focus on these kind of projects which other companies find difficult. Knowing that nothing is impossible we work to establish new ways of doing things and have become nationally renowned for a number of European internet firsts.” He continued.

The Travel Smith system is not the first project of this complexity undertaken by UKnetweb, past projects have included a national sales system for genealogy store, Parish Chest and a mobile application for brand leader, Nokia.

Anyone looking to develop their own booking system, or other complex web development can contact the company at their offices on 01872 555933 or visit the company’s website at www.uknetweb.com

Writing on the subject of web cart abandonment, a subject close to the hearts of any e-commerce store owner, Toby suggests a range tactics that can be used to increase site sale conversions and insure higher online store profits.

The full feature will be reproduced on our blog within the coming weeks. In the meantime why not order your copy from subs@catalog-biz.com

*Please note a printing mistake has led to our company name being included as ‘ukneweb’ – it should of course be ‘uknetweb’. Anyone interested in learning more about the company should visit our corporate site at www.uknetweb.com