No. 1, Part 2 - Microblogs (Twitter)

To successfully complete No. 1, Part 2- Microblogs - Twitter...

READ this blog post.
DO and THINK about the information in the "Learn More About" activities.
LEARN by completing the Hands On Activities, including reading the Important Tips.

Your total time commitment is 10 to 20 minutes.

Introduction to Twitter
Twitter is a microblogging service that shares a lot of characteristics with communication tools that your already using: email, texting, blogging, etc... Here are a few points that make it unique:

• It's really easy to write and read. Messages you send and receive are no more than 140 characters..kind of like a headline in the newspaper.
• You can readily meet new people. Messages are public. No one needs permission to see what you have written. So, it's really easy to spread word about you. This means that what you have to say needs to be interesting, accurate, etc...
• Twitter works or fits everyone's workflow. You can send and receive message through your computer, your mobile phone, etc...
• Plus, it's really friendly and people oriented.
• It asks you to answer the question, What are you doing?. People answer. As a result, we all become more aware of each other without having to respond. It's establishes a lightweight but meaningful connection.

Twitter is good for distributing ideas and comments about what people care about and what they have expertise in. It is a great tool for sharing common experiences and mind reading. It's a great way to find out what people think.

It can be a key business channel. We can use it to engage customers, partners and constituents in a direct way that is both personal and public. People will tell us what they think about us, our brand, our services....

We can respond timely to customer service requests, have conversations with stakeholders and improve business through promotions. It's fun, useful and revolutionary!

Learn More about Twitter
1. Watch this video on YouTube, Twitter in Plain English, by Common Craft Productions. (Time Committment 2:25 minutes).
2. Read the introduction and history sections of Wikipedia's article: Twitter. It's a quick overview. (Time Committment 3 to 5 minutes).
3. Click through this slideshare slide show, The Twitter Tutorial. It's 69 slides. (Time committment 5 minutes)

Hands On Activity
1. Visit the City of Virginia Beach on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cityofvabeach.
2. Read through the tweets and get a feel for how it works.

Still hungry for more? Check out this awesome blog post, The Ultimate Guide to Twitter.