Using Twitter lists is the best way to organize the people you follow on Twitter. Before Twitter launched this feature, the only way to organize your contacts was via a 3rd party desktop application like Tweetdeck or Seesmic. Now you can create a list on Twitter and access that list on any desktop application, so you don’t need to keep recreating them.

So what are you using lists for? Many people on Twitter seem to be creating lists for the sake of creating lists; e.g. “Awesome people” and “Interesting to follow”. But did you know that you could use Twitter lists to further your professional and personal goals? Here are several creative ways to use Twitter lists.

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For people who still haven’t joined Twitter, it can seem confusing, overwhelming, or downright ridiculous. I know many people who still haven’t joined only because they find the lingo confusing. What do all those symbols and weird words starting with “tw” mean?

There are online glossaries like Twictionary and Twittonary that track the terminology that has developed on Twitter, but nobody really speaks like that on Twitter. If they did, would you actually want to follow them? I certainly wouldn’t. This isn’t meant to be a megalist of “The Thousand Twitter Terms You Should Know.” These are the most common Twitter terms; the only terms you’ll need to know in order to make sense of Twitter, so it can be a fun experience instead of a confusing one.  Read the rest of this entry

Want to encourage your visitors to follow your company or blog on Twitter? Here by popular demand is a wide selection of “Follow Us” twitter badges for your website, based on the popular “Follow Me” twitter badges.

Just save the image of your choice, add it to your website or blog, and link it to your Twitter profile. If you have any suggestions, or requests for color or a different Twitter badge size, please comment below and I will add them as soon as I can.

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Here are some free Twitter backgrounds with an office theme! Feel free to use, share, and distribute these backgrounds. If you would like to add your own photo, links, and contact information, you can open these jpeg files in a photo editing software like Photoshop or Gimp, a free photo editing software.

If you don’t want to customize your background, no problem; you can simply upload to Twitter as is.

Want updates when new backgrounds are available? Follow me @dianafreedman.

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Here are some free Twitter backgrounds with a holiday theme! Feel free to use, share, and distribute these backgrounds. The first three designs are customizable (PSD downloads), so you can add your own photo, links, and contact information. If you don’t already have Photoshop, you can open the files in Gimp, a free photo editing software. 

If you don’t want to customize your background, no problem; variations of these designs are available that you can simply upload to Twitter as is. 

Want updates when new backgrounds are available? Follow me @dianafreedman. 

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Twitter has recently launched a new retweet functionality intended to solve tweet attribution confusion, the repetitive nature of retweets, and messy editing of the original tweet. Since the functionality is still in BETA, not everyone has access to this feature yet. But Twitter is gradually rolling out the feature, so you should see this soon. Read the rest of this entry

If you’re new to Twitter (yes, many people still are new), getting followers can seem like rocket science. Twitter has evolved since a year ago, when everyone followed everyone back. Now social media is a glamorous affair, with celebrities, companies, and CEO’s joining the party. Now there are tens of millions of people on Twitter, and they’re more picky about who they follow back.

The biggest influence in the decision is interests and how much you have in common. When you follow someone, they’ll get an email notification from which they can click on your profile to see if they should follow you back. The decision is often made within seconds, so it’s important that your interests jump off the page. Read the rest of this entry

The ability to link Facebook statuses and tweets is great for lazy people, Tweetdeck fans, and social media aficionados boasting “Look at me, see what I can do!”  Ok, that’s a bit harsh. Yes, logging into various social networks to speak your mind may be a bit inconvenient. But it doesn’t mean that the best solution is to say the same exact thing everywhere.

Here are some reasons to consider unmerging your status updates and tweets: Read the rest of this entry

Twitter is a microblogging platform that lets you broadcast short messages to your “followers” (the equivalent of a friend or connection). If you don’t already have an account, I recommend you get one, at least to see what all the fuss is about. It’s all over the media, has become part of major companies’ interactive marketing campaigns, your coworkers are talking about it, and even celebrities are using Twitter.

But I’ve talked to so many people who haven’t joined or gave up on Twitter because they didn’t know where to start. The interface is almost too simple, and it’s not always obvious what to do next. So here is a newbie’s guide on how to use Twitter. Read the rest of this entry

About a week ago, I was browsing through a salon and hair product shop at a nearby outlet mall, when a very familiar design caught my eye. The Twitter bird was part of the design of Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree products.

My first thought was “wow, Paul Mitchell stole Twitter’s logo,” so I quickly took some shots with my cell phone.

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Want to encourage your visitors to follow you on Twitter? Here is a large selection of Twitter badges to choose from, with a variety of colors, styles, and sizes. Just save the image of your choice, add it to your website or blog, and link it to your Twitter profile. If you have any suggestions, or requests for color or a different Twitter badge size, please comment below and I will add them as soon as I can. You can also find “Follow Us” Twitter badges here. Read the rest of this entry

Signing up for a new Twitter account is a sort of funny experience. After being asked to import contacts from Gmail and follow a bunch of people from a randomly generated list, you’re presented with nothing but a 140-character text box. Ok… so I’m supposed to say… what exactly?

You’d think writing 140 characters wouldn’t be so hard. On one hand, you’re thinking about Twitter as a micro-blog, so you must need to fit some serious insightfulness into a sentence or two. Or, you’re wondering if you should write updates about your daily life, and thinking “but do people really care if I’m watching TV? Making a sandwich? Doing laundry?” Read the rest of this entry

Twitter is a social media phenomenon that can seem rather underwhelming the first time you log in. You’re presented with a 140-character limit text box and a way to find friends via your email address books. That’s about it. But Twitter is a powerful tool you can use to network and become highly visible in your niche.

I use Twitter every day (@dianafreedman), and here are the twelve Twitter tools I consider the most useful: Read the rest of this entry

I’ve just uploaded the first set of free twitter backgrounds, available on the (yep, you guessed it) Twitter Backgrounds page. Feel free to use, share, and distribute these backgrounds. Some of the designs are customizable, so you can add your own photo and bio/contact information. If you don’t already have Photoshop, you can open the files in Gimp, a free photo editing software.

If you don’t want to customize your background, no problem– all designs have a JPG version available for download, so you can simply upload them to Twitter as is.

Want updates when new backgrounds are available? Follow me @dianafreedman. Read the rest of this entry

If you’re not on Twitter yet, I recommend that you stop reading this article and sign up for a Twitter account. Twitter is a microblogging platform, where you’re limited to updates of 140 characters. You broadcast these short messages to your “followers” (the equivalent of a friend or connection), who can be friends, coworkers, peers in your industry, or even celebrities, politicians, and other public figures. 

If you need to be convinced, here are the top 12 reasons to be on Twitter: Read the rest of this entry