How to Tweet on Twitter

3 of 8 in Series: The Essentials of Getting Connected and Communicating on Twitter

The entire premise of Twitter is to answer the question "What's happening?" in 140 characters or less. To tweet, type a message in the What's Happening? text box, keeping under the 140-character limit, and click Update. You've just made your first tweet!

If you're thinking, "Wait, that's it?" you're right: That's it. Tweeting is that simple, but that simplicity makes it powerful. But as you add more updates, people begin to see what's going on in your life and what you're thinking about.

Twitterers following you or searching for keywords in Twitter can start talking to you about what you're doing. The conversation starts with those simple exchanges: Talk about your favorite band's new album, your mechanic and how she fixed your car's catalytic converter, or really anything at all. If you've already found your contacts on Twitter, they probably respond to you pretty quickly. If you don't have any followers yet, don't worry; they'll come.

Your tweets, right now, are publicly visible and searchable, even if you delete them immediately after hitting Update. This situation isn't life or death, but be careful. If your updates are unprotected, what you tweet ends up in Twitter Search and on Google, even if you delete it quickly.