Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets [Paperback]

Paul McFedries (Author), Pete Cashmore (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0470529695 | ISBN-13: 978-0470529690 | Edition: 1

A full-color, portable guide to getting all the fun and productivity from Twitter

Twitter is hot! It's used by everyone from teens keeping up with their friends to fundraising charities and organizations responding to natural disasters; even President Obama tweets. Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets gets you in on the fun, taking you all the way from setting up an account to incorporating cool third-party applications.

Defined as microblogging, Twitter allows you to be as active or passive as you choose in keeping up with the conversation. Limited to 140 characters per comment, or "tweet", it's designed for here-and-now communication. This handy guide gives you everything you need to know.

• Guides you through setting up an account and following Twitter rules
• Explains how to tweet from mobile devices
• Shows how to add Twitter to a blog or to other social networking sites such as Facebook
• Offers ideas for using Twitter in business as well as for personal contacts
• Covers Twitter terminology
• Provides useful tips and tricks for expanding Twitter's usefulness through third-party applications

Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets explores all the features of Twitter, so you can join the conversation and discover what all the buzz is about.

Editorial Reviews

Review

‘…a complete guide to the tweets, apps and tricks involved in belonging to one of the world's fastest-growing communities.' (Management Today, July 2010). --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

• join_the_buzz! Create your free Twitter account and keep up with family, friends, business contacts, and issues that interest you — in real time.

• find_friends Search for people you know, see if any of your contacts have Twitter accounts, invite friends to join, and then follow their tweets.

• start_Twittering Post updates online or use your mobile phone. Send replies and direct messages to your friends, and save your favorite tweets.

• find_stuff with basic and advanced word searches or search by locations, dates, or URLs, then monitor search results with RSS or tweet them to others.

• share_your_feed by putting an app on FaceBook, displaying Twitter updates on your Blogger site, or, adding a Twitter widget to your Web site or MySpace® page.

• extend_Twitter with third-party tools for managing, tracking, and Twitter clients; gadgets and widgets; and Twitter Web sites

• tweet_on! Share photos and videos; schedule tweets; follow Twitter trends; create a Twitter poll; do group tweets, and more!

• paul_mcfedries is the author of sixty books which have sold more than three million copies worldwide. Follow him on Twitter @Wordspy

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470529695
• ISBN-13: 978-0470529690
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #878,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul McFedries runs Logophilia Limited, a technical writing company, and has been writing computer books for more than 17 years. He is the author or coauthor of more than 60 books that have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Paul is also the proprietor of Wordspy.com, a website that tracks new words and phrases as they enter the language.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific resource for those deciding whether or not to Twitter, June 19, 2009

By 

D. Summerfield (Missoula, Montana) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets (Paperback)

My teenage daughters talked me into signing up for Twitter. I had no idea what I was getting into. But I had found a few old school friends and work colleagues on Facebook, so I thought: Why not?

When I started getting emails from perfect strangers saying they were "following" me on Twitter, I thought perhaps I should find out what this phenomenon was really all about. So I ordered this book.

The book is well-written, and keeps within the parameters of knowledge which would belong to the average computer-savvy person (i.e. someone who can use a computer to surf for pleasure, word process, send email and do their office job.) It explained the reasoning behind Twitter, which is to keep up with friends and their lives in short bursts (bytes, really) of frequent information. The book also explains how to use shortcuts and extra features to enhance one's Twitter experience.

What the book did for me, admirably, is convince me that Twitter is a complete waste of time. I am already inundated with information which I feel I must assimilate to stay current in this fast-paced world. Twitter is an electronic pastime which I can safely do without. This book helped me decide that, and I think it did a good job of it.

You might come to the opposite conclusion after reading this book. It's an excellent resource, no matter what you decide.

Highly recommended.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for all who want to learn and maximize Twitter, May 6, 2009

By 

C. Papandria (Royal Oak, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets (Paperback)

Twitter as a social networking tool is exploding and this book is the first to help you untangle all of information you need to learn about Twitter and put out your first "tweet." It provides a good foundation for the basics of getting started but it is also loaded with intermediate and advanced tips and tricks to get the most out of Twitter. Whether you just want to start tweeting or are looking for ways to leverage Twitter to its fullest, I think you'll find everything you need to learn and maximize Twitter in this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great and useful resource, May 28, 2009

By 

BakariC (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Paul McFedries book contains all the information you need to get on board with Twitter. Though it's easy to sign up on and start using the popular social media site, this book does indeed provide you many of the latest tips, tricks, and resources for getting the most out of Twitter.

Other books about Twitter cover how to use the site as a networking and marketing strategy for your business. Paul's book instead focuses on the general Twitter user. You get step-by-step instructions about signing up on the site, customizing your Twitter homepage, connecting with other Twitter members, and doing powerful searches on Twitter. The last third of the book gives you advance resources that get you beyond and connects you back to the Twitter.com website. You learn about desktop and mobile applications for Twittering, as well how to have your Twitter updates show up on your existing web or blog site. There's even a nice two-page glossary of Twitter related lingo that will give you "tweet cred" (Twitter creditability) amongst your friends and associates.

This book is beautifully illustrated, and the writing is clear and concise. I kinda wish, though, that it was formatted in 6x9 size, rather the traditional 9x6 book size. The landscape orientation would have made this book feel more like the true guide that it is.

Much of the information found in this book is available for free on the Internet, but having these resources collected in one place saves you time from doing all that searching. The author is a prolific writer who has sold books worldwide. So this book is well worth the price if you want to get up to speed on Twitter.