Sirona Social Media

Completely new to Twitter? This is how to get started with Twitter (Part 2)

2011-03-23T13:08:58+00:00

Last week I covered setting up your Twitter account from scratch, so today I'll show you some more tips.

Using the @ symbol

Every time you message someone publicly, you must always use the @ in front of their twitter name (unless you want to message them privately,then you put D in front of user name), then everyone who follows you, and also follows the person you are messaging can see the message (tweet), but, anyone who is following you but NOT the person you are tweeting cannot see the tweet! But, just to confuse you more, if you put any symbol, RT (last blog post explains this) or message in front of the @username then any of your followers can see the tweet .... phew!!

Adding a picture to your tweet

To be able to add a picture to your tweet you must go to a third party photo sharing site such as Twitpic or yfrog and sign in using your twitter name, you will also be able to write a tweet to go with your picture ..... but remember that the picture will be in the form of a clickable link which takes up some of your 140 characters.

1st - sign in with Twitter .....

Then click allow .....

Then follow steps 1 -> 4

Step 1 - find the picture from your computer files,double click the picture and the file name will appear in the box

Step 2 - Write your message in the box

Step 3 - Check the Twitter box , or else your picture and tweet will not appear on twitter

Step 4 Then click 'Post It'

And then,a as if by magic, your tweet will appear in your twitter time line ......

...... and clock on the yfrog link and voila!

Here is the photo!!

For the next blog,does anyone have any Twitter questions they'd like me to cover in future blogs? If so, contact me at headworth4@ntlworld.com and I'll try my best :-)

Completely new to Twitter? This is how to get started with Twitter

2011-03-17T09:45:37+00:00

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social networking site which is used for micro-blogging. You have 140 characters in which to answer the question 'What's happening?' The 140 characters includes spaces and punctuation marks, so you begin to learn a new language! The reply to the question is called a 'tweet', and can be used to reply to friends or just to make a statement.

How to get started

First of all go to www.twitter.com and click 'Sign up' ...... It's free!!

Then fill in your details,try to use your name as your twitter name if possible,as it's easier for you to be found by your friends ...

Next is to sort out your avatar and biography ..... So click the arrow next to your name at the top of the page ......

and click Settings,then go to Profile and fill in all your details,including a bio and a photo of you

Don't forget to click Save!

Now you are ready to find some friends!! Go to your home page ...

From here you will be able to do your first tweet! But first of all you need to follow some people,so if any of your friends or work colleagues are on twitter search for them here ....

If this is someone you want to follow , then click the green 'follow' button!There are several ways of finding people to follow,but the easiest for a newbie is to go to your friends profiles and see who they follow!

This next picture is taken of my other twitter account and as you can see I follow 858 people, just click 'following' under that figure

And it will list all the people I follow ...

Eventually,once you have a few followers, hopefully people will follow you back, you will be informed by email. Then you need to do your first tweet! Go to the home page (located in the top black bar) and in the box titled 'What's Happening' you can write your first message ...

Then click 'tweet' ....

Congratulations! You have now done your first tweet!

Next is to engage in a conversation with someone, to do this,go to the other persons tweet that you want to reply to and hold you mouse over that tweet, the writing will turn blue and a 'reply' button will pop up, click that and away you go ....

If you like a tweet that someone you follow has done and you want to share it with your followers, then you can retweet (RT) it, to do this, go to the tweet that you want to share,hover the mouse over it so that it turns blue and press the 'retweet' button, this will automatically share the other persons tweet with others. But, if you want to add a comment to your RT you will have to copy and paste the tweet into the 'What's Happening' box,making sure you put the original tweeters name and an RT in front, and add a comment (keeping it within the 140 character guidelines!!

You are also able to send a Direct Message (DM) which can only be seen by the recipient,to do this click on their name

Then click 'Message' ....

Then write your message in the box (140) and then press send ...

These DM messages appear in the 'Messages' section on the top black tool bar

A useful tool you can use on twitter to keep up with the latest news is the hash tag (#). If you go to the search bar at the top of the twitter page and put in a subject with a # in front of it,it will search all the tweets that have been made about that subject, see below that I searched #Japan

I hope this will be a help to you,if you have any questions,then follow me on my main account which is @SaraHeadworth and tweet me!

Are you a Facebook addict? Here are the symptoms!

2011-03-02T07:36:00+00:00

Have been reading this article this morning,which questions whether you are a Facebook addict or not! Read these seven questions and see how addicted you actually are! ( By the way,I do not have a farm........ yet ;o) )

Written by Nick O'Neill

We all know someone who has become a Facebook addict — and that person might just be you. Here are seven reasons to give in to the addiction and spend your whole life on the site.

1. Who Needs To Socialize When You Have A Phone

You stare at your phone when you’re at a bar or restaurant with friends. Look, there’s nothing wrong with taking a break to see why your lover just texted you, but it has become a little bit excessive. Your Facebook contacts can probably deal without you commenting on every post they write. Social media is also used for curing boredom, but wasn’t your evening outing supposed to handle that?

2. You’re Preparing For The “Like Olympics”

If there was a gold medal to be won in the “Like Olympics,”you’d want want to win it. That’s why you’ve been going through the entire Facebook feed and clicking like on every single status update from your friends. You may have even taken things up a notch and posted an enthralling comment such as “Awesome!” or “LOL” to help communicate the deep emotion you’re currently experiencing. Don’t stop now, go for the gold!

3. You’re Waiting On Your Crush To Break Up

Seriously, if there’s anybody to fall in love with and spend your life obsessing over, it’s definitely the current crush you have on someone who’s already involved. You’re waiting for their relationship to come crashing down so you could comfort them as the good friend that you are, right? Rather than eating, sleeping, or performing any of your other basic human needs, I’d suggest you sit in front of Facebook and just wait for that disaster of a relationship to end.

4. You Are Deathly Afraid Of Boredom

I know sitting alone in a room and be a pretty painful experience, which is why Facebook was so successful in the first place. However taking out some time to think about your own life instead of worrying about others could really help you make some personal progress. Who needs that though when the comments on your friend’s recent ski trip photos just brought you that much closer to them?

5. Occasional Status Updates Aren’t Enough

Rather then waiting for someone to call you, post status updates at frequent intervals and wait for people to respond. This will show who truly cares about you. For some people, this is already their natural behavior so no practice is required. However if you haven’t pushed your Facebook friends to their limits, try posting as often as possible. While it won’t help you gain more friends, it will definitely help you feed your addiction.

6. Your Profile Photo Gets Stale In 15 Minutes

That last model pose you published to your profile was a killer one, but everybody knows that you can only be famous for 15 minutes. Why not make sure that you have the perfect look every 15 minutes? Four times an hour you should update your image just to make sure that if right now happens to be the moment that you become famous, you’ll have the perfect Facebook profile photo for the press to use.

7. Your Crops Are Ready

Every hour is harvest season when you’re playing FarmVille on Facebook. If you don’t care for your crops, the virtual plants may die! You also might miss out on the opportunity to earn some of that much cherished Farm Cash.

Answers below please!!

Facebook usage statistics - video

2011-02-28T07:19:00+00:00

Check out this compelling motion graphic video about Facebook usage produced by Alex Trimpe.

Note that the statistics used in the footage rely on the assumption that Facebook has 500 million users, and we’ve since reported that number has gone up to 600 million. Regardless, the video’s main point about people’s obsession with the social network is timeless.

The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.

Do you think this Nun should be allowed on Facebook?

2011-02-24T07:04:00+00:00

This story was featured on the unofficail Facebook blog a couple of days ago about a nun from Spain. She liked to keep in touch with her friends via Facebook on the convents computer.Unfortunately,she was asked to leave the order because of this.

Please read the article below :-

Sister Maria Jesus Galan liked to keep up with her friends on Facebook, but her fondness for the site got her in trouble with her convent, Santo Domingo el Real in Toledo, Spain.

She announced on her Facebook page she had been asked to leave after “disagreements over her online activities,” according to the Telegraph. The 54-year-old had about 600 Facebook friends at the time of her eviction, and now has a fan page with almost 7,000 supporters from around the globe calling for her to be allowed back in the order, according to the Telegraph.

Her convent got its first computer just a decade ago. And in 2008, Sister Maria won a local government prize for digitizing the convent’s archives. Her notoriety after winning the award brought more fans to her Facebook page, and that’s when the all the trouble began. Fellow nuns disapproved of her social media savvy and gave her a hard time about it, according to the Telegraph. The Dominican order refused to comment to the Telegraph about the reasons for her departure.

Now, Sister Maria is living with her mom and said she’s ready to embark on her newfound freedom. ”I would like to visit London and New York. Such things were impossible to even dream when at the convent,” she posted on her page, according to the Telegraph.

Do you think she deserved to be kicked out of the order?

Big Brother is Watching you!

2011-02-23T11:04:49+00:00

This story has hit the newspapers yesterday,it highlights how you can't get away with anything if you are going to share your life publicly using social media!

Taken from The Daily Mirror online :-

A BENEFITS cheat who enjoyed three holidays a year was caught after posting photos of her wedding in Barbados on Facebook.

Hazel Cunningham, 47, claimed thousands for being a single mum when she was living with new husband, Paul, and receiving maternity pay from her employer.

She spent the money on holidays in Turkey, Kenya, and a dream wedding in the Caribbean.

Cunningham, who received an average of £170 a week, was rumbled when investigators found the wedding photos on her profile page.

The mum of two from Ashford, Kent, was jailed for 120 days by Folkstone magistrates after pleading guilty to benefit fraud.

She must now repay just under £15,000.

An Ashford Council spokeswoman said: “Our investigators use Facebook as a routine tool when looking at someone’s claim that they are single and not married.”

So,there you go,if you think you're getting away with it ...... someone is probably watching you!

A Valentines Day blog!

2011-02-14T12:01:03+00:00

...... and another one

Happy Valentines Day!

How to get Facebook Page updates via e-mail

2011-02-08T11:58:23+00:00

Do you ever wonder when people are leaving comments on your Facebook page? On your profile you can set your account to send you e-mails and texts to inform you when someone has left you a message on your facebook wall,but there has never been a notification service for pages ...... that is,untill now!

Hyper Alert is a new service that allows you to register your pages,however many you have,to alert you via e-mail,whenever you get someone post onto your page ..... Great isn't it!

Here's how it's done:-

1) Go to www.hyperalert.no and register

2) Once registered ,Hyper Alerts will connect with your facebook account and find your pages,click on the page you want alerts for

you can then choose whether you want your updates monthly,weekly,hourly or as soo as possible ( I chose asap because I'm impatient!)

3) You can then add several pages,choosing how often you want each update

As you can see I've set up three of my pages ,so that I can be updated of comments via e-mail.

WARNING!! - Twitter can take over your life!

2011-02-03T11:42:34+00:00

Sara

The Four Stages to becoming an Addict!!

2011-02-01T11:17:38+00:00

Are you a Twitter newbie? Can't quite understand what it's all about? Think it's boring?

Don't worry,you'll get the hang of it,and,before you know it,you'll be an ADDICT!!

Have a look at this graphic to see which stage you're at :-