Twitter is an easy way of keeping in touch with people and telling others what you are doing. For example, we post daily PR comment and tips on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vivatweets

Each message (otherwise known as a tweet) you post is a maximum of 140 characters so it’s quick and easy to do.

How do I get started?

Log on to www.twitter.com and follow the instructions to register – you will need to choose a username so have a think about what’s most suitable for what you are on Twitter for. Most people use their name or business name – sometimes these will be taken by other people so you may have to come up wit-h something slightly different.

How do I post a message (tweet)?

Just start typing in the box at the top of the screen – it will tell you if your message is too long – then just press tweet and that’s it! Your tweet should then appear on the screen.

How do I follow other people?

If you want to see what other people are saying you will need to follow them. To do this click on ‘Follow People’ at the top of the page. You can then search for who you want to follow – to follow them just click on the ‘follow’ icon next to their name.

What are my followers?

Just as you can follow other people they can follow you. To see who’s following you click on ‘followers’ towards the top right hand of the screen.

Why do people use @username?

This is a bit like when people copy you into an email. If you want to mention other people in your tweet or you want to make sure they see your tweet include @username in your message e.g. I’d like to thank @vivatweets for their help today. To view messages referring to your username click on @username on the right hand side of the screen.

Can I send a message that no-one else can see?

Yes, everything you tweet can be viewed by anyone else on Twitter. But if you want to send a private message you can click on ‘direct message’ on the right hand side. Here you can send a direct message and see direct messages sent to you – a bit like your email inbox.

I’ve heard about retweeting but what does that mean?

If you want to share a tweet that you’ve read that is fun, interesting or you just think others might want to read it then you can retweet it. You may see some people start a message with RT (short for retweet) then copy the tweet they’ve read. But you don’t need to do this you can now simply click on the retweet icon which will appear if you hover over the bottom of the tweet.

Is that it?

Yes, that’s pretty much all you need to get going. Once you’ve got used to using Twitter there’s lots of other stuff you can do like creating a new background, tagging messages and following trending topics but that’s for another day. There’s a really handy help tool should you get stuck. You can tweet about anything you want whether it’s what you’re doing at that moment in time, a strange experience you’ve had that day or even a question that you would like answering.

For daily PR comment and tips follow Viva on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vivatweets