All a Twitter

ALL A TWITTER:
A classroom lesson on how to turn Twitter into the greatest textbook in the world.

Recently, I have been on a campaign to show students the benefit of Twitter.

The advantages of Twitter are immense for aspiring journalists and anyone interested in news.  With hundreds of professional journalists, media outlets, magazines, and high school journalism outlets all tweeting a well set up feed can easily be considered the best textbook in the world.

So how do you set it up?

Create a user name and upload a photo:
I would recommend one that is your name or if your name is not available use an underscore or a numeral to create an available name.  People should be able to recognize your Twitter name as yourself.  To upload a photo format a small photo and upload it in the setting panel.

Change your wallpaper:
Creating a different background will give your profile a unique feel and allow for a more personalized experience.  To change the background image go to the settings tab.  The background image will be layered.

Selecting Users to Follow:
Once a background image has been selected from the setting panel the next key is to follow a wide selection of journalists, news organizations, magazines, corporations and writers.  Below is a list of writers I have recently recommended and is a good start to creating a Twitter feed that will provide valuable information, breaking news, and links to current online stories.  Once a list on a Twitter feed has begun then Twitter will also make recommendations for which it thinks a person should follow.

Final Tips:
140 Characters:
A tweet is limited to 140 characters.

Hashtags:
Typing in a hashtag (#) in front of a word or phrase will create a grouping.  These will group tweets with a certain hashtag.  For example, there is a constant hashtag of #hawkeyes reporting on breaking Iowa football news.

Blue Check Marks:
Celebrities or any person of note will have a blue check mark next to their name if it has been authenticated as the person of fame.

Retweeting:
The RT designation signifies a Retweet of another person’s tweet.

Bit.ly Links:
Shortening web addresses will allow for more typing under the 140-character limit.  Simply go to Bit.ly’s Web site to paste in an address and it will make a shorter version.

PEOPLE
and ORGANIZATIONS on TWITTER

Journalists & Writers

Jonathan Martin (POLITICO), @jmartpolitico

Chris Cillizza (Washington Post), @thefix

Rick Klein (ABC News), @thenote

John McCardle (Roll Call), @McCardleRollCall

Luke Russert (XM Radio/NBC News), @RussertXM_NBC

Ana Marie Cox (GQ Magazine), @AnaMarieCox

Phil Elliott (Associated Press), @PElliottAP

Maureen Dowd
NYTimesDowd

Jay Rosen – NYU
jayrosen_nyu

Chuck Todd
@ChuckTodd

Dave Lee – BBC
@davelee

Andy Dickinson
@digidickinson

Sree Sreevivasan — On Twitter:  Sreenet
Professor at Columbia Journalism School.

Eric Kuhn — On Twitter:  KuhnCNN
As CNN’s audience interactio producer,

Megan Garber — On Twitter:  megangarber
Garber is assistant editor of the Neiman Journalism Lab at Harvard

David Cohn — On Twitter:  digidave

Mark Briggs — On Twitter:  markbriggs
Author of the ground-breaking textbooks Journalism 2.0 and Journalism Next.

Erin Andrews
http://twitter.com/ErinAndrews
ErinAndrews

daveschwartz
Iowa High School Press Association

Pete Thamel – NY Times
PeteThamelNYT

Logan Aimone
loganaimone

RandyPete
Des Moines Register

Oprah

Adam Sullivan
Daily Iowan
AdamBSullivan

HL Hall
hlhall

CTO of Cisco
Padmasree

Jim Long
newmediajim

Margaret Atwood
MargaretAtwood

Chuck Palahniuk – Fight Club
chuckpalahniuk

Diablo Cody – Juno
diablocody

Karl Rove
KarlRove

Roger Ebert
http://twitter.com/ebertchicago

Media or Professional Outlets

SPLC_org
DJNF
jeapressrights
APStylebook
jeacertified
mashable
NWPSiteLeaders
writingproject
Poynter
thelittlehawk
TheDailyIowan
Middlebury
htc
jeadigitalmedia

Columbia Scholastic Press Association
CSPA

Iowa High School Press Association
ihspa

Wall Street Journal
WSJ

wired
10000Words
Real_Simple
sierra_magazine
greenpeaceusa
uiowa
whitehouse
Esquiremag
EcoPicOfTheDay
AdobeTV
cityhighschool
VZWSupport
macrumorslive

Celebrity or Amusing

sesamestreet

TheOnion

Stephen Colbert
StephenAtHome

Han Solo
hansolo

Anthony Bourdain
NoReservations

Mark Cuban
mcuban

Kat from LA Ink
thekatvond

wyclef
Joke_OTD
Gary_Fisher
ConanOBrien
DaveJMatthews
joancbaez
trent_reznor
ladygaga
OGOchoCinco
FakeAPStylebook
SilvertonMtn

Iowa Hawkeye Football

TSash
LeVarWoods
HawkeyeCoachEJ
HawkeyeFootball
FRYFest
kinnickstadium
SeanKeeler
thebstiles
Hlas
hawkeyeschamy

Golfers

CamiloVillegasR
RC_CAPTAIN_2010
natalie_gulbis
RickieFowlerPGA
Paul_Casey
bubbawatson