Getting Started With Twitter

This year, we’ll be leading the charge at our Convention by sending out alerts and reminders over Twitter. We’ll be using the searchable keyword #getCharged (called a "hashtag" on Twitter) to label our posts. We encourage other Twitter users at convention to use it as well – that way it will be even easier to follow the discussions that come up.

Here’s how you can sign up for Twitter in three easy steps. If you already have a Twitter account, skip down to the bottom to find out how to keep tabs on our #getCharged hashtag while at the convention

1: Sign up for Twitter!

Twitter makes it easy to sign up. You’ll see a big “Sign Up” button on the front page at twitter.com, or you can go straight to https://twitter.com/signup

Once there, you just need to enter your name and your email address, and your desired Twitter username. Many people will just use their full name as their Twitter username, though that does make your profile obviously public. You can choose to protect your account, which will let you control who can see it.

2: Now that you’re signed up…

Once you choose the people you’d like to follow on Twitter, your front page will be filled with a feed – a constantly-updating list – of messages from those people. Unlike Facebook, following is a one-way interaction. Just because someone follows you, doesn’t mean you’re following them. 

An annotated view of Twitter (click to enlarge)

There are three main ways you can interact with an individual Twitter post (a “tweet”):

• You can reply to it (posting your own tweet with the name of the recipient, prefaced with an “@” symbol)
• “Retweet” it (reposting that same message, with attribution, to boost awareness)
• Send the user a direct message (if you’re following them). This message doesn’t appear on your Twitter profile, and is private.

3: Get ready for convention!

First of all, you should follow ACCE on Twitter (@cmooreACCE, @ianscottacce, @acceboss) and search Twitter for other chamber executives you may know – follow them, too!

Next, during the convention, you’ll be able to click on “#getCharged” at the end of each of our tweets and see every tweet that mentions it. You can also use Twitter’s search (search.twitter.com) to find it any time. If you are talking about the convention, please add #getCharged to the end of your tweet so that other ACCE members can see it easily.