Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85450
DIVERSIONS TECH BUZZ By Kathleen Buccleugh, Managing editor, OverdriveOnline.com/TechBuzz Tweeting 101 If 1 you're not sure whether the correct term is "tweeting" or "twittering," read on. Tweets in the social media site's birth year, 2006, expressed confusion and even frustration as people wondered the point of sharing just 140 characters' worth of thoughts at a time. Perhaps Shakespeare foreshadowed the Twitter craze when he wrote, "brevity is the soul of wit." Six years later, many still struggle to understand Twitter. The best way is to experience it firsthand. Here are instructions for getting an account and more. Go to Twitter.com. Enter your name and email address, and choose a password. As with any password, keep it as cryptic as possible. So, for example, do not choose BobBrown if that's your name. Twitter lingo Handle: Another word for username. Handles are preceded by the @ sign. @ OverdriveUpdate, for instance. Tweet: A message of no longer than 140 Follow: This function allows you to choose people (personal friends, celebrities, political figures) to receive updates from in your Twitter feed. characters that you publish and that will be visible to your followers. Hashtag: Preceded by the pound sign (#), a word, series of letters or phrase (no spaces) that signifies a subject. Especially helpful if you're following breaking news or attending an event, such as a trucking show. This year's Great American Trucking Show's was #GATS2012. This allowed fans of the show to use the search function to find all tweets about it. Retweet: Abbreviation: RT. You can retweet someone's tweet if you want your own followers to see it. 54 | Overdrive | October 2012 2 3 4 5 If you don't like the suggested username, change it. Your username is also known as your "handle." Uncheck the boxes below the password field according to your preferences. If you often use a public computer, uncheck the first one so that the computer will not save your username and password. Uncheck the second box if you don't want Twitter to make suggestions based on your browsing history. (Not quite sure what all this means? Uncheck both to be safe.) Read the privacy policy, and click "Create my account." You'll be sent to a page where you can complete a Twitter tutorial. Do this to find some Twitter accounts to "follow" and to set up your profile. You can skip any of these steps. You'll get an email from Twitter prompting you to confirm your account. Do this, and you're ready to start. On the go You can download the Twitter app using your smartphone/tablet's app store. For ease of use, establish your account on a computer before using the app. Caution: When you tweet, you're publishing something for the world (or at least your followers) to see. Be prepared for backlash if you write something controversial, such as criticizing your fleet by name. General tips Privacy: To keep your tweets private from strangers, go to your account settings and check the "Protect my Tweets" box. When you do this, only your followers can see your tweets. Anyone who wants to follow you will need your approval. More: For more help, visit support.twitter.com. Birds of a feather truck together Noteworthy followers of Overdrive's Twitter feed, @OverdriveUpdate: @misterbeerbelly blogs at the website of the same name (misterbeerbelly.com), sharing items on the course of his quest to lose weight. Good humor and inspiration are his strong suits: "Christmas day I was 272," he tweeted in April. "Today I am 223. Almost 50 pounds! (It's amazing how much weight you can lose when you stop drinking 12 packs.)" @clydeangel is the Twitter handle of Sandra Hodges of Monroe County, Tenn., self- described "truck driver, karate instructor, bartender…" Principally, also, "dog lover" and "wolf lover." Canine enthusiasts will be heartened to note that, at press time, Hodges was promoting efforts to find loving homes for shelter animals – follow her for more. Via @gearjammercafe, the folks behind the diner in the back of the Penn Jersey Truck Stop in Phillipsburg, N.J., get out daily specials, diesel prices and more. A recent breakfast roundup: "chipped beef, banana pancakes, or 2 eggs/2 hot cakes/bacon & toast." @strongtruckin, produced by Robert Strong, is "just a danged ol' truck driver ... truckin across America," he says, likewise a recipient of a kidney transplant who's "trying to enjoy life." Strong's an animated sharer of conservative news, views and humor. Sharing a picture of a bird with the cartoon-bubble legend "All I need is $1 from 1 million people to be a millionaire," he gave his kudos thusly: "Just mail that to Strong Truckin, Gilman City, Mo. Thanks for your support!!!!!" — Todd Dills