Twitter Newbie Tip: How to change your notifications on Twitter

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Nicky Kriel

Is your email box getting filled up with messages from Twitter? Are you are getting annoyed about being notified about yet another follower on Twitter? Well, there is a very easy way to change email notifications on Twitter so that you only get the notifications that are useful to you.

1. Choose Settings (from the cog symbol on the bar on the top)

2. Choose Email Notifications

3. Tick the boxes you want

Tips for which notifications you want to receive

If you are brand new to Twitter you will probably want to notified when people start following you. It is exciting at first, but as soon as the novelty wears off, switch off the notification.
If you are using Twitter on a daily basis, you will see who has followed you, favorited your tweet and replied to you from the @Connect section of Twitter. I have these unchecked because my email box is full enough!
If you like responding immediately when people chat to you on Twitter, keep “My Tweets get a reply or I am mentioned” ticked.
Twitter is not very good about indicating when you have a direct message (or private message) so I find it helpful to get email notifications when I receive a message. There is a lot of spam in direct messages, but I have found this function useful. You would be amazed how much business starts with a direct message.
Your life will not fall apart if you don’t get any Twitter news via email. I am in the Social Media business so it is useful for me to know some updates.

Don’t let your Twitter email notifications annoy you, just change them to suit you. Let me know if you found this post useful by leaving a comment, thank you.

Nicky Kriel

Nicky Kriel is a Social Media Coach & Trainer inspiring, educating and empowering Business Owners to use Social Media more strategically. She is also the author of How to Twitter for Business Success. For more information visit http://www.nickykriel.com or to find out about her courses that she runs in Guildford visit http://www.nickykriel.com/courses

5 Warnings for Twitter Newbies

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Nicky Kriel

Are you new to Twitter? Or can you remember when you had just started using Twitter? When you are a newbie, there seems to be so much to figure out.

So, it might be good to be warned early about five things!

1. Every Tweet is permanent and searchable

You can delete a Tweet, but if it has been retweeted or reacted upon, then it is too late.

Never operate Social Media under the influence of alcohol
Never Tweet anything that you wouldn’t want your mother or your children to read
Never Tweet anything you wouldn’t want to appear as a headline in a newspaper or in a court case
Never Tweet in anger, step away and reply when you have had a chance to calm down

2. Double-check your Tweet

Twitter operates in real time and often you will give a quick response to something. It is easy for your Tweet to be misinterpreted or go out with a mistake. Leaving out the word “not” can make a BIG difference to a sentence. So before you hit the Tweet button…

Check that the meaning is clear
Check your spelling and for typos
Check that all the words are there and in the right order

3. Don’t open suspicious links

Twitter accounts get hacked and you will find Tweets in your Messages (also called DMs or Direct Messages) from people that you know that don’t sound right. If your friend is offering you sex tips, a free iPad or says they heard something bad about you with a link, then there is a strong chance that their accounts have been hacked.

DO NOT click on the link.

If you are suspicious, ask your Twitter friend if they sent it to you
Make sure your account is not hacked by having a strong password

There seems to be a growing trend where you will be sent a link via a Tweet directed at you using your Twitter name or an @mention . If someone you don’t follow, sends you a link which is completely out of context,

DO NOT click on the link.

Check their Tweets
If you see a stream of similiar Tweets then report them for Spam which will also block them

4. Not all Followers are Real People

Some accounts are automated to collect as many followers as possible. They are called bots. There is no point in following them, they will unfollow you in a few days time anyway.

If you want to know How to spot a bot, then read this previous post.

5. Addiction

Twitter can be very addictive

If you spend hours a day on Twitter
If you are writing Tweets in your head even if you not on Twitter
If you get tense if you don’t have access to your Twitter Stream and feel that you are missing something important
If you check Twitter first thing when you wake up in the morning and last thing at night
If you read your Twitter stream when you are out with friends or on a date

You may be an addict. You could go cold turkey or you could work in getting your Twitter habits back into control.

A top tip from @BehaviourA

What warning would you give to people starting out on Twitter?

Don’t forget to retweet or share this article with anyTwitter Newbies you know.

Nicky Kriel

What is #ff?

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Nicky Kriel

One of the most confusing things for people who are new to Twitter is:

What is the “#” followed by strange words or letters and, in particular, what is “#ff”?

I have even met people who have been on Twitter some time and still don’t know! If you are starting out on Twitter or see your friends’ Twitterstreams fed into Facebook, it looks like everyone is speaking in code!

Very simply, the # symbol followed by something is called a hashtag. It is a simple way of grouping or uniting topics that people are talking about. Hashtags were created by the Twitter community as a way of categorising topics into fields by tagging them. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol.

Each hashtag becomes a hyperlink which means by simply clicking on the hashtag you can follow the conversation of everyone using that hashtag.

And what is #ff? Well, it is called “Follow Friday” which has been abbreviated over time to just the letters. In theory, on Friday people recommend people that they think are good to follow. In practice, it has lost a lot of its meaning.

This is what you what you will see many people people do.

This person has used the hashtag #ff and followed it by a string of Twitter names. There is no indication whatsoever of why anyone should follow any one of these people.

If you want to recommend someone to follow, do it! Give a reason for people to follow them.

When I started out on Twitter, I used to diligently follow the people who were mentioned in an #ff with me, but now only follow people if I am given a good reason. Follow Friday is a nice idea, but at the moment it seems to be an excuse for people just to string a list of their followers. If you follow someone who is interesting, why not send out Twitter love by giving them a #ff, but put some thought behind it.

Hashtags are fun once you get used to them and they can be very useful too. If you would like to find out more about hashtags, this post explains How to use Hashtags, click here to read it.

If you are new to Twitter and would like my Understanding Twitter Jargon Guide, just leave a comment below and I will email one to you.

Nicky Kriel | Social Media Coach & Trainer | Social Media for Business

Inspiring you to grow your business through Social Media

Tag Archives: Twitter for Newbies