Twitter 101 for Job Searchers

A Crash Course in Twitter

Bob Moseleywww.twitter.com/RobertMoseley

@RobertMoseley

What is Twitter?

• A micro-blogging community where members post answers to a question, “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less.

• Explosive Growth

• Source for information, marketing, networking, recruiting & business

Getting Started

Open a Twitter Account at www.twitter.com

Takes 10 Minutes

Tweet Network

Specialized "design" page

Time to Twitter

• First you'll want to set up your profile.• To do that, you'll go to "settings" (not

profile)

Account• Use your real name• Create a user name symbolic of you

or your business (Unlike LinkedIn, you CAN have more than one profile)

• Use a valid email address (you can always create one in gmail or hotmail just for twitter if you are worried about spam)

• If you have a website, make sure you put your URL in here. (It should help your Google ranking.)

• Great time to define yourself in 160 characters or less for your BIO

• Be honest about your location. • Use English if you know enough of

it.• I suggest NOT protecting your

updates. If you do it will be hard to grow your network. Many people won't bother taking the extra step to follow you.

• Don't forget to hit SAVE

Passwords• Choose a unique password. There are a lot of

secondary apps (like Tweetdeck) that will ask for your username and password. Don't use the one you use for everything else.

Devices• This feature

proves your obsession.

• You can have all messages go to your cell, no messages go to your cell, or just DM (direct message) go to your cell.

• You can also specify WHEN you want to get messages.

Notices

More addictions.

• These are all options to have Twitter send you emails.

• I don’t have any but it’s up to you.

Pictures• Keep thinking

about branding.• Headshot is

best• Many folks use

avatars.• If you are

representing your business use a logo.

Now you are ready to dive in!

• Start following people, target companies and job posting users

• Start Tweeting (be relevant and give of yourself – or ask questions)

• ReTweet information you think followers would appreciate.

• Build your Network

Following

• You can search people by name to start following.

• Look to see who they follow and follow those that are interesting.

• Source for recruiters and job posters is later in the presentation

• Follow those that follow you if you see value or common interest areas. Many will be mass networkers.

Brands on Twitter (Follow your Targets)

Following

• To do that, write a Tweet with their user names using the @ sign in front of their names.

Following

• Then double click on the user, and Twitter will take you to their profile. The just hit "follow".

Unfollow

• You can always block or unfollow Tweople who do not live up to your expectation

Favorites

• Favorites is a neat little tool that allows you to "star" your favorite tweets that Twitter will keep in one place for you.

@Replies or @Name@Replies or @Name is a

way of grabbing someone's attention on Twitter.

Any time there is a "@" sign

before your name, Twitter will let you know.

This is PUBLIC, so keep

that in mind.

Want to start a conversation without your whole network being dragged into it, use DM (direct Mail) (Only works if they are following you)

DM – Direct Mail

• Direct Mail allows you to privately converse with another user without giving away your email address. DM's remain private to you and the person you are conversing with.

# (Hash) Tags

1. Used as a way to filter / find content for group conversation

2. I.E. #job – to follow what people are saying about jobs right now

3. All you do is include “#” + “letters” in your tweet and it becomes instantly searchable

4. People use # tags for topics – I.e. #career, #followfriday and #sales

Download Tweetdeckhttp://tweetdeck.com/ie6/

• Tweetdeck is a free application that allows you to create "groups" for your Twitter Network.

• Unlike Twitter, it's search function works.

• It will allow you to create Tiny URL's right from the app screen plus much much more.

Tweet deck for your desktop

Key Job Search Twitter Sites

• Follow me @RobertMoseley and see who I follow. 90% are recruiters or job posters

• Go to www.tweetmyjobs.com and set up a search agent. Receive email notices.

• List of 1000 Recruiters on Twitter http://booleanstrings.ning.com/forum/topics/1000-recruiters-on-twitter

• List of job search accounts on Twitter http://mashable.com/2009/03/13/twitter-jobs/

Other Useful Twitter Sites• Twitdom is a database of Twitter applications.

www.twitdom.com• Search that combines Google and Twitter

http://twootles.com/• Hashtag listing http://hashtags.org/#• Post your resume for reference in Tweets

http://twtjobs.com/ mine is http://twtjobs.com/0o93l9

• Twitter Business Card at http://twtbizcard.com/ mine at http://twtbizcard.com/RobertMoseley

• 100 Twitter Tools http://www.sociableblog.com/2009/03/18/100-twitter-tools-to-help-you-achieve-all-your-goals/

• Hundreds more for your requirements

Go Forth and Tweet

Enough to get you started on Twitter. If you have any questions, please feel free to DM or @me with a question at @RobertMoseley

Presentation can be downloaded from my Linked In profile via SlideShare application http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmoseley

Or you can email me with questions at mose9695@hotmail.com

Additional Info and Backup

Design

• Design is where you can add your fancy background by creating a .jpeg and uploading..

• You can pay people to do this for you

• Or you can choose any of the designs to the right.

@Ellieeeille Rocks• Ellie gives us some great links for custom

backgrounds: http://delicious.com/ellieeille/twitter+backgrounds

Notices

• These are all examples of Twitter notices. Some people following me, some people DMing me, some people @replying to me.

The Power of @Replies

• In the time I have been creating this .PPT, I asked for some advice on Twitter. Using @ reply, here are some answers I received:

DM – Direct Mail

• Direct Mail allows you to privately converse with another user without giving away your email address. DM's remain private to you and the person you are conversing with.

What a DM looks like

Everyone• "Everyone" lets you see – well - everyone on the Twitter

Network. Not just those following you or those you are following. This is also a good place to start following people. Then NEVER, I repeat never go back again!!!!

I have NO idea who these people are….

What is Twitter?

• Concept Created in 2006 by Obvious Corp.

• Called Twttr. • 4-5 Million users

as of Nov. 2008.

• $57 million in secured funding.

Twitter Basics

Following vs. Followers

Bio

Retweet or RT

Tweets

Twitter Basics

@ Reply

Direct Message or DM

Twitter as a Candidate Sourcing Tool

– Job Openings

– Powerful Keyword Search Tool

– Search by Location or Key Words

Twitter as a Career Service Tool

• Campus Recruiting Updates & Events

• Conference Live Tweeting

• Links to career content

• Links to student profiles & blogs

Now What?

• Add a picture. • Join the conversation daily & Engage. • Follow those that interest you.• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.• Execute your Twitter Marketing Plan. • Develop offline relationships. • Non-business tweets.

Recruiting Resources

• Tweetmyjobs.com

• Tweetajob.com• Twitter.grader.c

om• Splits.org

Twitter Applications

• Twitter Search• Tweet Later• Tweet Deck• Tweetvisor• Tiny URL

Resources

• Twit Tips Blog: twittip.com • Chris Brogan Marketing Blog• Recruitingblogs.com• Ere.net• Slide Share (keyword search: Twitter)

Basic

• http://twitter.com• A utility to update your status to your

connections• Each message is limited to 140

characters, the length of SMS• The action of posting a Twitter

message is called “tweet”

Connection

• You can follow people• Follow is one way: follower sees

updates from the followed• If you are interesting enough, one you

follow might follow you back• Updates from you and all those you

follow are updated to your own homepage

• “Follow” has been standardized

Syntax

• @person the message• The “person” account receives your

message in a differentiated format from regular updates

• @person automatically becomes a hyperlink for people to explore

Direct Message

• Bingo! The famous private message

Plugins

• There are bunches of cool plugins that make your Twitter experience cooler

Privacy

• Direct messages are only visible to recipient

• Protect all updates: only approved followers can see your updates

Max no. of connections

• 2000• Power users might have a better cap

BUT TWITTER IS MORE THAN THAT

Micro-blogging

• Blog with micro-entries• Extremely quick• An interesting thought flashes on

your mind, tweet it, get back to your business

• Ultra quick

Think Twitter, think Mobile

• Super fast & simple, highly compatible with Mobile use

• Mobile is the future of the web. It is reasonable to claim that Twitter is building a foundation of this future.

Social Journalism

• 140-character updates!!!• Faster than blogs• Faster than mainstream reporters• The Mumbai attack in late 2008• http://ninhnv.com/breakingnews/

Service / Product Promotions

• Wow, another channel to promote your services / products

Branding

• Corporate Branding• Service / Product Branding• Personal Branding

– Extend your influence on the industry

Networking

• Meet, talk to, discuss with, empathize with, recruit Geeks

Communications

• Get feedbacks on your services, products, strategies

• Small talks• Ask a question, receive answers

Information Mining

• Follow breaking news, trends, interesting stuffs

• Track keywords, search keywords• Track geotarget• Use tools (see Bibliograph)

Trivial

• Ever been annoyed or embarrassed because of a non-appropriate joke pops out on your Instant Messenger screen?

• With Twitter, the problem is solved

• Twitter is one of the best examples of why we want to rethink:– The web– Vision– Business objectives / KPI– Our clients– Ourselves

• Twitter was meant for people to update statuses– And it is most known as a micro-blogging

platform• YouTube has always meant to be a user-

generated video-sharing site– And it has become a hosting site– Original contents: TV shows, music shows,

Governmental updates– Songs with audio and beautiful pictures– If it allows uploading other file formats (zip, rar,

doc, xls), I bet users will

• Long-term vision for a particular website don’t always work, even for most successful ones

• Adapt, change, satisfy users