The Twitter App: What is it and How Does it Work?
Some apps on your phone may seem simple to use, but they are doing a lot more than you think. The app Twitter, made by the company of the same name, is one such example of this phenomenon – it’s simple to use, but there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes that you probably don’t know about. Here’s some information about how the Twitter app works and how you can use it to make even better use of your time online and off.
Understanding Tweets
What are Tweets?
Tweets are messages of 140 characters or less that can be sent to your followers on Twitter. These updates will then appear on your follower’s timeline. They’re quick, easy to send out, and provide a snapshot of what you’re doing at any given moment. How does the app work? You’ll need an account before you start. It’s as simple as typing in your username and password (if you have one) and clicking Sign Up. The first time using the app, it will ask for permission to access your mobile device camera (used for posting pictures), location data (optional), contact list (also optional) if you choose so-and-so from my contacts for notifications about new tweets, access to your personal information such as name and email address.
Compose a Tweet
With over 300 million monthly active users, Twitter is a go-to social media outlet for celebrities and companies alike. If you’re new to the social media app, here’s what you need to know about how the app works, who can use it, and how to get started. For example, to compose a tweet in the desktop version of Twitter, click on Compose new Tweet in the upper right corner of your home screen. To do so on your mobile device, tap Tweet at the bottom of your home screen or swipe left from the right side of your screen and select Compose New Tweet
Once you have tapped on Compose New Tweet, start typing up your tweet!
Delete Tweets
Twitter’s popularity stems from its ease of use. To open an account you simply register with your username and password, input your mobile phone number, agree to the terms of service, then tweet away! Tweets can be about anything – thoughts, observations, photos – but should have at least one hashtag. A hashtag gives other users a way to search tweets related to a topic. For example, if I post just ate some pizza! on my profile and add #pizza in the text box below it, any time someone searches for #pizza they will see my tweet as well as all others that used that hashtag. If they want to reply or comment on any posts they will do so by tweeting back and adding the original poster’s twitter handle in front of their comment (e.g., @username what kind of pizza did you eat?).
Block People
To block someone on twitter, you need to be following them. To do this, you can go to their profile by clicking on their twitter handle or username when replying to a tweet or in your timeline and click the button in the upper right corner that looks like an X with a circle around it. You can also go to settings>Blocked Accounts and tap the + sign at the top of the page. Once you are blocked, they will no longer see any of your tweets, favorites or replies and if they try to follow you again they will not be able to.
View Your Own Stats
As you start using the Twitter app to tweet, it will be useful to keep track of how often your tweets are being seen by your followers. By following these steps, you’ll be able to view your own stats on an hourly basis. First, tap Menu in the upper-left corner of your screen and select Settings. Then tap Accounts in the lower-right corner of your screen. From there, tap Statistics at the top of your screen and then tap View Statistics. You can see which tweets have been read or favorited, how many times you’ve tweeted this month or this year so far, how many followers you have, how many people follow you back and more!
Get Notifications of New Tweets
On the iPhone, you can now get notifications for new tweets. This will allow you to easily keep up with your account without having to log in all the time. All you have to do is go into Settings > Notifications and turn on Receive Notification under Twitter.
You’ll then be able to choose how often your device will notify you, whether it’s when an account replies or retweets or if they mention you directly.
Reply to Tweets
Why yes, thank you for asking! The answer to your question depends on what type of account you have. With the traditional twitter account, called a personal account, you only get one space per Tweet. Tweets are limited to 140 characters in length so that they can be shared easily across different social media platforms. They should be brief, concise, and compelling!
Retweet Tweets
On the side of your screen you will see the Twitter tab. When you go to that tab, you will be brought to a page with a timeline of all the recent tweets. For example, if I wanted to retweet a tweet, I would simply right click on the tweet and select Retweet. From there, in my timeline I can see that now when someone goes back through my timeline they will see this message.
Conclusion
As a social media application, Twitter allows you to follow people with similar interests. For example, if you are into photography then following someone who posts great photos will be interesting for you. To make the experience more interactive, users can tweet short updates on their thoughts or share photos or videos with others by using the built-in camera on their device. They can also favorite tweets that they really like.
