THE VIRAL-GROWING NETWORK THAT IS TAKING the world right now has suddenly become so successful that you kind of feel shunned if you don’t know what’s the big deal.
It’s All About Who You Follow
What is Twitter? Well, basically it’s a type of online social network that is comprised of contacts called “followers” who send messages to their peer group. When you post a message on the blog-like message board it only goes to the people who have chosen to follow you. One of the unique features of Twitter is that the messages – called Tweets – are strictly limited to 140 characters and spaces.
But you’re not looking for still another social network, you say. That’s right. When it comes to fire and rescue social networking, Firefighter Nation is the only way to go. BUT … the natural inventiveness of people, especially those who are inclined to serving the emergency services, have tweaked the tweeting programs and come up with new ways to utilize Twitter to enhance fire and rescue communications and training methods. And this is the focus of our series that we are starting today.
Over the next few weeks, or longer if enough things happen to report on, we will be showing you some of the different ways that fire departments and rescue squads are already using Twitter to improve their operations. Hard to believe? Yep, it is. But it’s happening and it is all so new that anything that crops up is trail blazing in a way, and by sharing our experiences with it, all of us will benefit and the methodology will improve as well.
But before we get into those kinds of details, we need to get everybody onto the same page. The Twitter page that is. What we want to do is get you signed up with your own (free) Twitter account and get a feel for how it works first. And that is what we’re going to talk about today. So let’s get signed up and started. OK?
First, go to the home page at www.twitter.com and click on “Join For Free” to set up your account. It’s easy enough for geezers to do, so you can do it too. Use your real name for “name” so that people can find you easily. Your Username is where you enter your nickname (like Firegeezer) and that is what will show on the postings pages.
Once you get your account opened, then log in and click on “Settings” to complete your profile page. Make sure that when fill out your bio. that you put some key words like “firefighter” or “paramedic,” etc. in there so that other Tweeters will be able to find you when they look for new contacts.
Now all you need is someone to follow. Go to “Find People” link at the top right, then click on the Find On Twitter tab. Enter “Firegeezer” and click Follow. Now do the same with “FossilMedic” and there you go…two followers already. After a few days you’ll pick up a few more as other people find you. When someone starts following you, you will get an email letting you know. And if you want to follow them too, then click on their thumbnail picture and click “follow”.
You can learn more about how it works at http://tweeternet.com/
OK, sign up and start practicing and we’ll add some tips for you during the rest of this week. We want you to get comfortable with it. Next Monday we’ll get into the nitty-gritty of how to use Twitter to make your emergency operations flow better. Any questions? Just put them in the Comments here and I’ll answer them. Keep in mind that I’m new at this, too.
