Twitter for Dummies - Laura Fitton [48]
As we talk about in Chapter 3, be careful when using shorthand code! Making a typo when you want to send a direct (private) message can send an update to everyone who follows you. It’s smart to be particularly careful about sending sensitive information via direct messages, just in case. At some point, you might accidentally share something with everyone that you intended only a particular user to see. Best bet? Use the actual message link on a person’s page to send them a direct message.
D – direct message
You can send a direct message right from the Update box by using the following form:
D username message
In this message, username is the username of the person whom you want to direct message, and message is any message that you want to send. So, if you want to tell us how great this book is, you type in the What Are You Doing? box:
D dummies I am really enjoying Twitter For Dummies! Thanks for the help!
Many users opt to have direct messages sent straight to their cellphones via SMS and/or e-mail, so you can frequently use direct messages to reach someone instantly even if you don’t have a cell number or if you know that he’s an active Twitter user who may not be online at the moment. Some make heavy use of this while traveling and at events and find it much easier to coordinate on the fly.
F – follow
No matter what application or interface you use to tweet, you can quickly add a twitterer to your feed just by sending an update to Twitter. Say that you decide to follow the updates of Evan Williams (@ev), Twitter’s cofounder and CEO. Just send this message to Twitter:
F ev
Alternatively, you can type the word follow to do the exact same thing:
follow ev
When you add someone using the follow or f command, you both follow them and opt in to receive their individual device updates (only when your account is set to receive device updates). When you follow them using the Web site Follow button or most Twitter clients, you connect only via the Web site, not also via SMS device updates.
@ – reply
We cover how to reply to users in Chapters 3 and 5, but the @ symbol is really a shorthand for referencing another Twitter user. The difference between this command and all other commands is that there is no space between it and the username of the person you want to reach. Want to say something to Leslie? Write
@geechee_girl hiya!
Twitter makes sure that the message ends up in Leslie’s Mentions tab.
On/Off
The commands On and Off control whether or not your entire account will receive device updates (SMS texts on your phone). You can use the On command to turn device updates on for your account. To turn them Off, you can use the Off command twice:
To silence updates to your cellphone: Send Twitter the update off.
To silence updates and direct messages to your cellphone: Send the update off a second time. You will not receive any device updates until you turn them back on using On.
Receiving SMS updates on your phone . . . from everyone
Getting Twitter updates as SMS messages right on your phone has its advantages and disadvantages. For one thing, it lets you choose to remain much more closely up-to-date with a small subset of your Twitter connections, which can be cool. Web celebrity iJustine (@iJustine) does this to find her real friends among the people she follows.
But what if you tried following the device updates of every single person you’re connected to on Twitter? The command is simply
follow all
If you’re following a large number of people who update frequently, your mobile phone might never stop beeping, vibrating, or doing whatever it does when it receives a text message. Definitely don’t try the Follow All command unless you already have unlimited texting.
Fav – favorite a tweet
If something someone just tweeted made you laugh (say, our @dummies account), you can favorite that tweet by sending an update to Twitter:
fav dummies
If you’re receiving updates on your cellphone, sending