In summary, Twitter is a form of social media that allows users to send and read tweets, which are short, 140-character messages—basically making it "global text messaging." The great thing about Twitter is that it is the easiest of the social media platforms to wrap one's head around, and as a business-building tool, it’s helped both individuals and organizations alike generate millions of dollars.

Here’s a straightforward explanation on how to get started with Twitter and optimize Twitter accounts…

Setting Up A Twitter Account

1. Go to twitter.com.

2. Put real name in.

3. Create a handle. Handles can be as simple as one's name or company's name. For example, Kevin Knebl’s twitter handle is @kevinknebl. It is important to remember that in the Twitter world, one's name comes after his or her handle.

4. Create a profile picture. Most people use a headshot.

5. Create a header photo, which is just a larger background photo.

6. Write a bio. The bio has a maximum of 120 characters, so it has to be short and to the point. One should utilize all available space, because a bio is what grabs a person's attention. Bios can always be changed later.

7. State location. This is right underneath the bio.

8. Provide a link to a personal own website or Linkedin profile. Linkedin profiles are basically an electronic digital business card, so they are great place to link to if one does not possess his or her own website.

Populating A Twitter Account

The next step to take after creating a Twitter profile is to populate it with people and organizations.

To do this, one should go to "find friends," under the #Discover tab at the top of the page. Here, people can merge their email accounts with their Twitter profile. Merging accounts is much easier than typing in a person's name in the search box and attempting to find them. For example, let's say one is using Outlook. They can just click on the "Search Contacts" button under Outlook. Twitter will then take all of the email accounts in one’s Outlook contacts and cross-reference them against 300,000 million twitter users worldwide to find matches. Starting with people one already knows or has been in communication with by email is an effective and simple way to start populating an account.

Another way to find friends is to click on the "Who to follow" tab. Here, there are two options for finding people: One could simply type in the name or handle of the person they are searching for, or they could look at the Twitter accounts recommended for them. These recommendations are based on the algorithm of whom a person is already following.

The "Popular accounts" tab is another way to find people to follow. These accounts consist of mostly celebrities and high-profile individuals. However, it is important to check to see if there is a check in a blue box next to the person’s name. The check means that it is a verified account for that individual, and not an account made by a fan or as a parody.

Following someone means that you can see what they post in your own newsfeed. To follow someone, it’s as simple as clicking the "follow" button next to their name.

The Benefits of Adding People to Lists on Twitter:

Once a person starts connecting with a lot of people, he or she should add them to lists. 
On Twitter, the more people someone follows, the harder it will be to keep track of everything because scrolling through a newsfeed will be like drinking from a fire hydrant. For example, Kevin Knebl is currently following over 10,000 people. If he opened up Twitter and tried to make sense of all the stuff coming in on his newsfeed at Mach 5, he would never be able to distinguish the stupid from the potentially beneficial posts. To help solve this problem, Twitter allows users to create lists to sort accounts based on the criteria of their choice.

Lists can be made public, meaning everybody can see the lists a person has created, or they can be private, meaning only the user can see the lists he or she created. The best bet is probably making the lists private.

To create a list:

1. Click on the profile picture at the top of the page, in between the "Search Twitter" box and the "Tweet" button. 
2. Click on the "Lists" tab. 
3. Once directed to the new page, simply click the "Create a new list" button. 
4. Choose a list name. One should make it relevant to their needs—for example, social selling. 
5. Write a description about what type of group or list it is. 
6. Choose whether to make list public or private. (Note: "Public" is automatically selected, so if one doesn’t want the Twitter public to have access to lists they should make sure to click "Private.") 
7. Click "Save List."

Another feature available with the lists function is the user's ability to add or remove people from the list.

1. Go to personal profile profile page. 
2. Click on the "Following" tab. 
3. Find the person to add or remove. 
4. Next to their name, there will be a gear icon next to the profile picture. Click it. 
5. It will provide several options. Click the tab that says "Add or Remove from Lists."

The best way to get the most out of a Twitter account that follows a large number of people is to create lists. Now, when one logs into Twitter, he or she can simply look at his or her lists to look at the specific tweets that fall into that category. This is much easier to navigate compared to scrolling through a mass amount of traffic on the newsfeed.

Review

1. Create an account at Twitter.com 
2. Give real name 
3. Create a handle (@name) 
4. Upload a profile picture, normally a headshot 
5. Upload a cover photo 
6. Write a 120-character bio 
7. Add location 
8. Provide link to website or LinkedIn profile 
9. Once profile is created, click on the #Discover tab 
10. "Find friends" tab 
11. Merge email accounts 
12. "Who to follow" tab 
13. Put people into lists once you follow them.

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