Introduction

Why is Twitter important?

Twitter has millions of users and is a great way to share HARF’s message; it’s also helpful for

advertising events, raising awareness, interacting with other local businesses, and helping

animals get adopted.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social media platform. Like many social media platforms, it has the ability to make

posts as well as to follow people and have followers. Hashtags are more important on Twitter

than on other platforms as are polls. Twitter also has a feature that allows you to share other

posts by “retweeting”.

How to get started:

● The first thing you do when starting a Twitter account is setting up your profile: write a

little about the HARF account in your bio, add a profile picture, add a banner (the

background of your profile), and a location if you’d like. Then, you should familiarize

yourself with Twitter’s features and how it works.

● Next, you should follow local businesses on Maui and other humane societies off

island. We’ve made a follow list that you can find later in this document.

● Now you can begin to post tweets. We recommend posting at least once a week but 3-4

times a week would be ideal. These posts should be about any new animals you get

that are up for adoption, charity or fundraising events, cute pictures of other animals
 (such as the pig and horse HARF takes care of), the occasional poll about animals (For

example: “Is Coconut a better name for a dog or a cat?”.), and fun facts about dogs and

other animals.

○ If making frequent posts sounds stressful, you can schedule a tweet by clicking

on the calender icon before posting a tweet. This will allow you to make

multiple posts at the beginning of the week, and then have them most

themselves throughout it.

○ All of your tweets should include hashtags such as #cute #HARF #dogs

#funfacts. The hashtags will be different depending on what you post.

Other Information

List of Features:

● A Tweet

○ Is a post

○ It can be a picture with a caption or simply words

○ They often include hashtags

● Reply

○ If you have something to say to a post, you can reply to it.

○ Others can also reply to your tweet.

○ When someone replies to one of your tweets, you will get a notification

● Like
 ○ If you like what a tweet has to say, you can click the heart button underneath

the tweet. When you like a tweet, the heart will turn pink.

○ Other people can see what you’ve liked when looking at your account

● Retweet

○ A retweet is a re-posting of a Tweet. Twitter's retweet feature helps you and

others quickly share that Tweet with all of your followers. You can Retweet your

own Tweets or Tweets from someone else. Sometimes people type "RT" at the

beginning of a Tweet to indicate that they are reposting someone else's

content.

● Tagging

○ Everyone on Twitter has a username or an “@”

○ When someone wants to share a post with you they may “tag you” by replying

to the post with your username.

○ When you are tagged, you will get a notification.

● Notifications

○ Notifications appear in the section of Twitter with a bell.

○ When someone likes your tweet or retweet, you will get a notification

○ When someone @s you in a Tweet, you will get a notification.

○ If someone follows you, you will get a notification.

○ If you follow someone and have their notifications on, you will get a notification

everytime they tweet.

● Thread

○ A thread is a series of connected Tweets from one person. With a thread you

can provide additional context, an update, or an extended point by connecting

multiple Tweets together.

● Follow

○ If you follow someone, then you will see their tweets, and they will get a

notification.

○ To follow someone, go to their profile and tap the “follow” button.

● Direct Messages

○ Direct Messages are the private side of Twitter. You can use Direct Messages to

have private conversations with people about Tweets and other content.

○ They are located in the envelope section of Twitter.

○ May be abbreviated as “DM”

● Quote Tweet

○ A quote tweet is a retweet with an added comment that allows you to add your

own spin on the retweet while still giving the original post-exposure. It's a great

way to share other people's content while supporting them and putting a little

twist on it that's all your own.

○ They are often positive but can occasionally be negative.

● Hashtag
 ○ Adding a “#” to the beginning of an unbroken word or phrase creates a hashtag.

When you use a hashtag in a Tweet, it becomes linked to all of the other Tweets

that include it. Including a hashtag gives your Tweet context and allows people

to easily follow topics that they're interested in.

○ Using a hashtag allows people to easily locate your content and also makes it

more likely that someone will see your tweet.

● Poll

○ A poll on Twitter allows other people to vote on it.

○ You can set a timer for how long people can vote on the poll until it’s closed

● Timeline

○ A timeline is essentially your home page. You will be shown the tweets of

accounts you follow, and other tweets based on your likes and other

algorithms. You can scroll through your timeline and interact with tweets, via

retweeting, liking, or quote retweeting them. These will show up on your

profile.

● Trending and Recommended

○ Trending topics are topics that people are talking about frequently on the app

○ Below the trending section, Twitter shows you recommended categories based

on your likes and who you follow.

● Profile
 ○ Your profile displays information you choose to share publicly, as well as all of

the Tweets you've posted. Your profile along with your @username identify you

on Twitter.

○ To see someone else’s profile, click their profile picture.

● Bio

○ A bio is a small public summary about yourself or your business displayed

under your Twitter profile picture. In the bio, you can include 160 characters of

text, hashtags, emojis, and handles of profiles you're affiliated with.

● Blocking

○ Blocking an account on twitter will prevent that account from accessing your

profile and tweets. Their profile and tweets will also not be shown to you.

○ Blocking somebody is something you typically want to do to people who are

spamming your tweets, or are harassing you. You may also want to block

someone if they make negative comments you don’t want to be associated

with.

○ To block an account, click on the tree dots at the top of their profile, and click

the “block” option.

● Muting

○ Muting is similar to blocking, but it only prevents you from seeing that

account's tweets. The muted account can still access your profile and tweets.
 ○ To mute an account, click on the tree dots at the top of their profile, and click

the “mute” option.

Follow List

This is a list of local Maui businesses and humane societies that we recommend you follow.

You should be able to find all of these accounts by using the search bar in Twitter.

Maui Humane Society

@Maui

ASPCA

KHON2News

Animal Planet

San Diego Humane Society

@HWAC

@NEAHumane

PilotsnPaws

@Humane Society Human Pro

Maui Brewing Co.

Vetteens

Maui police department

Kuaui Humane Society

Pet Smart

Other Tips and Tricks

but it’s important to keep posting frequently, and you can change the content of your

tweets based on what gets the most likes.

● When talking to other local businesses or people who adopt animals, you can mention

your Twitter. It’s a great way to get more followers.

● We recommend going through your timeline often (daily, if possible) to like tweets and

interact with other local businesses.

● If you want to organize an event with other local businesses, you can contact them

through Twitter DMs as well as emails.

● You can reply to other Maui businesses that you follow to support them and they’ll

likely start supporting you. You will also be more likely to appear on other people’s

recommended people to follow.

● If you see someone posting something negative, it’s best to ignore (or block) them and

move on. It’s always best to stay away from any possible negativity that may be

targeted at you or your followers.

● Try to avoid politics. While other people may be posting about them, this account

represents HARF and there’s no need to state political opinions; they often cause

drama and likely wouldn’t reflect well on HARF.

● We also recommend that you don’t post anything about your personal life. Ex. “My

husband and I are having problems” is not appropriate. “Going to help some cute

doggos” is appropriate.
 ● Don’t post anything against the Twitter Guidelines.

● Not everything you see in social media can be reliable and oftentimes false

information is spread. It’s good to make sure what you’re getting yourself into, and

don’t trust anything you see immediately without further proof from reliable sources

outside of Twitter and similar platforms.

● Also, if you are having a hard time keeping up with Twitter, know that if your account

has no activity for six months, it will likely be deactivated by Twitter.

Sources

While almost all of this information is from our own personal experiences and knowledge,

here are some additional sources that may be helpful:

● Twitter’s official resource page: https://help.twitter.com/en/resources/twitter-guide

● How to create an account and basic features:

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-setup-twitter-search-hashtag-and-login-help/

● A list of tips for brands that use Twitter. While not all of them will apply to you, some

may be helpful: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/twitter-tips/

● YouTube videos are great if you’re feeling confused.

● If you’d like to go the extra mile, you can do research on slang as well as tone tags.

● If you need additional resources, feel free to email us.

● First we will introduce ourselves and tell you how we will be teaching you about

Twitter. We will have multiple laptops: one for the document you are currently

looking at, one to demonstrate the Twitter features we mention, and one for a

member of our team to document the meeting on.

● Then we will explain the basics of Twitter: what it is, how it’s commonly used,

and why it’s an important tool for HARF. All of the information will be on this

document as well.

● After that, we will explain and demonstrate various Twitter features. These

features include: Tweets, replies, likes, retweets, tagging, notifications, threads,

followers, direct messages, quote tweets, hashtags, and polls. It will also

include information on what a timeline is, what the trending and recommended

pages are, what profiles are, what bios are, what blocking is, and finally, what

muting is.

● Then we will give you additional tips and tricks about follower count, how to

gain more interactions (followers, likes, and retweets), what is and isn’t

appropriate to post about, how to avoid false information, and how to deal with

negativity.

● Finally, we will give you a list of additional sources and ask if you have any

questions.
You may take notes here if you wish: