Twitter is one of the largest social media communities, and with several billion messages posting each day it\’s a great place for your nonprofit to reach new supporters and donors.
Twitter is also known as a micro-blogging platform, which is different than its counterparts Facebook and Google +, both more full-featured social media networks. Twitter doesn\’t have application plugins, games, or fan pages for big brands. Therefore, most of the service is dedicated purely to exchanging messages and having conversations with your friends (known as \”Followers\” on Twitter).
Business or Personal???
Twitter makes no distinction between business or personal usage like Facebook and Google + do. This means you can use just one account to post messages about both. Of course, this has both advantages and disadvantages.
You don\’t have to worry about maintaining separate accounts or pages – you log into one account and just update one stream of messages. You can use your personal name, or any other desired username, provided it\’s not already taken on the Twitter system; and then using that name, post messages for both your personal agenda and nonprofit or business agenda. Many times, this is the preferred method of communication for individuals who are closely linked with their organization.
For example, someone who has built up name recognition with their field may choose a username tied closely to their personal name. That way, when people search for that keyword on Twitter, they will find your account.
Having just one Twitter account is problematic if you are a person who prefers to keep business and personal life separate. For instance, your personal views may not wholly line up with your organization\’s mission, in which case posting personal updates in the same stream as business links may not be appropriate. In these cases, you\’ll need two Twitter accounts tied to two separate email addresses.
Whichever you choose, getting your nonprofit started on Twitter can be done in just a few easy steps, which we outline in the tutorial video shown below.
Also, Check back tomorrow for more tutorials in the Twitter series to learn about everything from how to post status updates, using hashtags (#), and tagging other Twitter usernames with the @ symbol.
Remember to optimize the screen using the icon in the bottom right of the video. It was created in HD and looks best maximized in your browser. And if you like what you see in the video please take a moment to share it with your friends and followers via the share bar below the video.