Be nice

Give credit if you RT someone or tweet someones blog/video

Act like you would if you were having an actual conversation with someone

Don't be spammy (don't keep tweeting the same thing over and over again)

Don't keep tweeting the same person over and over and over

Use it. The more you use Twitter the more you will get out of it (by 'use it' I mean talk to people)

A hashtag is a # followed by text. It can be used to categorise tweets e.g. #phd . You can click on the hashtag and a list of tweets with that hashtag will appear. Good for following conversations or topics.. like #bbcapprentice

You can create blog posts out of tweets using tools like Storify, this is good and useful for capturing debates/live tweets interesting convos that people can then read at a later date.

Twitter is instant. Conversations do move quickly, use it often.





This post got a mention in a few places -

If you ever meet me in person I can, sometimes, sound like a broken record. I am somewhat.. persistent.. in my efforts to get every single PhD student I meet on, and using, Twitter. Surprisingly, although my generation is labelled as being, 'social networkers' the vast majority of people I know and meet are not on Twitter. Facebook yes. Twitter no. Twitter is for weirdos and celebrity stalkers.Oh my friends, how much you are missing out. Do you know that Professors are on Twitter? PIs are on Twitter? Post-docs are ADVERTISED and links made for post docs in the future are made through Twitter. (Sometimes I get a *gasp* at this stage, especially if the person I am talking to is a final year PhD student).Next question, so how do you DO it? How do you USE it? What happens in Twitter world? My response.. Twitter is what ever you want to make it, and it is up to you how you use it. You could use it to talk to the other three people in your lab and your mum. If you wanted to. Or you could branch out and expand your network. Talk to people across the globe. Deliberately you could talk to people who are similar to you. Or you could seek out people who are different to the people you currently talk to.Twitter is a conversation and you need to get involved in order to get the most of it. You can just watch, but it gets waaaay more fun if you join in.- It's hard work when you first join,with people you do not know. I started using it anonymously at first in order to find my feet. I was a bit apprehensive about who was online, who could see me and what people were tweeting. Make sure you have a profile picture so people can tell you aren't a spam bot (try to have one with not so much bikini in it, Twitter has had a little problem with friendly 'sexbots' usually found wearing bikinis in profile pictures. I am NOT saying that everyone wearing a bikini is a sexbot. But it might be worthwhile distancing yourself from the sexbots if you were thinking of using a bikini snap as your picture). Fill out your profile description too, so people know who they are talking to.. If you have something to say. Join in. If people didn't want you to join in then they should take the conversation somewhere else. Join in with a debate about a current news story or event. People often link to their blog posts on twitter too, read them and comment (or tweet them) to let them know what you think and to say hello!. I searched for 'Aberdeen' so I could find the Aberdeen twittererers. I also then found out that there is a tweet up that you can go along to (no longer running in Aberdeen, unfortunately). It is a bit daunting to go on your own, but make yourself do it, it's lots of fun and great to put faces to Twitter accounts.- If you are a PhD student there is a- loads of PhD students all over the globe tweeting about issues that relate to PhD students. It's a fantastic forum. They also share blog posts, tips and just general grumbles. Is fantastic reassurance that. #phd and #phdchat- Always tweet imagining that your mum, dad, sister, PhD supervisor and head of school are following you (especially if you are not anon). They might not be on twitter.. or they might be.. personal attacks on twitter are not cool. By all means tweet if you are annoyed about something, but the phraseis one to keep in mind.You don't really know the people you are talking to. But don't be too scared of opening up, it's a balance between being yourself and not sharing everything! If you are interested in a certain group/Professor search for them on Twitter and say hello! Link your profile to a linkedin page or your blog so people can find out more about you (if you are on the job hunt).though..so *skived off to go to the pub with my mates* might not be the best thing to share.- Interested in? You NEED to be on Twitter. I do not think that Twitter is the best way of engaging and talking to the public (although you can use it for that) but it is a fantastic place to talk to other sci comms and public engagement ENTHUSIASTS from all over the globe. You can see what they are doing, share experiences of what works and what doesn't. Get help and advice and importantly get ideas! I often find that people who aren't on twitter get the heads up about new and exciting things on average 3 weeks later than the ones on Twitter. Keep up to date people. Keep up to date and don't repeat other peoples mistakes.. Scientists share their work and published papers on twitter. People also. So if you weren't able to attend a session or conference you might be able to find out what went on right from your desk by following the hashtag, or someone at the conference, even ask a question from your desk. Some conferences have 'official bloggers'. Search for the conference name or scientists you are aware of to see if they are tweeting what is going on (ask them too if you are interested!). Conference organisers are usually on twitter too. I will be acting as one for, Experimental Biology Conference 2012 on behalf of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ? Tough question. You could quite easily find yourself online 24/7 which isn't advisable. I tend to check twitter in the morning (bad habit probably) before I check the BBC news website! (I know *gasp*) . My PhD involves many experiments in the lab, with strange time points (like steps with 5, 10, 15 minute gaps - too short to do anything else, but long enough to tweet! So I use it then. Lunchtime is usually a busy spot, but I do always try and have lunch with the people in my lab if they are around. Then the other time I REALLY use it is when I am watching T.V. Greatest time to be on twitter? When watching The Apprentice..Some interesting folk to follow: @hapsci - Me, obviously. PhD student, tweeter. @NSRiazat - #phdchat moderator @thesiswhisperer - Thesis whisperer blog @misspond - PhD student manchester @ajebsary - Twitterer extraordinaire @gradnessmadness - Does what it says @darwins_cat - fantastic blogFor my Skeptics to follow list see here There are many more people too, if you have anyone else to add, put it in the comments below.