Profile Settings
Before you begin to tweet or follow other people, let’s work on your profile so that others will know who you are and what you are about.
When you follow a person, he receives an email from Twitter saying, “Jane Doe is now following you on Twitter” with a link to your profile. Most likely, he will click through to see who you are, especially if he doesn’t know you. Let’s make sure he gets the right impression when he clicks through.
Click the Settings link in the menu along the top of the screen.
Let’s start with the Name tab.
- Enter your full name.
- Enter your user name. Twitter will confirm if it is available or not.
- Enter your password.
- Enter your email address (more on this below). Choose if you want Twitter to send you updates about their service.
- Enter the words the reCAPTCHA box to prove you are not a computer or spammer.
Twitter asks for your email address so it can send certain notifications to you. It is not shown publicly or accessible by others. Choose one that you use often to monitor when other people follow you or send you a direct message (more on this later).
See If Your Friends Are On Twitter
Click “Skip this step” for now. We want to fully prepare your profile before you begin tweeting, following others, and attracting followers. Why? When people start following you, you want them to find a fully developed profile when they click on your name to learn more about you.
Twitter will present you with a suggested list of people to follow. Click “Skip this step” again for the same reason.
Finish Up Your Profile Basics
Twitter will send an email to confirm that you are who you say you are. Be sure to click on the link in the mail to verify your identity, then continue with the steps below.
Your name and user name will be pre-filled on the screen. If you need to change your email address, you can do it from here.
Time Zone
Select your time zone. Note that all your tweets will be time-stamped with your local time as you post tweets. The same applies to all other Twitterers and tweets.
More Info Link
This link is an ideal spot to use your LinkedIn profile link. If you have a blog or personal web site, you can use it here instead. Keep in mind that you only get to post one link so choose wisely where you want people to learn more about you.
One Line Bio
So, tell me about you. In 160 characters or less.
As I said, Twitter is a master of brevity.
Refer to your LinkedIn Summary to select 3-4 words that define you. List them, then add one more that paints who you are as a person. Some examples are below:
“Financial advisor, sharp networker, MBA, and avid gardener to prune the weeds from your retirement.”
“Business writer, traveler (not tourist), operations manager, and frenetic dad of 4.”
Experiment with writing these one-liners about yourself, and add a little zing at the end to better stand out among a sea of weak efforts.
Location
Including your location can make you easier to find online, particularly if your local or target market is an important part of how you want to be known.
Twitter also offers to geotag your posts. This is a small bit of code that provides your geographical coordinates on the globe. By geotagging your tweets, Twitter makes tweets become hyperlocal. That is, you can search for what is going on among Twitterers in your immediate vicinity by radius. This is helpful for following people who are tweeting at conferences or events, or just surfing the collective conscience of those around you at any given moment. Try it from your favorite coffee shop sometime.
Language
Select your preferred language. Twitter has a handful of choices for now.
Privacy
The point of tweeting is to participate in conversations. You can choose to limit who sees your tweets to only people who follow you.
This narrow-casting approach has its merits for some.
Since you are focused on building your online presence, leave it blank for now.