How DO You Use Twitter Anyway?

With all the buzz about Twitter, are you ready to give the service a try but don’t know where to start? Watch the video above for a quick, one-minute primer.

1. You can sign up for free on Twitter.com.

2. Pick a sign-on name, like bworley (except that one’s already taken). Twitter adds the @ sign in front of it, making my twitter handle @bworley.

3. Search for people or ideas you want to follow, then click “Follow.” Your feed will then show whatever they tweet. Try it. You can always un-follow people if they aren’t tweeting things that actually interest you.

4. When you feel ready, you can try tweeting something yourself. Tweets are limited to 140 characters, but if you want to send out a link to an article or video you like, that link only counts as 22 characters, no matter how long the link actually is.

5. Use a "hashtag" (the # symbol) in front of a keyword in your tweet. That will make it easier for others to find your tweet by searching for that topic, even if they don't normally follow you.

[Related: What Twitter Users Know That You Don’t]

If you want to follow me, I’m @bworley on Twitter.