
Social tools
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
A Beginner's Guide to Twitter
Many of ReadWriteWeb’s readers are old hands at Twitter, but the service gets thousands of new users every day. That includes a lot of folks who suddenly need to use Twitter as part of their job. If you’re just being introduced to the joys of Twitter (or introducing it to another user), here’s a short and friendly primer on what you need to know about using the site. After posting “ 10 Tips on Using Twitter Wisely ” in December, I had a few notes from folks who said (basically) “thanks for the tips, but I didn’t know all the jargon.”In November 2011, conversations about connection technologies have shifted from whether governments should use social media to how governments should use social media . Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube are part of the default template for the websites of newly elected officials. As the year comes to an end, the risks and rewards of Web 2.0 are better known for both citizens and government alike. People from every walk of life naturally have questions about what the explosion of social media will mean for the future of society, including difficult questions about what this new landscape will mean for privacy, security, freedom of expression and online identity.

