How to Tweet

To Tweet or Not to Tweet

You don't have to tweet to get value from Twitter, but it can be a lot of fun. Ready to join the conversation? It's time to dive in and start composing tweets of your own.

To Tweet:

1. On the Twitter homepage, type your update into the Tweet box just below your name. You can also click the Tweet button to start a new tweet from any page.
   Composing a tweet
2. Remember to keep your tweet at 140 characters or less. Don't worry, Twitter will count the characters for you. If you go over the limit, try using abbreviations, or rephrasing some of your sentences.
3. Click the Tweet button when you're ready to post.
   Posting a Tweet
4. Your tweet appears immediately in the Timeline.
   Tweet in the Timeline

Having trouble with the 140 character limit? TweetDeck allows you to compose longer tweets that include a link for people to read the rest.

To Retweet:

A bit like forwarding something you got in an email, Twitter's retweet feature (often abbreviated as RT) allows you to re-post other people's tweets, so your other followers can read them, too.

1. Hover over the tweet you want to share and click Retweet.
   Retweeting a post
2. A pop-up window will appear. Click Retweet to confirm.
   Confirming a retweet
3. A symbol appears in the upper right corner to confirm that it's been retweeted by you.
   Retweet in your timeline
4. The tweet now appears in your followers' timelines with your username attached.
   Retweet in your followers' timeline

Some Twitter users like to create the effect of a retweet while adding comments of their own. To do this, just copy and paste the original tweet into your update, and identify the original poster by including RT and their username (for example, @triangledotcom) at the beginning of it.

Manual retweet with a comment