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When it seems like everyone else is knee-dip in Twitter and throwing around hashtags like they’ve been Twittering forever, jumping in the game can seem daunting to a beginner.

That’s why Peg at Positively Peggy thought she’d sit down and dole out some basic advice for those taking their first steps into the Twittersphere.

1. What is a tweet? A tweet is a 140-character message posted on Twitter. There are different types of tweets as well.

[Above] is an example of a tweet that I sent with all the essential ingredients:

- Text fits in the 140 character length

- Interesting content

- Link to a great resource

- @mention of the source of the content

- #hashtag to help people find the content

2. A hashtag is “the # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.”

3. … Complete your profile and add a picture. Profiles using the default egg for the photo are pretty much ignored by everyone. It may seem scary to put a photo of yourself on the internet but this how it is done on Twitter and millions of people added their photo. It’s not so scary once you do it.

Full story at Positively Peggy.

How to use Twitter.