3. Twitter basics
• Twitter is a „microblogging‟ site, where you can publish
short posts (tweets), including links to websites and
resources
• Twitter users (tweeps) follow other users – you can
choose to follow individuals or organizations with similar
interests
• You will see tweets from those you follow in your
timeline
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4. Tweeting basics
Your tweet can be up to 140
characters, including:
•Your pearl of wisdom
and possibly...
•A link
•A hashtag e.g. #ukcc21
•A twitter user‟s name e.g.
@influentialperson
•RT (retweet) or MT
(modified tweet)
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5. #hashtags (anything with # in front of it!)
• Associate your tweet with a topic
or event #malaria #ukcc21
• Make your tweet searchable by that tag
• Can act as a sub-clause to your
tweet, for added comment, emphasis or humour:
We‟re hosting an event on social media at the UKCC today
#getmartintweeting
Roche still refusing to disclose #tamiflu data. #disappointed
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6. Tweeting basics: visibility
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•Tweets are visible to all, unless they are a direct
message to or from a follower
•Your tweets will appear in the timelines of your followers
•If you include someone‟s Twitter name in your
tweet, they will get an email alerting them to it
•Hashtags are searchable so may be found by those
looking for that topic or event
7. Tweets are soon gone!
They quickly disappear from the screen, so:
• Send your tweet more than once
• Use screenshots to capture examples
of your tweeting successes!
• Storify to capture your own
and others tweets & links on a topic
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8. So how often should you tweet?
• Check at least daily, Monday to Friday
• Keep asking yourself “can I tweet this?”
• Look out for mentions and direct messages – they
might need a response
• Look for opportunities to join in conversations
• You could set up a minimum expectation
e.g. #CochraneEvidence appears daily
Monday to Friday
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9. Finding your voice
• It‟s SOCIAL media! Be a real person or people not just a
faceless organization
• Follow your organization‟s policy
• Be professional but human, a light touch and some
„atmosphere‟ tweets
can be very engaging
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10. Dos and don’ts
DO
• Listen, engage, join in conversations
• Link often, direct people to useful sites – especially your
own!
• Keep it active
• Credit others
• Keep the tone pleasant and professional
DON‟T
• Use abbreviated text-talk; cutting corners in your tweets
suggests you might cut them elsewhere!
• Allow your tweets to be truncated at the end – people
may miss things
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11. Building a following
• Increase your twitter presence, get tweeting!
• Follow others
• Retweet, mention, reply to tweets, join in
• Be interesting!
• Recommend others
– on Fridays! Using #FF (Friday Follow): „#FF
@Cochrane_OHG, @CochranePHG, @LifestyleElf‟
– „Great blog on #CochraneEvidence by @juliaoftoronto‟
• See who other relevant twitter users are following
to find people to follow
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12. Timing tweets
• Scheduled tweets
– Social media management software allows this
– We send daily tweets using #CochraneEvidence
hashtag to highlight and link to new/updated reviews
– Multiple tweets with same link but different wording –
to target different groups, or to highlight different
aspects
– Remember global audience, different time zones
– Awareness days/events & conferences
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13. Timing tweets
• Responsive tweets
– Answering direct questions or comments
– Engaging in public debate on a topic to state a
position, direct to information or just to be in the
conversation
– Joining in a conversation to flag up relevant Cochrane
evidence
– Tweeting a conference
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14. Tweet chats
• Scheduled discussion, in real time, of a particular topic
• Check whether there‟s any preparation needed – it may
be preceded by a document for discussion!
• Use the hashtag
• Tweetchat.com makes it easy!
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15. Why tweet a conference?
Share your enthusiasm!
Get new followers from your field of interest
(they‟ll value your input!)
Discuss issues with peers online
Transform online connections into real ones
(tweetups)
Promote your organization‟s values
through what you highlight
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16. Types of conference tweets
• Mood tweets
“Excited to be at #ukcc21, tucking into fab
pastries before the first plenary!”
• Tweetups
“Great discussion on #bias, suggest meet at 12 in the ballroom to
talk some more #ukcc21”
• Talks - these are key tweets!
Should include speaker‟s name, main information and hashtag
• Links
To media coverage, videos, presentations and other useful resources
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17. Monitoring value
• Analytics
• A growing following
• Responses: retweets, replies, engagement with your
tweets, comments
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18. Twitter engagement is valued!
• Increased UKCC twitter presence since September 2012
• Following growing daily, reached 1000 after 5 months
• Lots of positive comments e.g.
@GM_AHSN “SoMe has been a big part of our engagement plan & we
will continue using this platform to get more interested in our work
#nhssm”
@UKCC “@GM_AHSN Essential for #Cochrane too! #nhssm”
@a_double_tt “@ukcochranecentr Good to hear. I like the increased
content already. V informative #nhssm
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19. Just do it!
If we want to engage then we MUST use social media
It makes us part of a global
community, communicating
in real time
It seems to be working!
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Hinweis der Redaktion
Like other forms of social media, tweeting is all about ENGAGEMENT. Some key strands of this are to inform & influence our stakeholders (professionals & public), & we can do this very directly by tweeting about Cochrane reviews and directing people via links to reviews, or to our website & blogs (both our own and others blogging Cochrane). We can promote both Cochrane evidence and our own events, & also our wider agenda by the messages we send e.g. A comment of the importance of engaging with patients, involving them in the research agenda, making research timely & relevant etc. We can monitor what’s being said about us & so respond & influence that. We can learn – being part of a global community in real time with access to opinion & evidence to an extent not possible in pre-social media days.We can
You can insert a twitter user’s name, or it will be there already if you are replying to their tweet.Anything’s a hashtag if you put # in front of it!The Help menu on twitter is user-friendly and is helpful when you’re getting started
This means we can target people directly though naming and indirectly through topic of interest. Interesting blog recently with results of a survey of twitter users about what influences them to click on links when tagged into a post Tweets disappear from view quickly
Storify is a great way to gather your own and others tweets, blogs, articles etc on a topic and add your own commentary to tell your version of the story. They are very popular. It’s a great way to engage in a particular topic that’s being widely discussed.
Opinion at Oxford University Hospitals was no more than 2 or 3 a day, but I think more is fine. What I don’t want to see is a stream of tweets in a short time from one user, unless it’s part of a twitter conversation
Using a package like Hootsuite allows links to be shortened – very useful
If someone’s recommended you through #FF it’s good to respond e.g. ‘thanks for the shout-out @Mental_Elf! This gives them a mention too. Lots of ‘you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours’ on twitter
Direct questions or comments: not just those sent by DM (private) but public questions or comments into which you’ve been tagged, or a reply to your tweetEngage in topics where we should be in the conversation, state an opinion or direct to information
Tweetchat.com Sign in with twitter, choose a hashtag to follow, sends you to a chat room, automatically adds the hashtag, constantly refreshes so minimal delays
You’ll obviously be selective in what you tweet and the things you choose can send out important messages about what you value. Also you can add your own emphasis to a comment. ‘Dr X says patient priorities should be at the heart of the research agenda. Yes!’
Tweetups – easy to set up a real meeting with others at an event; quick & easy and a way of inviting those with whom you don’t have personal contactWhat you hear is public info so you are free to tweet as you like, but keep in mind professional ethics and keep tweets positive. Take care with unpublished data. Check if the conference has a policy on tweeting, & if it has a hashtag be sure to use it.
SM management software such as Hootsuite allows you to see which countries your followers come from, most popular tweets, how many click throughs & RTs on a particular day etc.
Started at around 100 followersAn example of a conversation we had