What's a "Twitter?"

AND HOW IT CAN KEEP YOU INFORMED DURING A STORM

Twitter is the newest form of social media that can be set up to send/receive information from the text messaging function of your cell phone at no additional cost. This is why it may be your most useful new communication tool for the upcoming hurricane season.

Here are some important accounts you should follow and receive text updates from to stay informed about the weather as it relates to us:

1. @evacuteer
2. @gohsep
3. @nolanews

Just getting started? Fear not! Here's a simple guide to Twitter:

Get started:

1. Go to twitter.com and click the big green button that says "sign up."

2. Follow steps to create your account.

3. Don't forget to fill out all profile information including a mini-bio, your location and a photo. All of these things can be found in the "settings" tab in the top right corner.

4. Follow people! Start with the three above suggested, and next, of course, you will want to follow @npnnola! Then you can go to our profile and see who we're following. Follow as many or as few people as you want - you can always unfollow them later if you realize that you're not interested in their updates!

5. Update! "Tweet" useful information and updates that you think others will be interested in.
Example of a good tweet: There's going to be a great free music festival going on downtown tonight!
Example of a bad tweet: I'm going to the grocery store

6. Set up your mobile device. iPhone and blackberry have self explanatory applications. If you have any other type of phone, follow these steps:
a. click "settings" in the top right corner
b. click "devices" tab
c. enter and save your mobile number
d. make sure "devices" are on
e. go to the profiles that you want to receive text updates from, click the grey box below their picture and select "device updates - on"

NOTE: THIS SHOULD ONLY BE A SELECT FEW WHO WILL SEND IMPORTANT UPDATES (SUCH AS THE ONES LISTED ABOVE) STANDARD TEXT MESSAGING RATES WILL APPLY - IF YOU HAVE UNLIMITED TEXT MESSAGING, THIS WILL NOT COST ANYTHING.

Glossary of terms:
Tweet - an individual post on twitter
RT - stands for "re-tweet," this is when someone re-posts something you said
@ - this is a 'reply,' placed in front of someones name when you are responding
to one of their posts
# - a hashtag - used to group similar topics together. Ex: #nola means your post
was New Orleans related. Don't overuse this.

Still have questions? E-mail me! web@npnnola.com