CUSTOMIZING YOUR TWITTER COMMUNICATIONS

Click on the “Devices” link from the profile page in your Twitter account to customize your notices.The first option you will see is the ability to receive nudges if you fail to update your twitter account with a new tweet within 24 hours. If you click on the check-box, Twitter will send you out a notice, reminding you to update your twitter with a new status message to keep your updates current.These nudges are sent via a text message to your cell phone or a regular message through your Instant Messenger service.You will also see the option to display replies to your twitter updates as well as tweets between people on your list.Here is what the three available options mean:@ Replies to the people I’m followingThis means that you will receive replies from people that you personally follow, as long as the person they are talking to is also someone that you follow.For instance, if you have two people on your list, Linda and Thomas and they message one another directly on Twitter, you will be able to see messages going between the two users, since you are following both of these people. Always: All RepliesThis option is for those who wish to receive updates from everyone you follow even if they are directed at someone that you currently do not follow.Never: No RepliesIf you choose this option, you will not receive replies from those you follow, or those that they follow.According to Twitter, this option is for those who are looking for minimal interaction in the Twitter community.In other words, you are slightly anti-social JOnce you have decided what option is best for you, select it from the drop down list.The next option in your “Notices” section is to choose whether to receive specific Twitter based emails including:Receiving emails whenever someone starts following you.I recommend turning this off, unless you want to receive a ton of email each time someone adds you to their list.Receiving Emails When You Receive a direct messageTwitter will email you each time someone directly messages you via the Twitter update system. By default, this is turned off but if you would like to receive notification which may make it easier to stay up to date with current tweets, you can ebale this option.The final option is to choose whether you wish to subscribe to the Twitter newsletter, an ezine that goes out once in awhile with Twitter updates, current feature add-ons and upcoming releases.If you want to stay on top of what the team at Twitter is up to, this is where you will opt to receive their mailings.Note: The newsletters will be sent to the email address that you entered into your profile, so be sure that this is a valid email address and that you have added Twitter to your whitelist (or check your spam folder from time to time to ensure that it didn’t end up there, especially if you use Gmail.com)Click “Save” to maintain your changes.To complete your profile, you should click on the “Picture” tab and upload either an avatar that represents you and your website, or a personal photo of yourself. The more personable you are on Twitter, the more people will follow you, and therefore the more exposure your business will receive, so don’t overlook this option.One thing I have noticed from my activity on Twitter is that those who choose to use a colorful, interesting or different avatar capture my attention easier than just a basic photo, since using something different will help you stand out, so keep this in mind when you are uploading an image to represent yourself.The last option in your settings is called “Design”, and in this area you are able to customize your Twitter profile page to look however you like, with restrictions. At the time of this writing you are able to change only the color scheme and upload a new background image to your Twitter account.

From twitter profile designers, to ready-made templates that you can manually customize, there is no shortage of options available.For your reference, here are a few to help you get started:

http://www.mytweetspace.com/
http://www.twitterimage.com/
http://www.brandabletweets.com/
http://www.tweetstyle.com/
You can play around with the settings in there if you wish to customize it a bit or leave it as default, if you wish.Just be sure to preview your design before you choose to keep it just to be certain that your updates appear correctly, and that you aren’t using a text color that makes it difficult to read.Unfortunately, there is no way to check the design prior to saving it, so you will have to make your changes, save it, look it over and go back to the design editing section if you want to change things again or revert back to the original default design.

MORE INFORMATION GO TO: http://www.tweethandbook.com/