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A Bit About the Features of twitter

Effective Tweets

A post on twitter is a tweet, and each can only be a maximum of 140 characters (so utilize tinyurl)
Only tweet about things users would be interested in

twitter also has a service called twitpic that allows users to post pictures (which everyone likes)
Every tweet shows up in your followers' timelines, so you should avoid posting too often because users get annoyed and will stop following you

Retweeting

Retweeting is simply reposting someone's post and placing RT and typically an @reply before the post.
The most effective way to use this is to say: 'Retweet this for a chance to win ____' or 'The 250th person to RT this will get ____'
Also, tell followers to RT something that is either newsworthy, juicy gossip, or exciting. Their RTs will show up on their followers' timelines, giving your twitter account greater exposure
If retweeting, be sure to cite the source (RT @source) or your account may be suspended
RTing can build your brand and
follower’s loyalty. If you point a reader to an external source that is
truly relevant and beneficial to them, the amount of trust that
individual has in you will increase. The next time you post a link,
whether it be to your blog or to another source, the chances of that
individual clicking that link are higher than before.

Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional
context and metadata to your tweets. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a
word with a hash symbol: #hashtag
Used sparingly and respectfully, hashtags can provide useful context and cues for recall, as well as
increased utility for the track feature.
Used excessively can cause
annoyance, confusion or frustration, and may lead people to stop
following you.
It's best to use hashtags explicitly when they're going
to add value, rather than on every word in an update

@replies consist of the @ symbol followed by a username and serves as a sort of chat feature within twitter
The reply shows up on the user's timeline as well as the timeline of anyone following both you and the other user (this is only if the @reply precedes the post)
If the @reply is within the body of the post, it will appear on the timeline of all of your followers as well as serving as a reply to the other user (the RT @reply is an example of this)
It is very useful to respond to @replies of your followers, and many companies (such as JetBlue) use @replies to answer any questions their customers may have
It may also be effective to @reply to posts by people you are following because they will see these (whether they follow you or not) and are more likely to follow you as a result

The whole idea behind twitter is to follow people and be followed...the more people you can get to follow you, the greater the impact of your tweets
When you begin following a user, they are notified via e-mail that you are following them and are given the option to follow you
There are ways to search twitter for people interested in your product
There also exist many applications that automatically and randomly follow users, which greatly increases your exposure (autofollow gets your name out to those it randomly follows and increases the amount of people that will choose to follow you)

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