How to use Twitter

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could keep up to
date with the latest news, local information and agricultural stories relevant to your work without having to switch on a computer? What if you could hear about the latest industry events and get updates about topics you’re interested in while you’re walking your furthest field? 

Well, now you can. Twitter in an online tool that keeps you informed with what matters most to you – all via your mobile phone. It really couldn’t be more simple.

Tim Downes, a dairy farmer from Shropshire, is a fan: “I find twitter really useful.  It’s a great way to get people’s views on agricultural issues like badger culling, it’s a fantastic way to keep in touch and network, and it helps me feel part of a wider community of farmers, rather than just my local group.”
 
Twitter is a valuable tool for farmers who want to stay informed – and more and more people are getting involved. 82% of farmers say they want to work together more and share ideas (Farming Futures survey 2010) and 70% of British farmers are now connected to the internet, with a large percentage of those having broadband connections.

Farming Futures has responded to this by setting up a Twitter profile. If you sign up and follow us you’ll get messages and updates on all our free resources, events and news items.

For an easy to use guide explaining what Twitter is and how to make it work, see below.

For more information on how online social networking is revolutionising farming, read our blog on the topic.
 
What is Twitter?

It’s a free social networking tool that allows you to communicate with groups and organisations simply and quickly. You can sign up to as many people or groups as you like to receive their thoughts and updates on the issues that interest you.

Each update, or ‘tweet’, is short only 140 characters (about the size of a normal text message). You can post updates, follow and view other users’ updates and send public replies or private direct messages.

You can share links to web sites you find useful, photos, videos or music too.

I’m a farmer, why should I care?

You can get updates from FWAG, the Soil Association, NFU and of course Farming Futures.  There are lots of other useful people and groups out there too:

FarmersWeekly
Heather Gorringe – farmer’s wife and Wiggly Wigglers
Commission for Rural Communities
Organic Farmers and Growers
Museum of English Rural Life
The Pink Pigs – organic pig farmers 
Philip Gorringe - farmer
Matthew Naylor - farmer and Farmers Weekly columnist
Harper Adams 
Stephen Clarkson - ex-dairy farmer working in organic certification 
Tim Teague - farmer

How do I get started?

This should take about 10 minutes:

• Go to www.twitter.com
• Sign up for a free account.  Use the ‘Give it a try’ area and fill in your details.
• Twitter will then ask you to select the topics you are interested in.  Find a few people you want to hear from, then follow them. When you "follow" someone, each time they tweet, you'll see their tweets on your Twitter Home page and get alerts to your mobile (if you choose to). 
• Then click ‘Next step Friends’.  Now you can use your email address book or contacts to discover which of your friends are already using Twitter. 
• Then click ‘Find others’.  It will prompt you to send an email to your contacts who aren’t on Twitter yet.  You can ignore this if you like.
• Now you can search for a username, first name, last name, or business name for any others you’d like. 
• Enter Farming Futures and click ‘search’.  Then click ‘Follow’ when you’ve found us.
• Click ‘You’re done’
• You’ll now see your Twitter page.  You’ll need to activate your account by responding to the confirmation email sent your email account.
• Finally, scroll down to the bottom of your page and click on step 3 – ‘Turn on your mobile phone to update your friends on the go’.  Fill in your details and send the test text message they suggest.
• If you want to get a text message each time someone tweets, then float your mouse over the logo or photo the person you want to hear from. A box will apprear with a green tick and the words 'You Follow'. Next to this there is a small image of a mobile phone in a circle. Click this and you'll get a text message.
• Hey presto – you’re finished!  You can now tweet and receive tweets. Why not share information with people interested in your business, get feedback on an idea, build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your business?