Twitter

• How does Twitter work with the community?

  The new connection between the community and Twitter lets you be in both places at once.

  • You can monitor a relevant Twitter stream from within the community -- on board pages, blog pages, and idea exchange pages.
  • When you see interesting tweets, you can post them to community and let the authors know their tweets are being discussed in the community. You can also reply directly to fellow tweeters.
  • If someone tweets a question, you can reply with a pointer to the answer in the community. And if you don't know where the answer is off the top of your head, you can search for it before you tweet a reply.
  • A cool new Twitter badge lets you take your community reputation with you when you tweet. You choose the background theme and the community stats you want to share. Each time you sign out of the community, your badge will be updated with your latest activity in the community.

• How do I link to my Twitter account?

  If you have a Twitter account you can link it to your community profile and tweet from the community whenever you want.
  

  To link to your Twitter account:

  1. From any community page, click My Settings and click the Social Connect tab.
  2. Click Twitter Settings and click Link to my Twitter account.
     You arrive at a Twitter page where you can allow access to your Twitter account from the community. If you are already logged in to your Twitter account, you'll see your account name.
  3. If you're not logged in, or if you want to link to another account, enter the user name or email and password associated with the account.
  4. Make sure the the account is correct and click Allow.
     You return to your My Settings page, where you'll see that your community profile is linked and your Twitter account is verified.

• What is a Twitter badge and how do I get one?

  Your Twitter badge is special customized background for your Twitter account that lets you take your community reputation with you when you tweet. The key elements of a Twitter badge are:

  • A badge theme, which provides a color scheme and coordinating background image.
  • A background image of your own if you have permission to upload one (you'll see a link if you do).
  • Statistics from your community profile and activity, including your avatar, your rank, your kudos and post counts, and your latest post. You choose which ones are displayed.

  You can see what your Twitter badge will look like and upload it to your Twitter account when you're happy with the results.

  Remember, you must have a Twitter account linked to your community profile before you can upload a Twitter badge. If you're not sure about it, check the Preview area. Your Twitter account name and live Twitter data indicate your account is linked. Otherwise, you see your community user name and instructions for linking.

  To set up your Twitter badge:

  1. From any community page, click My Settings and click the Social Connect tab.
  2. Click Badge Settings.
  3. Click Twitter Badge and click choose one of the badge themes.
     The theme you choose provides the color scheme for your badge, even if you upload your own image later.
  4. Click the arrow button above the Preview area to customize your badge.
  5. Click Browse to upload your own background graphic if you wish. Choose the location of the image, choose the image file, and click Insert Image.
     This is the same as uploading an image elsewhere in the community.
  6. Click check boxes for the information you want to display on your badge.
  7. If you want your Twitter badge to be updated each time you sign out of the community, click the check box for Keep my Twitter badge up to date.
  8. Check out the preview on the bottom half of the page. To see a full-page preview, click Big Preview.
  9. When you're satisfied with your Twitter badge, click Upload to my twitter account.
     Your new Twitter badge will be there next time your sign in to Twitter.

• What is a Twitter stream?

  A Twitter stream is a continuous feed of Twitter posts that appears on board pages in the community. The subject of the Twitter stream is a default search or hashtag that's defined for the board or the community. New tweets that match the search appear in the Twitter stream as soon as they're tweeted (your community manager sets the timing for how often the Twitter stream is refreshed).

  To stop the Twitter stream:

  • Click the Stop button to the left of the Twitter Stream title.

  
  

  To restart the Twitter stream:

  • Click the Play button to the left of the Twitter Stream title.

  
  

  To set up your Twitter stream:

  1. From any community page, click My Settings and click the Twitter tab. Click Twitter Settings.
  2. Click the Turn on the Twitter stream check box to display the Twitter stream wherever it's available.
  3. Enter the number of seconds you want to wait between refreshes on the Twitter stream.
  4. If you can tweet from more than one account, choose the one you want to be your default.
     You can choose an account each time you tweet, so no need to worry about being locked in to one account.
  5. Click Save Changes.

• How do I tweet from the community?

  There are a couple of ways that you can tweet interesting content from the community. If you see a post that you want to share, you can tweet it out. You can tweet any sort of community content: discussions, blogs, ideas, knowledge base articles. If it has a Tweet Post button, you can tweet it. Or, you can reply to a tweet that shows up in the Twitter stream in a board -- either by typing a tweet or by linking to content you search for in the community.

  Note: You must link your community profile and your Twitter account before you can tweet from the community. (See the Help topic: How do I link to my Twitter account? for instructions on how to do this.) And depending on your permissions in the community, you might be able to tweet on behalf of the community as well.

  To tweet a post:

  1. Click the Tweet Post button that appears on the topic page.
     As part of your Twitter settings, you can choose your default Twitter account. This is the one that appears when you tweet from the community. If you have permission to tweet from a corporate account as well, you can choose it before you tweet.
  2. Choose the account you're tweeting from.
  3. Edit the text of the tweet.
     The outgoing tweet includes a link to the post. Be sure not to change it! As you type, you can see the character count below the text box (on the left).
  4. When you're happy with the text, click Tweet it!.
     If you want, you can view the tweet by clicking the link that appears in the feedback message at the top of the page.

  
  

  To tweet a reply:

  1. Click the Reply to Tweet button at the end of the tweet.
     The button looks like a right-angle arrow and is on the right. The arrow turns green after someone tweets a reply. You can still reply even if someone else replied first.
  2. If you can tweet from more than one account, choose the account you're tweeting from.
  3. Edit the text of the tweet.
  4. When you're happy with the text, click Send Tweet.

  
  

  To search for content before tweeting:

  1. Click the Reply to Tweet button at the end of the tweet.
  2. Click in the Search text box and enter the term you want to search for. Click Search.
  3. In the results page, choose the post you want to tweet. Click Add Link to tweet a link to this post.
     You can click a post to read it or search for another term as well.
  4. Edit the rest of the tweet as needed. When you're happy with the text, click Tweet it!.

• How do I post to the community from Twitter?

  You can use interesting tweets from the Twitter stream on a board to create topics in the community. For example, if someone asks a question you think the community can answer, you might post it to a board.

  To post to the community from Twitter:

  1. Click the Create Topic from Tweet button at the end of the tweet.
     The button looks like a cartoon speech balloon and is on the left.
  2. Enter a subject for the post.
  3. Edit the body of the post.
     You start with the text from the tweet, but you can edit it or add more. Remember, you're not limited to 140 characters for your posts!
  4. To tweet back to the author, click the check box for Notify tweet author.
     The reply lets authors know that their tweets are being talked about in the community.
  5. Choose a location for the post.
     You can choose any location in the community where you can post.
  6. Click Create Topics.