I know I am a little late on the topic, but this is something that has been on my mind for the past week and I wanted to voice my opinion on it.

Paul Pierce claims someone hacked into his Twitter account and tweeted on separate occasions, “Anybody got a BROOM?” referencing a potential four-game sweep over the Orlando Magic right after the Boston Celtics picked up their second win of the series. Before that tweet there were a few others which appeared on his Twitter account, @paulpierce34:

“What’s happening?’’

“You know we going crazy tonight. sorry Dwight.’’

“What I tell ya? Good defense, though. Time to get ready for Thursday.’’

Whether or not Pierce’s Twitter account was hacked into is not what I am focusing on. You can call it unprofessional or whatever you would like, but Paul Pierce’s tweets (or whoever’s they were) were not offensive or out of line in any way, shape, or form. The tweets were not bashing the Orlando Magic players, the coaches, or fans. NBA players are grown men- one can assume they say stuff to each other much worse than, “Anybody got a BROOM?” This entire situation was blown out of proportion.

I understand Paul Pierce and his teammates are professional athletes and are expected to behave, but why did these tweets stir up so much media attention?  I can think of much worse things that could have been tweeted about. We need to let our professional athletes tweet their thoughts, opinions, and feelings as long as they are appropriate (i.e. no cursing or anything along those lines). I enjoy reading what they have to say, and when they get excited about a huge series so do their fans!

What are your thoughts on this situation?

-Lauren

Follow The Discovery Communications Group on Twitter: @DiscoveryCG

Following- To receive messages on Twitter you follow other people and companies. When you follow other users, their tweets show up in your timeline on your Twitter homepage and vice versa (if someone follows you then your tweets show up in their timeline).

Follow- Choosing to sign up to receive another user’s tweets on your Twitter homepage

Tweet- The act of posting to Twitter. A tweet is basically an update or a post to your Twitter account which all of your followers see on their timeline.

@username- A person’s Twitter handle. If you want to tweet at someone, start with the @username of the person you want to tweet at:

“@DiscoveryCG How is your day going?”

If DiscoveryCG is one of your followers then your tweet will show up directly on their Twitter home page. If they aren’t one of your followers, your message will appear in their @username mentions in the right hand column on your Twitter homepage.

DM (Direct Message)- Twitter’s private messaging channel. Keep in mind that you can only send a direct message to someone if they are following you. Your DMs will appear  in the right hand column on your Twitter homepage.

Retweet (RT)- When you repeat a tweet from someone else. “RT @DiscoveryCG We love social media.”

Hashtag (#)- You cannot categorize your tweets on Twitter. The hashtag was created (which is just the # symbol followed by the topic) to put all the tweets that have the same hashtag into a category. For example, if I am tweeting about the Boston Celtics and I want people that are also talking about the Celtics to see my tweet, I can tweet: “What an intense basketball game! #Celtics.” My tweet is now part of the Twitter search results for “Celtics.”

Trending Topics- You can find trending topics on the right hand column of your Twitter search page. These are the most mentioned terms on Twitter at the current moment. The trends often include hashtags, as described above.

These are the basic Twitter terms that should help anyone new to Twitter navigate through and gain a bit more of an understanding on how to communicate with other users and get involved in conversation. It takes time to understand Twitter, but it is well worth it!

-Lauren

Follow The Discovery Communications Group on Twitter: @DiscoveryCG

As my first week passed as a new user, I tried extremely hard to “fit in.” It wasn’t working for me. This was when I took into account that Twitter was different from Facebook and all other social media platforms I was used to. I had to figure out the strategy of Twitter in order to survive on it. Businesses must do the same thing. Everyone’s strategy is different, and it takes time to figure it out. Once you figure out your strategy, you’re not done. You should always continue to evolve and get into different places.

For my personal Twitter account I like to tweet about social media news and converse with others on this. I also throw in a personal spin, such as tweeting about sports and the weather. One must realize though, Twitter isn’t to be used for status updates- my followers don’t care that I am painting my nails. If you feel you want to share that you are painting your nails though, tweet at a salon owner for their opinion on tones that work well with pale skin in the winter. You will likely get a response from a salon owner and other people that are following you with their advice and opinions. Another example is tweeting about NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL trades. You have the ability to converse with others on trades you agree with or disagree with and why. This also allows you to build your own community on Twitter.

So the next time you hear someone talking about how much they cannot stand Twitter, realize this: they cannot stand it because they either don’t know how to use it correctly or they are afraid of it. What are you doing still reading this- start tweeting!

-Lauren
Follow me on Twitter @LaurenBarber7