According to the PAX forums, there’s probably at least 250 “New Arcadians” jumping on the Twitter train in anticipation of North America’s largest open gaming convention, the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), taking place here in Seattle this weekend. I’ve noticed a bit of confusion, so I thought I’d post a few tips for attendees who are new to Twitter:
MASTER THE BASICS, YOUNG PADAWAN
Set your phone up on Twitter before you leave for PAX, and If you’re using Twitter by phone (SMS, specifically) learn the SMS commands. To post a tweet, just text it to 40404. Using me as an example, to be my Twitter friend you’d “tweet” follow firewallender. To publicly mention me in a message or reply to me, you’d say, @firewallender Nice post! To send me a private message, you’d say d firewallender Party’s at the Hyatt at 11! If you’re using text messaging (SMS), this would all be to 40404. Keep in mind the limitations of your text messaging plan, because otherwise, this might hurt a bit.
TRACK LIKE A BOUNTY HUNTER
You don’t need to add everyone who posted in the PAX forum as a friend, just track the term “PAX” and add people you find interesting along the way.
Tracking via SMS
This may or may not work, Twitter likes to turn this feature off. Text track PAX to 40404 to get everyone’s tweets (messages) that mention PAX. Use untrack PAX to turn it back off, so you can eventually sleep again. You probably want to track your own username as well, so you’ll always get replies, i.e., @firewallender Boba Fett? Where?
Tracking via a laptop/from the BYOC LAN party
If you’re using a laptop at PAX, use a program like TweetDeck to track like crazy. You can track multiple terms (but of course, you’ll want to track “PAX”) and you get a separate column for your friends’ tweets, replies to you, and each term you’re tracking. It’s rad.
An example screenshot of my TweetDeck tracking Gnomedex and PAX:
Tracking via the Web (mobile or otherwise) or the iPhone
You can always hit up http://search.twitter.com/search?q=PAX from your mobile browser or your laptop to see what’s up.
If you’re one of the poor saps using an iPhone, I recommend installing an application called Twinkle (you can find it in the iTunes App Store for free). If you post using Twinkle, it knows your location, and allows you to see all other Twinkle posts within a mile (or further, you can set your desired radius). You can also use it to post pictures.
NAMEDROP, YO
Notice that tracking “PAX” only works if “PAX” is in the tweet, so if you want your tweet to get seen, mention “PAX”! You’ll sometimes see #PAX. You can toss the “#” in to turn any term into a “hashtag”. PAX hashtags (#PAX) will show up in anything tracking “PAX”, but additionally they show up at http://hashtags.org/tag/PAX/ IF and only IF your Twitter account already follows @hashtags. Mostly, Hashtags are just messy (sorry, Hashtag guys!). I wouldn’t worry about them if you can use the other methods mentioned to just track the word.
Alright, kids, that’s all I’ve got for now! If you have any questions, please leave a comment and include your Twitter username. Welcome to Twitter and please say hi if you see me at PAX! If you’re grateful for this post, please tweet about it to spread the word (and/or invite me to epic PAX parties).
(CW) out.
