Twitterfor Windows

Twitter is one of the oldest social media networks around, having launched in 2006. It promotes itself as a microblogging site, as users can share news, media, and stories in ‘tweets’: initially, there was a 140-character limit for status updates, but it’s now 280-characters. Signing up is free, and you can have multiple accounts too.

Bite-sized social media

Twitter originally differentiated itself from Facebook by limiting the space users had to post updates. This encouraged succinct status updates and news and proved a popular tool for easy, quick promotion of products, companies, and individuals.

Since Twitter has had its fair share of bad press due to certain users, competitor sites have sprung up. Ones like Mastodon and Gab pride themselves on offering a decentralized platform for free speech; however, none of this means that Twitter is no longer worthwhile.

Ease of use

The main advantage of using Twitter is its accessibility. To sign up, all you need is an email address or phone number. You can have as many accounts as you like, as long as you use different emails and numbers. 

Once you’ve input the verification code that Twitter sends, you can sign in. You’ll then get the chance to add a profile image, short bio, and change your username. Then, making a ‘tweet’ is as simple as posting on the homepage. 

Tweets

You can add different types of media like images and video, and ensure your post reaches the right audience by using hashtags (e.g., #promotion). You can mention somebody by adding ‘@’ followed by their username, and like and share (‘retweet’) other people’s posts. However, it’s not possible to see who’s viewed your page or tweets.

Multiple accounts

If you do have more than one account (e.g., one for business, one private) and want to access them both at the same time on your desktop, you’ll have to open two separate instances of Twitter.

Our take

Twitter is still a valuable promotional tool if you have the time to invest in it. Otherwise, it’s an excellent way to get news delivered to you in bite-size chunks. There are plenty of celebrities known to actively communicate with their fanbase via the site too, if that’s of interest to you.

Should you download it?

Yes. Although it’s a website, so you don’t need to actually download anything if you don’t want to.