SENIORS, HERE'S HOW TO SIGN UP ON TWITTER AND TWEET

This is an easy-reading tutorial for people who haven't signed onto Twitter yet, and for those who haven't gone beyond their home page.

If you haven't signed up yet, before you begin the easy process the site will walk you through, you'll want to open a Gmail account. Do that, and then open a Twitter account. They're both free.

For Twitter, you'll want to make a list of at least 10 names to choose from for yourself. There are millions on Twitter, so it's a good chance your real name is already in use, but it's fun to choose another name. People use hobbies for names, or their locations, that sort of thing. If you're a chocolate nut, try a chocolate name. For example:chocolatechipcookies.

My daughter has a puppy named Herman, so she signed up as Hermansmom.

You will need a password, also, so again, have a list to choose from.

Now on to actually using Twitter.

On your Home page, on the right-hand side, you'll see a list of Trending Topics. Click on any one of them and a page of 20 Tweets will appear, all containing the words in the Trending Topic. Half the time people just Tweet the Trending Topics, and that's boring, but there is stuff to read.

Out of curiosity, I took a survey of the Trending Topics one day. (The Topics change, some trending for only a few hours, others trending for days at a time.)

When I checked, 3 trending Topics were about movies, one was a singer, another 3 were movie or TV stars, one was a current event, one was about a new phone, and one was the phrase 'I love it when' for Twits to complete.

From the list, you'll realize it's young people who drive Twitter. The Trending Topics are trending because of the number of Tweets with those same words in them, such as a movie title.

Sometimes, especially on weekends, sports teams trend.

For those interested in subjects other than movies and music, though, there is a way to find those Tweets.

On the right side, under the word 'favorites' is a white rectangle. You can key in a subject, click on the icon, wait a few seconds, and a page of Tweets will appear.

For example, if you want to know what people are saying about the President, key in Obama and click the icon.

You can key in 'recipes'.

Or 'Fox news'.

Or a holiday, a religion, a personality, or pets, or dancing, or a state or city, or whatever is in the news.

You can key in black people or white people or Spanish people and find some racist Tweets.

If you key in a controversial personality, such as Glenn Beck, you'll find some cruel Tweets.

When you click on a Trending movie, there's a good chance you'll find some crude Tweets and even some barely coherent ones.

If you're lucky, you'll find someone who is humorous and someone who is thoughtful. But be careful - you can read a Tweet and think the writer has a good idea, only to see that exact same Tweet 5 more times on the page.

I hope I've given you a good overview of what you'll find on Twitter and how to find it. Surely you'll find people whose interests match yours, and if you click to follow them, they will be on your Home page after that.

Twitter is enjoyable and a good way to know what people all over the country and the world are interested in. It's fun to log on every day for a while and see what everybody has to say. I have also found that often news will show up on Twitter before it hits the TV news.

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