Some valuable notes to help Oprah twitter

Dear Oprah:

On behalf of the service's many millions of users, I'd like to welcome you to the world of Twitter.

Unfortunately, I and my Twitter Gift Basket were refused entry to Harpo Productions due to the obstructionist attitudes of a receptionist, two assistants, and four security men whom I'm certain you'll want to fire once I provide you with their names. But until you invite me to the office to witness their dismissals, why don't I get you started with some valuable tips for the new Twitterer:

1) Think of Twitter as your own personalized version of the info ticker at the bottom of a 24-hour news channel. You don't have to give up any information about your day.

2) I see that you're already following nine people. Oh, dear, I bet you aren't following me because you don't know my user name or can't spell it. It's "ihnatko," love. Finding new people to follow (outside of your Close Personal Friends) is a slow process. It's best to start with a visit to Twitterholic.com. It's unaffiliated with Twitter but it keeps track of the most popular and the most active users.

3) Hmm? Oh, yes: there's special terminology. If you mention another Twitter user and stick an "@" in front of their screen name, then that user can read your Tweet just by clicking on a handy link that searches for replies or mentions.

"RT" at the start of a Tweet means that this person is "ReTweeting" someone else's Tweet. It's good form. If you read something you'd like to pass along to your own Followers, it's good form to start it with "RT @ihnatko" or whomever. Your Followers can easily read other things he or she has Tweeted.

A word that starts with "#" is a "hashtag." If you marvel about your new fave chef and end it with "#food" then Twitterers interested in that subject will be able to find your Tweet easily, thanks to Twitter's search feature.

4) Online services can make the Twitter experience a lot less . . . screamy. You want to pass along the URL to something fabulous, but the thing is 50 characters long and that leaves you with no room to describe it? Visit Bit.ly (yes, that's the URL). It'll transmogrify that long URL into something short and sweet that will work just as well.

5) Obviously you're eager to become popular on the service. Try not to use the full 140 characters available to you. If you limit yourself to 100, it's easy for other Twitterers to add their own comments and pass along your Tweet to their own Followers, giving your Tweet a lot more attention.

Color Photo: Courtesy Harpo Productions / Oprah Winfrey "Twitters" with Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams on her show Friday morning. ;