Join JCDA on Twitter
JCDA has made the leap into social media. We have joined Twitter (@JCDATweets) to build our online community and to explore new ways of communicating with dentists.
Twitter allows us to inform you when clinical and scientific material is posted to JCDA.ca and to bring you directly to these resources. We hope that you will reciprocate by joining Twitter and tweeting us your feedback on this material or to let us know what topics you would like to see in our publications.
If you have thought about joining Twitter but don't know where to start, simply follow the steps outlined below.
1. Sign up
Go to twitter.com. Click the yellow "Sign Up" icon.
Fill in the required fields, including your name and email address. You will be asked to create a username, also called your "Twitter handle." You may decide to be quite literal or creative with your username, but remember that patients and colleagues may be reading (or searching for) your tweets. When all required information is complete, click "Create my account."
2. Sign in
With your account created, return to the Twitter homepage and click the "Sign in" button, located in the top right corner. Enter your username or email address and password to sign in for the first time.
3. Personalize your profile
Now that you are signed in, you can put your personal stamp on your Twitter account. Click the down arrow, located in the top right corner next to your username. This activates a drop-down menu. Select the "Settings" tab.
You might decide to keep your tweets private. If you choose to do so, your Twitter profile will become private and only people that you authorize can view your tweets. However, this could limit your experience with your online community, as you may miss out on some conversations.
To make your tweets private, go to the "Account" tab and scroll to the bottom of the page. Select the "Protect my tweets" checkbox. Now, only people that you approve can follow your tweets. Customize your Twitter profile further by selecting the "Profile" tab. Here, you can add a photograph and a short personal bio (limited to 140 characters in length) to your Twitter account.
4. Find and follow people
With your Twitter account created and personalized, you can now search for others in the dental community to follow. Select the "Who To Follow" tab at the top of the Twitter homepage.
Enter the names of colleagues or organizations in the search field (e.g., JCDATweets) and click the magnifying glass icon. When you locate a Twitter account that you are interested in, simply select the "Follow" button. These tweets will be added to your timeline—a term that describes the collection of status updates from the accounts you are following that appear on your homepage.
