To Twitter Internauts: Recent and ongoing events around the world have threatened peoples' access to an open uncensored internet and free media sources, and have created a greater need to know more about the strategies to get a message across using Twitter. Thus, the following communiqué aims to provide some guidelines, tips and tricks to maximize the reach and spreading of important messages. The hashtag #IranElection proved that independent users have to be the ones to make sure that unfiltered and first hand information reaches a global audience. It also showed how information and channels of communication can be manipulated by government agencies that infiltrate legitimate hashtags, spreading information that is contradictory and thus creating confusion. The same should not be allowed to happen with, for instance, #FreeMediaVe, and thus follow some guidelines on how to properly use Twitter to support a revolution. Myths and Bad Practices Trending Topics It doesn’t matter if the chosen hashtag (#) is on the Trending Topics list or not, because trending topics in Twitter are not based on the number of tweets a given # has, and a trending hashtag means that more spammers will use it to spam their products. Every tweet that consists of the hashtag written fifteen times is one less tweet with valid information. For the people trying to sort through information, this is not helping at all. Directing your tweets to celebrities only We understand that there is a temptation to have your tweet re-tweeted (RT) by a celebrity. But in many cases the chance of your tweet actually getting read by the celebrity in question is slim to none. Instead, direct that energy to news reporters, editors and anchors. But - be nice and don’t spam those users. You need them to spread the message. You will not get your message across with a ribbon, a color overlay or a slogan as your profile picture. Tips and Good Practices Be as specificas you can when you tweet: add both time and location. Back it up with a link or picture. If you fear for your security, send a direct message (DM) to trusted sources. (You will need to follow those accounts and they need to follow you back for you to be able to send a DM.) The best way to tweet information is in a format like this: hashtag, content, link (ex: #freeinternet New blog post from XX - http://bit.ly) 1. To retweet, copy and paste the tweet and add “(RT @originalsource)” at the end. Try to only relay information which is as confirmed as possible You don't want to spread false information and there is very likely to be a lot of disinformation going on. Retweet if you see a tweet from a source that is trusted Some of your followers may not follow the same sources, and they can help spread a tweet even further. Always use the appropriate hashtag This helps other people find your tweet, and helps those who read your tweets to find other tweets on the same topic. Minimize in order to maximize Be short and factual. The shorter your tweets are, the more retweetable they are, meaning the message can be more easily spread. Remember you want to spread a message, not make a political speech. For that use other media like blog posts - that you can link back to on Twitter. Be alert Double check all information that you get on your timeline before RT. This will help to control the spread of incorrect info. Check the links and the contents. Know your enemy Follow those that you think are connected to the government. Spread the word for other people to follow. Most important of all: Be polite - you don’t want to get your account suspended for harassment. Translate If tweets or tweeted articles and blog posts are not in English, retweet in the original language but also link to a translated copy, for example using google translate. Also specify what language links are using (eng) (es) (fr) (swe) etc; this helps people decide which links they will be able to understand, and saves time when scanning through huge amounts of tweets.