Using Twitter

Setting up your Twitter profile

Visit Twitter.com or download the Twitter app on your phone to create an account. When you click “sign up,” Twitter will prompt you to put in your name and contact information. Twitter will send you a verification code and also prompt you to create a password. Once you’ve taken those few steps to create your account, it’s time to flesh out your profile.

The important elements of your Twitter profile are your:

• Handle. This is your username on Twitter, and it begins with an @ symbol. For example, CCL’s handle is @citizensclimate. Yours can be anything you want. Usually it’s a combination of your name or initials, numbers, and symbols.
• Profile photo. Uploading a profile photo of yourself helps show that you are a real person, which makes it more likely for your member of Congress or potential new CCL chapter members to interact with you.
• Header photo. This could be a group photo from a lobby meeting you’ve been to, or a CCL chapter event, or just a pretty landscape photo you took on vacation. Up to you!
• Bio. Tell people a little bit about yourself.
• Location. Include your city and state so your members of Congress and potential new CCL volunteers know you’re local.

Then, follow some accounts. You can do this by searching for a person’s or organization’s name or their Twitter handle in the search bar, going to their account, and clicking the "follow" button. 

Here are a few accounts we recommend you follow to get started:

• @citizensclimate - Citizens’ Climate Lobby, of course. This way you’ll see the latest news about CCL and the Energy Innovation Act.
• @nytclimate - The New York Times has a dedicated team covering climate and the environment, and they post their reporting here.
• @republicEn - RepublicEn is a climate advocacy group who works specifically to activate conservatives on climate change.
• @bobinglis - Bob Inglis is a former Republican representative from South Carolina, and today he’s the head of the RepublicEn organization. He’s on CCL’s advisory board.
• @KHayhoe - Katharine Hayhoe is a climate scientist and very effective climate communicator. She’s also on CCL’s advisory board.
• @AdeleCMorris - Adele Morris is an economist with the Brookings Institution and is a leading expert on carbon pricing. She’s also on CCL’s advisory board.
• @DrDeJarnett - Dr. Natasha DeJarnett is a policy analyst for the American Public Health Association, studying climate impacts on health. She is a member of CCE’s governing board.

Once you’ve followed these accounts, you’ll see their posts when you log in to Twitter next time. 

Note: it's important as you set up your initial shared chapter account to think through contingency plans. How will you handle sharing access to the account login if the original creator of your chapter's account leaves town? One recommendation is to use your CCL chapter email forwarder (visible here by your chapter: cclusa.org/chapters) as the login information so it can be shared with someone and help make succession planning easier. If you have any questions, feel free to ask our social media team at https://cclusa.org/cclsocial

By setting up your Twitter profile and starting to follow other Twitter accounts, you’ve taken a big step toward spreading the message of climate solutions on social media. Keep reading for more tips, or click the "Watch" tab for short video trainings.

Sending a tweet

In just a few simple steps, you can send an effective tweet about your climate advocacy work. Here’s how:

1. Open Twitter. You can go to Twitter.com on your desktop computer or use your mobile app.
2. Click the “Tweet” button. This opens up a pop-up window where you can compose your tweet.
3. Write your message. For example, you might say something like “I just had a great time meeting with my member of Congress about the Energy Innovation Act!” or “Today, I tabled at a festival to let people know about climate solutions in Congress.” You could post a tweet anytime you’ve taken a CCL action that you want to let others know about.
4. Tag other Twitter accounts that are relevant. Tagging someone means including their username, which begins with an @ symbol. For example, if the member of Congress you met with was Salud Carbajal, your tweet could say, “I just had a great time meeting with @RepCarbajal about the Energy Innovation Act!” Tagging another account means they will get a notification about your tweet.
5. Attach a photo or video. This is optional, but adding a photo or video makes your tweet even more interesting. If you’re tweeting about a recent lobby meeting, an outreach event, or your latest CCL chapter meeting, that’s a perfect chance to post a picture.
6. Include a hashtag. Hashtags begin with the # symbol. Anytime you’re tweeting about some sort of CCL activity you’ve done, we recommend using the hashtag #PriceOnCarbon. Some other hashtags related to CCL’s work are #GrassrootsClimate, #BipartisanClimate, or simply #climate.
7. Post your tweet by clicking “Tweet” button in the window. Once you click that button, your followers will be able to see it.

And that’s how to send a tweet. Keep reading for more tips, or click the "Watch" tab for short video trainings.

Setting up your Twitter profile
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Sending A Tweet
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