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Creating a Custom Twitter Page
You have now registered and gone through the steps setting up some of the settings for your Twitter account. Next, you want a background for your Twitter page. You can select one of the 12 Twitter themes that are available under the "Design" tab. If you want to have a custom background, you can create it yourself with a program such as Adobe Photoshop or by finding someone who specializes in creating custom Twitter backgrounds.
You can google "Custom Twitter Backgrounds" or "Free Twitter Backgrounds" and check out the many talented designers who specialize in doing this type of work. If you choose to do it in Photoshop, you will want to make sure that your image is smaller than 800k and is saved as a GIF, JPG, or PNG file. I learned about a website that provides a free template for Adobe Photoshop to guide you in creating your Twitter background.
You are also able to change your design colors in this area. Here, you can change your background, text, links, sidebar, and sidebar colors. I was able to use the hexadecimal numbers (4c859e) provided by my designer to customize my colors. However, you can also use the eyedropper tool in Photoshop or a similar program to identify the color in your picture and provide its hexadecimal number.
Tools within Twitter
On the right side of your home screen, you will find the sidebar with the "@" replies, Direct Messages (DMs), Favorites, Twitter Search function, and any Saved Searches you've created. The @ replies is where your Twitter username has been used in a tweet.
Etiquette Tip: When someone mentions you in an @reply, make sure you do respond.
Direct Messages are a way for people to email you on Twitter. From time to time, I will get a personal message in this area, but for the most part, they are automated messages that are sent after I follow a person I scan this area to see if there are any personal messages and delete the automated messages. Some people do not check this area at all, but I've had people DM a question to me and I do want to be open and accessible to answer their question.
The Favorites button on your side panel serves as a way for you to mark a certain tweet and save it as a favorite. I originally thought I could flag people whose tweets I wanted to follow, but quickly discovered that it only stored the one tweet that I had marked as a favorite. You can, however, subscribe to a person's RSS feed of their tweets on their profile page.
The Search Function on your side panel lets you search for key words that permit you to obtain more information on topics of your interest. I have found that this is also a good way to find people that I'd like to follow. The search function lets you find information that might be useful in discovering resources worth re-tweeting for your target audience.
The last item on your side panel is the Saved Searches. Often, when I'm attending teleseminars/webinars, the presenters will create a hashtag.