Twitter RSS Feed

[ScottRC]

I was cruising the forums and found out about the Twitter RSS feed feature in HairyOctopus's First Sale thread. I've set the feed up for my own (rather anorexic and infrequently tweeted) Twitter account but was wondering about the "Advanced" settings.

I'm pretty ignorant about Web stuff and have never used an RSS feed before; I'm also pretty new to Twitter. Does the RSS feed have an automatic tweet that accompanies a link to our articles? Can we change that automatic tweet? Could those who have the feature - *ahem*Celeste*ahem* - tell me what actually gets put out there in the world when an article is approved?

Also - is there a way to set up a feed like this for a personal page Facebook account or can that only be done with a business/fan page?

Also (sorry, full of questions) - I set up my Facebook and Twitter account to be co-joined, meaning (I presume) that my status updates on Facebook will automatically be posted on Twitter and vice versa. But if I post a tweet that's aimed specifically @ another Twitter user, does that automatically go on my Facebook too? Do I have to disable the feature if I'm writing specifically to another Twitterer?

Thanks in advance - I really appreciate how helpful and supportive everyone here is.

[Debbi]

Scott,

I can't answer any of your questions since I am a rare tweeter, but my Twitter account is kissapuppy. You can at least see how the tweets from my CC feed look, I think. I am so ignorant about Twitter. How many tweets show up when you see someone's page for the first time?

Debbi

[ScottRC]

Thanks, Debbi, I'll check your Twitter page out.

[Celeste Stewart]

When an article is approved and released to the general public, it goes into your RSS feed. So, if you have Twitter set up with that feed, a tweet will go out. If you're using Twitterfeed, you can set it up to tweet only a certain number of tweets at periodic intervals. That way, if you have ten articles that get approved at once, your Twitterfeed will only tweet the number you have set it up to tweet. You can also set up Twitterfeed to preface each tweet with a specific phrase. For example, I have mine set up with "Article for Sale: _______."

I don't do Facebook at all so I'm no help there. It's my understanding that you can set up Facebook to receive your tweets and vice versa but I have no experience in that area.

[Debbi]

Celeste,

My Twitter feed shows the "Articles for Sale" at the end of the tweet. Do you know how I can make it put that at the beginning?

What is your Twitter name?

[Celeste Stewart]

I'll have to check. Are you using Twitterfeed? I'm pretty easy to find on Twitter as myself.

[Debbi]

Yep, I'm using Twitterfeed.

[Celeste Stewart]

Okay, go into Twitterfeed, and click on the "edit" link by one of your feeds. You may need to "authenticate" yourself again even though you're signed in. Then click on Advanced Settings. If your text is appearing at the end of your tweets, then you typed your phrase into the "post suffix" field. Remove the phrase from that field and place it in the "post prefix" field.

[Debbi]

Thanks, Celeste. You werer right! I changed it so will be watching for my next CC feed to see if it worked.

I am your 300th follower

[ScottRC]

Debbi - I've been reading your articles about dogs and can't wait for the one I have in the queue about a University of Arizona study being done right now re: using dogs to prevent asthma in babies.

Celeste: Thanks for all the help, and congrats on your bonus $100 this morning!

[ScottRC]

Oh, and as for Facebook - it looks like I'll just have to manually post the link to my personal page, which is fine. My friends list on Facebook is a heck of a lot bigger than it is on Twitter.

[hairyoctopus]

I used to have a Twitter account, but gave it up. However I did have Twitter and Facebook set up so that my tweets automatically became my Facebook status. The system automatically strips out @replies, so they don't appear on Facebook.

I'm thinking about opening a new Twitter account for professional networking, what with me having aspirations to be a "proper writer", so I might check out the RSS feed as well.

[Debbi]

When I was fixing my Twitter feed titles, I noticed there was a "Create new feed" button and found an option for Facebook. I added my CC feed to FB too but will have to wait until my latest article is accepted before I can see if it works.

[ScottRC]

Debbi, did you hit the "Test feed" button for your FB link? I did and found it didn't work.

Do you have a business/fan/group page for FB or is it a personal page?

[Debbi]

Scott,

Yes, it said it parsed OK. I think you might have to be logged into your FB account in another window while you're creating your twitterfeed to it? I happened to be logged in to FB when I edited twitterfeed and and it connected right away.

I don't have any business accounts on FB or Twitter, just my personal ones. kissapuppy on twitter and Debbi Miller Gutierrez on FB.

Hey! I just checked FB and it did post my last article there. Woohoo!