Twitter and Oxfam Trailwalker

Share your impressions of Oxfam Trailwalker using Twitter

Your latest updates from Oxfam Trailwalker via Twitter


What is Twitter and why use it?

Twitter is a social networking service for friends, family, and co–workers. With Twitter you can post training updates and talk to other participants. You can even post your impressions and experiences of Oxfam Trailwalker live from the event so your friends and family can follow your progress on your team page! It is easy to post updates from a mobile phone.

How can I use Twitter at Trailwalker?

Step 1 – Set up your Twitter account

Participants who want to use Twitter need an account. Setting up a Twitter account is free! Go to twitter.com and follow the instructions from the "New to Twitter? Sign up" panel. You can either set up a join account for all your team or you can each use your own individual accounts. It is a good idea to enter a password that is easy to type on a phone. Note down your username and password - note that your username has no spaces in it. You can safely skip the tutorial but you might like to post a first "Hello world" tweet. You don't have to verify your email address to be able to send from a mobile.

Step 2 - Set up your phone to tweet

You can send your updates from the Oxfam Trailwalker trail using your mobile phone in three ways: A) by text message, B) using the Twitter app on a smart phone or 3) by going to m.twitter.com through your phone's web browser. Whichever way you choose it is worth setting this up and practising now.

how to find settings on twitter.com Option A) On Twitter.com go to your account settings (click on the little head and shoulders and arrow in the top left and choose 'Settings'), and then choose the 'Mobile' link in the menu. If you are still logged into your new account at Twitter.com then you can click here.

Select New Zealand, then choose Vodafone or Telecom (it is a bit more difficult for 2degrees users - but it is still possible) and enter your phone number. Click the Activate phone button. You'll receive a text message which you need to reply to. And that should be it.

Alternatively you can do the whole process via text - follow these instructions.

Option B) You can download the smart phone app from the Twitter website or from the app store on your phone. There are versions for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone 7. Once the app is installed on your phone, you'll need to 'Add Account', and enter your username and password. There are instructions for each device here.

Option C) This is just like posting an update on twitter.com from a computer - you just have to go to the website and make sure you're logged in. Easy but expensive!

Step 3 – Connect your Twitter account to your team page

This is a bit more tricky so we are happy to do this step for you - just email your team name and Twitter user account to webadmin@oxfam.org.nz or come to the Twitter desk at event registration on Friday. You need to edit the HTML code of your team page. Login to your team page and go to the Change team details page. This is the one that lets you see the code behind the scenes. Find the map code - it should be at the top - and enter your twitter username immediately after the '.com/' and before the '?teamid='. So the finished code for the src of the map should be: http://otw12.twaack.com/YourTwitterUserName?teamid=YourTeamID, e.g. http://otw12.twaack.com/MyTestTeam?teamid=5193. There should be no spaces and no @ sign. If you would like two different twitter accounts to be linked to your team page then enter them both, comma separated, e.g. http://otw12.twaack.com/MyTestTeam,OxfamTWNZ?teamid=5193. Click the submit button.

Step 4 – Post Twitter updates from your phone

Now that your phone is set up, sending messages via a smart phone app or a web browser should be self-explanatory. But here are some more instructions for sending via txt:

Option A) Write your message just like you would a normal txt message, except you have only 140 characters so keep it short. Send it to 8987 (if you are on Vodafone or Telecom) or to +44 7624 801423 (if you are on 2degrees - international txt rates will apply). Your update should appear in your list of Twitter messages shortly.

Step 5 – Share your Twitter updates using #otwnz

If you include our Twitter "hashtag" code of #otwnz anywhere in your message then it will automatically appear in the list of messages at the top of this page (it is also on the Oxfam Trailwalker homepage) and be shared with anyone in the world who is watching this e.g. check out #otwnz on twitter.com. Often people will use #otwnz as an abbreviation for Oxfam Trailwalker. For example try sending an tweet such as:

Looking forward to #otwnz tomorrow where I'll be walking all day and all night!

This will work:#otwnz
None of these will work:# otwnzotwnz#otw#owtnz

We'll be watching too and we'll "re-tweet" the best ones and mention them in the live blog.

Step 6 – Add your Twitter updates to your team page

displaying updates on your team page map

If you have followed step 4 and connected your twitter account to your team page, then all you need to do to get your updates to appear on your team page is to include the number of kilometres your team has reached in your message. You can't just include a number on its own - you need to include either # in front of the number or km after it for it to work. For example try sending an tweet such as:

At the #otwnz start line 0km not long to go now.

.
Any of these will work:#2323km23 km
These will not work:# 2323

Step 7 - Tell your friends and family to follow you

Send your family and friends any or all of these web addresses so they can follow your updates:

  • Your team page (remember you have to connect your team page to your Twitter account and include a km number #otwnz in your tweets)
  • Your Twitter page - this is just http://twitter.com/#!/YourUserName, e.g. http://twitter.com/#!/Mytestteam - this will show all your tweets whether you include the hashtag or km or not.
  • The Oxfam Trailwalker homepage or the twitter hashtag page https://twitter.com/#search?q=%23otwnz so they can follow all the participants' live posts from the trail, including yours (remember you have to include #otwnz in your tweets).

You can even get your friends and family to join Twitter themselves and connect their mobile phone and then they can receive your tweets directly to their phone as if you had sent them a txt. It's free to receive tweets by txt.

Follow Oxfam Trailwalker live on Twitter

To follow Oxfam Trailwalker on Twitter:

  • Check the list of #otwnz messages on the Oxfam Trailwalker homepage or on Twitter where more than just the latest 50 will be visible.
  • Follow Oxfam New Zealand - go to twitter.com/oxfamnz and click 'follow'. We'll be sending our own messages and re-tweeting some of the best messages from teams.

Fundraising target

2012 Total: $741,954.22 (74%)

   

Target total: 1.0 million
Fundraising deadline: 20-Jun-12

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Congratulations

Huge congratulations to all teams who took on the challenge of walking 100km in 36 hours at Oxfam Trailwalker 2012. Whilst the physical challenge may be over the fundraising challenge continues toward raising $1 million before the fundraising deadline of June 20, 2012. With your help we can get there!

Oxfam Trailwalker raised $850,000 to fund our programme work