Yes, you are in the right place: This IS a day trading blog.

But since there's not much going on in the markets around the Holidays, I thought I'd share some fun stuff with you. Believe me, using Twitter and Facebook IS fun and it gives you something to do while waiting for the next trade.

I am still pretty new to all this "social media networking" thing, since until recently I thought "I am too old for this stuff". But now I am getting the hang on it and it's a lot of fun. If you're not doing it, you're definitely missing out.

In this blog entry I want to show you how to use Twitter, and in the next blog entry I'll give you a short rundown on how to use Facebook. So let's get started with Twitter:

Here's what Wikipedia says:

"Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length."

In a nutshell, you can share with the world what you are currently doing. By doing this, you attract "followers", which are now becoming your virtual friends. But you can not only broadcast your current status, you can also ask questions, comment on the current status of others and much more. And all is done real-time, like text messaging.

What you need to get started:

1. Go to www.twitter.com and click on the big green rectangle that says "Join the conversation!"
2. Create your account. It takes only 1 min.
3. (optional) Download a tool that helps you using Twitter, e.g. www.twhirl.org. It's a pretty cool free tool that let's you use twitter like any Instant Messaging Tool such as MSN or Yahoo Messenger.

How to use Twitter:

1. Whenever you have a few minutes, write a short message (aka "tweet") on Twitter.
   You can write whatever you want, e.g. "Getting ready for trading. Feeling great this morning" or "Made money on my last trade. Done for the week". Of course you can also post non-trading related messages on Twitter, e.g. "Planning a camping trip for the weekend" or "Getting ready for the party tonight". Let the world know what you are doing.
   .
2. Make friends.
   Follow others and invite others to follow you. Build a network.
   If you would like to follow me, here's my twitter: http://twitter.com/Markus_ (note the underscore!)
   If you follow me, I will follow you.
   .
3. Interact with others.
   Once you have made some friends, you will see what they are doing. You can comment on their tweets or ask them questions. As an example, if one of your new virtual friends posts "Made $400 this morning trading the e-mini S&P", you could comment "Great trade. Congratulations! What exactly did you do?"
   

Try it out. Believe me, Twitter is a lot of fun!

I'll see you there: http://twitter.com/Markus_ (note the underscore!)