Twitter Help
You may follow the NYMSTF's Checkpoint Alert System via RSS/XML feeds or via Twitter. RSS is handy for folks using a web browser on the Internet but to best utilize our checkpoint alerts, we recommend using Twitter for delivering reports by email and optionally, text messages to your phone.
You don't have to "do Twitter" or be an Internet wiz to use Twitter for receiving our checkpoint alerts!
If you have never used Twitter, it's very easy to set up and costs nothing! Go to http://www.twitter.com and click the yellow "Get Started Now" button and follow the simple instructions. On the first page you can use a handle or nickname instead of your full name - it doesn't matter. Unless you are interested in becoming a regular Twitter user you will probably want to remove the check-marks from the "Let others find me by my email address" and "I want the inside scoop—please send me email updates!" options. Skip the subsequent pages asking you to browse suggestions, find your friends and search for anyone.
Twitter will send you a confirmation email when you're done, which you'll need to open and click the link within to activate your account.
Once your Twitter account is activated, click on the Settings link on the top of the page, then click on the Mobile button when it appears underneath. Follow the simple instructions to add your mobile phone number to Twitter. You will be asked to send a specific confirmation text message to 40404 from your phone. Your phone should be verified in Twitter within seconds of you sending the text message.
Now visit http://twitter.com/NYMSTF and click the grey Follow button right under the NYMSTF logo so that it turns into the word Following. Now you will receive an email whenever a checkpoint is reported.
The last
and most crucial part is to set Twitter so that when the NYMSTF sends out a
checkpoint alert, your cell phone receives that alert as a text message.
Just click that small round icon highlighted by the red arrow in this example screen so that the icon turns from grey to green.
Remember that sending and receiving text messages may incur additional charges on your cell phone bill. Check your phone's rate plan and don't say we didn't warn you!
