Translating Twitter Terms

Twitter seems to have spawned a whole new language, somewhere between text speak and auto-shortening, which can leave us all a bit perplexed at times! Here's a glossary of some of the key terms to help you make head or tail of it all.


Twitter helps people communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent, 140 character messages. Its like a mini blog.

Tweet

A tweet is a Twitter message (140 characters max.)

Tweep

A tweep is a person who uses Twitter. Every tweep has a username and a unique url eg http://www.twitter.com/activemdkate

Following

Following someone on Twitter means getting their updates in your personal timeline. If you follow Tina, you'll get her updates on your homepage when you log in, or on your phone if you've added an app. To start receiving messages from a person, visit their profile page and click "follow" or send a text message to Twitter with the words "follow username" from your phone. You'll get messages from the people you've followed as soon as they update, and you can stop following anyone at anytime. There is a general courtesy to follow people back who follow you, but you don't have to follow everyone who follows you and you can follow and un-follow who ever you want whenever you want.

Followers

Followers are people who receive other peoples' Twitter updates.

RT

RT is short for retweet, and indicates a re-posting of someone else's tweet. This is a key part of Twitter’s viral nature. RT isn't an official Twitter command or feature, but people add RT somewhere in a tweet to indicate that part of their tweet includes something they're re-posting from another person's tweet, sometimes with a comment of their own. It’s a bit like an endorsement or a recommendation and is an important way of “sharing the love” and making friends on Twitter.

@reply and :D direct messages

An @reply is a public message sent regardless of follow-ship that anyone can view. An @reply can be used to ensure that someone specific sees a tweet or to draw someone’s attention to a tweet or retweet of particular interest to them. A :D direct message can only be sent by someone you follow, and is a private message that only the author and recipient can view.

Examples

@activemdkate Enjoyed your tweet about Beckham and branding http://tinyurl.com/kqtu62

:Dactivemdkate What time shall we meet for lunch?

Favourites

The star * is a way for you to mark an update as favourite. People can view your favourites, and you theirs, by clicking on the Favourites link in the profile page.

# hashtags

Twitter hashtags like #followfriday help spread information on Twitter while also helping to organise it. The hashtag is a favourite tool of conferences and event organizers, but it’s also a way for Twitter users to organise themselves: if everyone agrees to append a certain hashtag to tweets about a topic, it becomes easier to find that topic in search, and more likely the topic will appear in Twitter’s Trending Topics. In some situations a hashtag can become part of a brand and may even feature in other marketing environments such as your website.
Lists

Twitter Lists are a relatively new feature which allow Twitter users to group together people they follow or are interested in hearing from under one simple heading. Twitter lists are integrated Twitter streams from a specified selection of users.

Follow Friday

#followfriday (#ff) is a “game” in which people suggest who to follow on Twitter. It helps everyone find interesting Twitter users. You list the users you recommend following and add “#followfriday” anywhere in the Tweet so others can find it. The “#” is very important – don’t forget it!
Example

#followfriday @mashable @adamostrow @sharonfeder @jbruin @adamhirsch @benparr @brett @tamar

#followfriday can be enhanced by giving just one name per tweet and then a brief explanation of why people should follow them

#followfriday @lambdafilms – great local video company and fun fellas too!


Interesting people to follow – Norfolk

@activemdkate
@lambdafilms
@elaine_maslin
@edpmary
@enjoynorwich
@sarajgreenfield
@chris_greenf
@norwich_broker
@brays_cottage
@Breckland
@BBCChrisgoreham
@LCDParkHouse
@redwingsHS
@lucieMD
@thewindowcoffee