Twitter Glossary: Twitter Lingo Explained For The Utterly Confused

April 6, 2009

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What are all those confusing little words you come across in every other tweet? Read on for answers.

Twitter is becoming a culture in itself. Spawning new words, and creating new concepts around its lingo.

Many of us get confused when we first join Twitter and are bombarded with the inside mumbo-jumbo. This post is meant to clear up some of those words. The big ones actually, that everyone else seems to know except you!

Let’s start with the all so common Tweet.

Whatever you post at Twitter is a tweet (and thank god not a twit).

RT or ReTweet

There’s already a big fat post on Blogging Bits that explains what ReTweet is and why and how you should use it. But I’ll summarize it here again for those of you who can’t be arsed to read the whole post.

ReTweet is a quoted tweet, a repost. You ReTweet when you quote someone else’s tweet in your tweet.

That’s how most tweeple (oops.. people) use it:

RT @originalposter this is a quoted tweet — this is your comment

Where RT stands for ReTweet, @originalposter is the guy or girl you’re quoting, the following text is the quoted tweet, and the text after dashes is your comments (comments are optional).

#Hashtags

Hashtags are a way to tag your tweets. They are keywords you use to put your tweet in certain topic.

You usually use hashtags when tracking a popular topic. Like if you’re giving updates on FOWD conference, you’ll use the tag #FOWD in your update tweets.

Use hashtags at the end of a tweet, or make a hashtag out of any word inside the tweet to save space (for example: I’m at #FOWD meeting jolly good folks).

DM

DM stands for direct message.

Twitter is all about saying everything in public timeline, but there are occasions when you want to send some a private message. That’s when you use a DM.

Method 1: If you want to send a @Friend a direct message, type it like this:

D Friend This is the message.

D at start is to ensure this is a private message. Friend is the Twitter ID of of the person you’re sending a DM, and the rest is your message.

NOTE: Always use D and not DM at the start of a direct message or it’ll end up in public timeline.

Method 2: Switch to “Direct Messages” tab on your Twitter page, select a person from the drop down menu, enter your message in the input box, and hit the send button.

Tweeps / Tweeple

The peeps or people on Twitter of course.

Twitterverse / Twitterville

Everyone at Twitter. The Twitter community.

Twitterati

The big guys at Twitter. Those with more followers than you can count in your lifetime.

Tword

Any word prefixed by Tw to make it more compatible with Twitter.

———————————

There are a lot more words with TW added at the start, and many more being coined everyday, so it’d be a waste of time and energy to document them all here.

Though you must have gotten a pretty good idea of how a Tword works by now, and you should be able to decipher any new words encountered from now on.

Any other popular Twitter words/terms I have missed? Let me know in the comments.

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Tags: glossary, guide, Social Media, terms, tutorial, Twitter

24 comments so far and counting

Cheryl SemickApril 8th, 2009
Thanks for sharing, I’ve Googled this subject to learn these terms and get pages and pages of junk. I really like your blog!
Fearless Income Group @ Eiro ResearchApril 12th, 2009
Very cute, I never knew of these terms
MelodyApril 19th, 2009
LOL I’ve been trying to figure out RT for the longest..
Tasha WassinkMay 27th, 2009
I still think people who use twitter (and I’m one of ‘em) should be called Twits.
WebsonJune 4th, 2009
Hi Moshin

I recently discovered your blog and really like your articles. Consider me a new convert to your site.

Twitter short codes tickled me a while back, and for that reason I’ve compiled a directory of 67 acronyms used regularly by “twits”. It’s available at my blog under 67 twitter acronyms and shortcodes

Happy blogging

Webson
PatriceJuly 6th, 2009
I love reading your post. You make me understand those terms on twitter.
Website copywritingJuly 10th, 2009
Thanks for the great post on Retweeting. It’s very informative. RT is probably the best way to explode your circle of influence on Twitter.

More on topic, I’ve seen the terms RETwitterific as updates that are prime candidates for retweeting.
Jhanna DawsonJuly 24th, 2009
As someone new to Twitter (I know, I know), I APPRECIATE this blog! Thanks for all the info.
Porno-obzorJuly 31st, 2009
Nice article!
Deji AdegbiteAugust 12th, 2009
Cool, I’ve been looking for something like this. I’m new to twitter, blogging, and the rest.
DefiqeqiroteAugust 23rd, 2009
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DESIREE PEARSONAugust 28th, 2009
Thanks for the info. I am still trying to master the RT, but I hope to grasp the technique soon enough.
BecsAugust 30th, 2009
lol i like “tweeple” lol
rgemsSeptember 2nd, 2009
thankyou so much for the information. i am new to twitter and your post cleared all my confusion. thank you once again
Great Shopping Deals in ArizonaSeptember 2nd, 2009
I think that these twitter people need to find a 12 step program for their Addiction to twitter!!!

Let it go people … I don’t care that your buying a soda and a hotdog

Just my two cents

Thanks

Mark
Arizona CouponsOctober 28th, 2009
How about twitterholic… those people that need a 12 step program to deal with their twitter addiction.
Custom BlogsNovember 2nd, 2009
Thank You, very usefull as I am new to Twitter