Learning Tweet Terms – How to Make Yourself Understood on Twitter

When you first step into Twitter space, you will wonder what everybody is tweeting about. New users can be totally confused with Twitter terms; but you will soon get the hang of it. Most Twitter terms begin with the letters ‘tw.’ For example, “tweet” means a twitter message. tweetup means a Twitter meetup. Before you tweet to other Twitter users, you ought to know the following basic Twitter terms in order to make yourself understood.

• Direct Message: A direct message is a personal message sent to a particular Twitter user. It does not appear on the public timeline.

• @twittername: ‘@’ followed by username of a particular Twitter user means that it is a response to that Twitter user’s tweet. It appears on the public timeline—one the home page of that Twitter user.

• Leave twittername: This indicates a desire on the part of a Twitter user to stop following someone.

• On: This command turns on phone, IM, and mobile phone notifications.

• Off: This command is to turn off notification.

• RT or Retweet: You are retweeting if you are reposting something interesting posted by a Twitter user.

• PRT: This means “please retweet” or “partial retweet.”
• OH: Overheard
• FTL: For the loss
• BTW: By the way
• FTW: For the win
• YMMV: Your mileage may vary
• IMHO: In my honest opinion
• LMK: Let me know
• b/c: Because
• JV: Joint Venture

• Hashtags: Many Tweeters use hashtags (a hash preceding a tag) in order to make it easier for readers to follow that particular tag or tract it. Use the tag on Twitter Search, and you will find other Twitter users tweeting on the same subject—posting events, tips, conference, and so on about the same subject. If you want to track many hashtags, visit Twemes.

WeFollow, Twellow, and Justtweetit are some Twitter directories that can also give you plenty of information on hashtags and tag tracking. While tracking other hashtags, it pays to add your own to the directory, especially if you specialize in a particular niche.

To learn more exciting Twitter terms, visit: http://twitter.com/help/lingo

You might be wondering why Twitter has a different language. The reason for this is simple. Like all Web 2.0 sites, the prosperity of Twitter depends entirely on the quality of the material posted by its users. Twitter is of value today because of the valuable tweets of its users. Twitter will flourish only if the Twitter community flourishes. And, for any community to flourish there must be a basic set of rules and regulations pertaining to language. The guidelines are not to curb the freedom of the users, but only to enable the smooth functioning of Twitter. As you continue using Twitter, you will observe that using Twitter language will actually enrich your Twitter experience.