Twitter vocabulary for newbies

Twitter has been popular for a long time but if you have joined in recently, you might be wondering what is RT, what are hashtags etc. as you see that people use them. Actually, there is a need to learn a whole new set of vocabulary in order to fully take advantage of the service. Here are a few terms which will guide the new tweeters.

Tweeter

Someone who posts a message on Twitter.

FTW - For the win
Known more for a celebratory remark left at the end of the tweet, the acronym “FTW” is basically saying that something rocks, a person has come through in a clutch, or someone or something has saved the moment/day.

RT - Retweet

A retweet is basically tweeting someone’s previous tweet with @ symbol and his/her username. RTs are done because you find it interesting that you would like to share with your friends and followers. Attribution of the tweet to the original tweeter is needed.

#Hashtag

Hashtags are phrases or keywords that can be used to monitor who is saying what about a particular topic. Standards for hashtags are one word (#Conference) or multiple words strewn together without any spaces (#EventConferenceTheme).

DM - Direct Message

Direct messaging is the way on Twitter for you to send private messages. The only way to send DMs is if the recipient is following you & for them to respond with a DM, you would need to be following them.



Fail

Fail is the slang term that can be used to mean that something or someone has failed to meet expectations. For example, going to see a movie or to an event with lot of expectations only to be disappointed? You might tweet your disappointment followed by the word “Fail”.

Twitter handle

This is the name that designates someone on Twitter. When someone asks what your Twitter handle is, this means they are asking for your username. For example, my twitter hand is techack.

URL Shortener

Since Twitter only allows 140 characters, every single character counts. URL Shortener allow you to post weblinks more efficiently and some will even offer tracking capability that you can see how many twitter followers click on the link. TinyURL, Bit.ly and is.gd are some famous URL Shorteners.

If you have few other Twitter terms in your mind, do let me know via comments.

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