Sweet Shoppe Designs

Meghan · #1 02-25-2010, 05:18 PM

The Ultimate Twitter Glossary:

# sign
The hash sign is used to mark a word as a keyword, which denotes a “hashtag”. More on hashtags further down the list.

@ reply
The @ sign is used to indicate that you are replying to a specific username. For example, if DickCheney tweets a question about font tags, you will reply with @reply DickCheney “nobody uses font tags anymore, try CSS” or something of the sort. Remember that when you use @reply it is visible to everyone – for private communications use a direct message.

140 character limit
Twitter messages are meant to be short. Most people don’t even go up to the 140 character limit when posting a tweet. This is the reason for utilities like URL snippers, which we’ll get to.

Block
The act of blocking a particular user name from following your tweets. You block someone by clicking on their profile and choosing “Block” on the right sidebar.

DM
This stands for direct message, which is the Twitter equivalent to e-mail. You may only send direct messages to those following you. To do so, click on “Direct Message” on their profile and type out your message, again only up to 140 characters. Automatic direct messages can be set up to thank someone for following you using a free service such as TweetLater. Keep in mind that you cannot send Direct Messages to people that are not following you, even if you are following them. This is Twitter’s built-in spam protection.

FAV
You can favourite a tweet by typing FAV in all caps plus their username. This will automatically favourite the last tweet from that user.

Feed
Your posts on Twitter are commonly referred to as your “Twitter feed”, or “timeline”.

Followers
People who follow your updates.

GET username
Retrieves the most recent tweet from that user.

Hashtags
Hashtags, such as #BSG for “Battlestar Galactica”, denote groupings on Twitter for popular, commonly referenced items. You can follow updates on hashtags in real time at Hashtags.org They were developed as a means to create groupings on Twitter. In order to have hashtags tracked, start following @hashtags on Twitter. It will follow you automatically and your use of hashtags will be tracked. They are used to track specific events in real time.

Locking Your Profile
You can “lock” your profile so that only friends can see your updates by scrolling down to the bottom of your “Settings” tab on the Twitter website and clicking the box beside “Protect My Updates”. This may deprive you of followers who would have otherwise followed you based on keywords in your posts and isn’t advised for general use. You would only want this if you wanted to use Twitter, but need to avoid public communication for a specific reason. Even celebrities have public profiles on Twitter.

NUDGE username
Reminds one of your friends to update.

off-Twitter
A variant of “offline”, usually used when someone wants to share something with someone privately.

RT/Retweeting
This stands for retweeting, the process whereby you repost someone else’s Twitter post on your feed. The proper form for this is: RT #usernameyouarerequotingfrom “text of the retweet”. You are specifying that it is a retweet and putting in the full username so others on your list can choose to follow them if they like it.

Twactor
Someone who impersonates another person on Twitter.

Twittcrastination
Using Twitter to procrastinate.

Twadd
The act of adding someone as your friend.

Twaffic
Traffic on Twitter.

Twaggle
A bunch of followers.

Twaigslist
To sell something via Twitter.

Twaiting
Twittering while waiting for something.

Tweeps/Tweeples
A cluster of friends on Twitter. Frequently used to address all of your followers at once, e.g.”Morning, Tweeples!”.

Tweet-back
Bringing a previous tweet back into the current conversation.

Tweeter
A Twitter user.

Tweeterbox
Someone who Tweets too much.

Tweetard
Someone acting like an idiot on Twitter.

Tweetheart
Another way to refer to friends on Twitter.

TweetIn
A group of users agree on a set time to Twitter to each other.

Tweets
A collection of posts on Twitter.

Twerminology
Lingo used on Twitter. See this Glossary.

Twhepard
Twitter employee that restores your lost followers if you have lost them due to a technical glitch.

Twhiner
A Twitter user who posts a high number of negative items.

Twike
To ride a bicycle while Twittering. Don’t ask for a how-to.

Twis
A “dis” of a fellow Twitterer. Not a good idea since everything on Twitter is public.

Twittectomy
The act of unfollowing someone on Twitter.

Twitterific
Something awesome related to Twitter.

Twittering
To send a Twitter message.

Twitteritas
Ladies who use Twitter.

Twitterject
To insert your tweet in an ongoing conversation between other people on Twitter.

Twitterlooing
The act of Twittering from a bathroom.

Twitterphoria
What you feel when something good happens on Twitter, like being followed or retweeted.

Twittermob
Similar to a “flashmob”, this is a bunch of people who descend on an often ill-prepared location based on a Twitter message.

Twitterstream
The Twitter timeline, both your own and the public one.

Twittfessional
A confession made on Twitter.

Twittosphere
The community of Twitter users.

Twittworking
Networking with other Twitter users.

Twoogle
Twitter as the human version of Google, since you can post a question and get instant results.

Twoops
Sending a private message to Twitter by accident.

Twoosh
A full 140 character Twitter message.

Twurvey
A survey conducted over Twitter.

Twype
Typing a Twitter message.

WHOIS username
Gets profile information for a Twitter user.