Due to the 140 character constraint put on tweets, users have to
be imaginative with their wording when composing their messages. The
easiest way to edit down a tweet is by using shorthand for any words you
use. Twitter users have
created their own recognised shorthand so that composing tweets can be
quicker and easy but, for the uninitiated, it can sometimes be hard to
follow. For those relatively new to Twitter here’s our Tweetionary,
giving you a few useful definitions so that you can better follow the
conversation.
@: The ‘@’ symbol is used before a user’s name when
they are mentioned them in a tweet. Clicking on the name will then bring
up their profile.
#: The hashtag symbol is used to highlight specific words or phrases that are part of a larger conversation.
^: The caret sign is placed before the initials of a
tweet sender if the tweet is sent from a company account, showing users
which individual actually sent the message.
CX: Shorthand for ‘correction’.
DM: Shorthand for ‘Direct Message’.
Fail Whale: A whale carried by little birds posted on Twitter when the site is down.
FF: Shorthand for ‘Follow Friday’, a weekly event where people encourage other users to follow them by following them in return.
MRT: ‘Modified Retweet’, a retweet that has been changed slightly, generally to fit within the 140 character limit.
OH: ‘Overheard’ a way of retweeting without giving credit to the original tweeter.
RT: Shorthand for ‘Retweet’.
TFTF: ‘Thanks For The Follow’.
TT: ‘Translated Tweet’, used to denote a retweet that is not in its original language.
Twaffic: Twitter traffic.
Tweeps/Tweeple: Twitter users, often used to refer to someone’s followers.
Tweeter: A person who tweets.
Twittersphere: Everything in the Twitter universe.
Is there anything we’ve missed? What would you add to the SMF Tweetionary.