Twictionary - Twitter Basics

Here are the lingo basics for using Twitter. If you can get the hang of these you’ll be tweeting tweeple tweets like nobody’s business… if you know what I mean.

Twitter - A social networking site that allows you to keep in touch by sending out quick, frequent messages.

Tweet - A short (140 character) message.

Tweeple - People who use Twitter.

Mistweet - A tweet you didn’t mean to send or a tweet with a poor choice or misspelled words.

TweetUp - An ‘in person’ meeting between Twitter users.

Twoosh - A perfect 140 character tweet.

Followers - Tweeters who are following your tweets. Followers will see any updates you make on their homepage of Twitter.

Following - Tweeters you’re following. You will see any updates (tweets) on your homepage from anyone you’re following.

Direct Messages - You can send a direct message to another user by using the message link on their profile page, the reply icon from your own direct message, or using the command d + username + message. Only you and the person you are direct messaging will see the contents of the tweets.

Favorites - You can store any of your favorite tweets by clicking the star icon by the message. (You must hover over the message to see this icon).

@replies - By using the @ + username, you can direct a tweet at a specific user. This type of messaging is publicly visible.

ReTweet - To re-send a previous tweet or to resend someone else's tweet so it reaches a larger audience.

Since tweets are limited to 140 characters, acronyms and short hand run rampant all over the site. To help you understand what’s going on and write your own short and sweet tweets, check out this list of acronyms.