SmallBizResource Blog -- Marketing

13 Twitter-Speak Translations

Posted by Gayle Kesten Monday, Jun 22, 2009, 01:56 PM ET

"What the heck IS this Twitter thing?" The frequency with which small-business owners and entrepreneurs continue to ask me that question -- as recently as two hours ago by one of the dads at an end-of-the-year school function, and last week during two interviews for profile pieces -- signals to me that, a) word is truly getting out beyond those of us who live in this social media cocoon, and, b) people assume way more is involved with Twitter than is actually the case.

The beauty of this microblogging site, I enthusiastically tell them, lays in its 140-character simplicity. Sorry: The time suck excuse won't fly where Twitter is consider (no bad bird pun intended). But what seems to throw them off during a verbal explanation are Twitter's particulars, such as tweets, and retweets, and hash tags (oh my). Though there's not much to learn beyond this limited lingo -- a tweet, for example, is another word for a post -- the perceived language barrier stops them (you?) from joining the Twitter ranks no matter how compelling the argument is to give it a try.

So consider the following Twitter definitions, courtesy of Network Solutions' Kenneth Yeung, your Berlitz guide to Twitter. The first batch are the words/phrases I see used most commonly:

1. Avatar: A picture of you or something that you think represents you that will be associated with your Twitter profile. It is preferable to have it be your brand or a picture of yourself -- that way people will be able to know that they are (1) talking to someone serious about communication, (2) a real human being, and/or (3) you're professional.


2. DM -- Direct Message: One of the core features of Twitter is the ability to send a direct message to your friends. Currently the only way to send DMs is if the recipient is following you; for that person to respond with a DM, you would need to be following them. Direct messaging is the way on Twitter for you to send private messages that aren't restricted to 140 characters.

3. #Hashtag: Hashtags are phrases or keywords that can be used to monitor who is saying what about a particular topic. Take, for example, the latest elections in Iran. If you wanted to see which tweeters are saying something about the Iran elections, then on Twitter's search engine you can just input the common hashtag (in this case, it's #IranElection), and voila! Standards for hashtags are one word (#Conference) or multiple words strewn together without any spaces (#EventConferenceTheme).

4. RT -- Retweet: A retweet is basically reposting someone's previous tweet. This is not necessarily a sign that you agree or disagree with what they tweet, but probably that 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.

5. Twitter handle: This is the name that designates someone on Twitter. When someone asks what your Twitter handle is, you would give them your username. In my case, it would be "thekenyeung" so when someone wants to reply to me, using the standard format for sending a tweet to someone, it would be "@thekenyeung." (See @ definition below.)


6. URL Shortener: Since Twitter only allows 140 characters, every single character counts. URL shorteners are Web sites that easily convert any URL into a shortened form and some will even offer tracking capability that you can see how many twitter followers click on the link. Examples of URL shorteners include TinyURL, Bit.ly, and is.gd.

From that same compilation, but new to me:

7. Fail Whale: Perhaps more synonymous with the Web 1.0 days of an error page that you received when you typed in the wrong Web address or went to a link that had a broken page. The fail whale is Twitter's version of saying that something is broken. Anything that works one moment and then breaks the next because of some faulty error or code will typically be stated as "seeing the fail whale."


8. Fail: Closely associated with the Fail Whale. Fail is the slang term that can be used to mean that something or someone has failed to meet expectations. You might tweet your disappointment followed by the word "Fail." If your objective is not met, then you could say the status is also "Fail."

9. 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. An example would be if I needed some information and tweeted out a question, and someone responds with the answer. My next tweet would be. "John Doe FTW!"

10. H/T -- Hat Tip: A hat tip is an acknowledgement that the tweet you are sending was entirely or partially inspired by someone else's tweet or conversation. Failure to attribute ideas and tweets to their source is poor etiquette.

And three more from a list of 15 acronyms on a site called Pistachio that seems more appropriate for the texting crowd:

11. @: Used to reply to a specific person. Reply to @[username].


12. OH -- Overheard: "OH" is commonly used at conferences or while traveling. OH indicates a quotation of someone else's remarks.

13. PRT -- Partial Retweet / Please Retweet: In the first sense, PRT means the RT'ed tweet has been edited, usually to fit a username within the character limit.

Any others you use or are stumping you? Please share in the Comments field below.

As for the following video...I couldn't resist. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GayleKesten.

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