Must Know Twitter Abbreviations For Beginners

Short and Sweet

Twitter is one of the most popular social networking services on the Internet today. Also called micro-blogging, Twitter has a limit of 140 characters, which makes using the service a study in brevity. Twitter users have had to be remarkably creative in order to produce their messages or ‘tweets,’ and a series of abbreviations and tweet customs have come into being to allow more space for the meat of the message. Whether the Twitter service is used for personal reasons or for business and marketing, members need to have a working knowledge of the basic abbreviations and customs, not only to understand what is being said in the Twitter-verse, but also to respond with their own tweets.

Twitter’s Own Language

@username. It’s customary to use this abbreviation when responding to someone’s tweet or to acknowledge the author of an original message when forwarding tweets. The @ sign not only tells readers that the tweet is directed at someone, but the Twitter system also creates an automatic link to that username’s profile. When forwarding a message, or retweeting, it’s both polite and necessary to use this abbreviation, to show others that the message originated with someone else.

#topic. The hashtag is customarily used to indicated a specific topic or theme that the tweet falls under. This can give readers an easily understood, quick reference to the meaning of the tweet.

RT. This abbreviation announces that the message following it is a retweet, or a forwarded message, and not the original content of the tweeter. Retweeting helps readers to understand what the tweeter is responding to if they add their own comment to the tweet, and it is also a great way to spread information or ideas, or to show others what the person tweeting finds interesting.

PRT. This abbreviation stands for either Please ReTweet or Partial ReTweet. Either the tweeter is asking for people to forward their message or they are announcing that the retweet has been edited.

DM. This abbreviation refers to Twitter’s Direct Messaging service. Tweeters can use this service to send private messages to one another.

TMB. This abbreviation stands for Tweet Me Back and is used when a tweeter is requesting a response from the target of their tweet.

URLs. The Twitter service is a great platform for sharing links, but often URLs are much too long for the character limit. It’s customary to use sites on the Internet like tinyurl.com or tweetburner.com to shorten URLs for use in the Twitter-verse. Not only will the shortened URLs fit within the character limit, but usually this shortening will leave room for further comment and even retweeting comments.

Common Acronyms

As part of the social network evolution, Twitter has produced its own language and abbreviations, but users have also borrowed acronyms from previous social platforms like chatting and forums. Some of the most common that Twitter users may come across are:

• TY—thank you
• YW—you’re welcome
• OH—overheard
• BTW—by the way
• FTW—for the win
• FTL—for the lose
• IRL—in real life
• FTF—face to face
• LMK—let me know
• IMHO—in my humble (or honest) opinion
• LOL—laugh out loud
• FB—Facebook
• TMI—too much information

Twittering With Confidence

The world of the Internet comes complete with its own language and culture, and the Twitter-verse continues this communication evolution. For the inexperienced, use of this networking service can be daunting. But with knowledge of the basic abbreviations, acronyms, and customs, any individual or company can enter the Twitter-verse and begin conversing with confidence.

If I have missed anything or you have any comments, please let me know in the comments section below.

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