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RT - Rarely stylized as “R/T,” RT stands for “retweet,” an action on tweeting where someone broadcasts the message of another person they are following. Trending hashtags are topics, phrases or games that the Twitterverse is actively participating in, and they usually reflect a current event or news item.Įx: “I really loved that article on #winning” When coupled together with a word or phrase, it helps to produce a sentiment that could be regarded at the theme of the tweet itself without all the extra characters.
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Also note: place a period before the beginning of the if you plan on beginning your message with a mention, or else Twitter will only send that tweet to people who follow both you and the person you are mentioning.Įx: “I really loved that article on - Also known as the hashtag, the # symbol is another necessary component to producing a well done (and well shared) tweet. Plus, it can even pare down the character count from the get go: it’s much easier (and shorter) to refer to United Airlines as for example. In tweets, is the necessary marker for the system to recognize when you’re talking to someone and therefore alert them of the mention. Beginner’s LingoĬheck the - The symbol is easily the most important thing on Twitter, because without it, you will never be able to communicate.
HATTIP ABBREVIATION PRO
From the basic beginner to a tweet-savvy expert, this cheat sheet will help you navigate the perplexing and concentrated language that often appears in the stream, and make you seem like a regular pro in no time. This is why The Next Web has developed this quick and handy guide to Twitter’s most stalwart phrases. Unfortunately, these phrases are also often just gibberish to the uninformed eye, making it horribly confusing to parse through the information that quickly floats by in the news stream. Plus, there’s an odd satisfaction one gets from distilling a five-word sentence into a five-character word. These handy snippets of language - some no more than a single symbol - have been instrumental in fostering more sophisticated sharing and discourse simply because they are small. Thankfully, a special subset of finite abbreviations and techniques have cropped up to help optimize your own Twitter lingo.
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If you want to make a big statement with a small message, you have to trim the fat. But, perhaps even worse, no good tweet is ever going to be 140 characters because it’s impossible to share, respond or reference a tweet that’s already at it’s max. Unfortunately, our traditional methods of communication have proven to be a poor training ground for micro-messaging, and even the most savvy platform users have sighed in exasperation as those bright red negative character signs mock our basic intelligence.
The beauty and challenge of Twitter is stuffing your most sophisticated thoughts and feelings into a measly 140 characters (or less).
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