Twitter Terminology

Over the years, Twitter has developed into one of the most widely used social media platforms globally.  When using Twitter, you might come across some terms that are unique to the platform. By adopting these terms, you will be able to use the platform in the best way possible and effectively communicate with the growing Twitter community. To start using Twitter like a pro, here are definitions of some of the most popular Twitter terms you will come across.

Tweet - A Tweet is a message posted on Twitter, consisting of 140 characters or less. It can contain text, photos, links and videos. It’s important to note that whenever you include any of these things they will be counted as a link and automatically take up to 22 characters.

@ - The @ sign is used for usernames in Tweets: "Hello @Twitter!" People will use your @username to mention you in Tweets, send you a message or link it to your profile.
·         # - The # sign is used for hashtags. If you click on a hashtag i.e. #Nigeria, you will see all the Tweets containing #Nigeria.

·         Direct Messages (or DM) - Direct Messages are private messages sent from one Twitter user to another Twitter user. You can use Direct Messages for one-on-one private conversations, or between groups of usersand unlike Tweets, they have no character limit. 

·         Favorite - Favoriting a Tweet shows that you liked the Tweet and you can find all of your favorite Tweets by clicking on the favorites link on your profile page.  To favorite a Tweet, tap the star icon on the Tweet and the user who Tweeted it will see that you favorited it.

·         Follow - Subscribing to a Twitter account is called “following.” To start following, click the Follow button on the right hand side of their profile page to see their Tweets as soon as they post something new. Anyone on Twitter can follow or unfollow anyone else at any time, with the exception of blocked accounts.  For private accounts, the request to follow has to be accepted before you can see this user’s Tweets. 
·         Mention - If your Tweet contains @ sign followed by someone’s username, this is called a mention.  This will notify the user of your Tweet and you will be notified if someone mentions you in their Tweet.

·         Notifications - The Notifications timeline displays your interactions with other Twitter users, like mentions, favorites, Retweets and who has recently followed you. You can request for Twitter to notify you of this activity.

·         Retweet (RT) - A Retweet is where you choose to take a Tweet from someone else and Tweet it to your own followers. You can either do this directly with the Retweet button or you can use the Quote Tweet button to add your own message to the original Tweet.

·         Timeline - Home is your real-time stream of Tweets from those you follow.

·         Trends -.A Trend is a topic or hashtag determined algorithmically to be one of the most popular on Twitter at that moment. You can choose to tailor Trends based on your location and who you follow.  You can find Trends on the left hand side of the home page.

·         Bio - Your bio is a short personal description that appears in your profile that enables you to let other users know who you are in up to 160 characters.

·         Profile - Your profile shows all the information you have given Twitter to share such as your name, website address, location and when you joined Twitter.

·         Protected/private accounts - Twitter accounts are automatically public when first joined, which means anybody on Twitter can see your Tweets.  Choosing to protect your account means that your Tweets will only be seen by approved followers and will not appear in search.

·         Timestamp - The date and time a Tweet was posted to Twitter. A Tweet's timestamp can be found in grey text in the detail view of any Tweet