Since 2008, Twitter has steadily become one of the most used
tools for conversation, trending topics, events and most recently – a source
for news, political platforms, and an unprecedented direct access to celebrity
and public figures.
If you’re not very active on Twitter, you may feel a bit
underwhelmed – I know I did when I first joined. What is the big deal anyway?
Isn’t it just a bunch of people telling us what they’re eating and where their
next vacation is? Well – yes, sometimes but the success of Twitter lies in the
vast capability of broadcasting to people that already share the same
interests, ideas and people and businesses like you. In other words, your
audience finds you – not the other way around as it used to be.
In another post, we’ll be talking about several uses for
Twitter including for business, and you may want to take a look at this post we
created on just what kinds of tweets you should be making to keep relevant and
well-rounded. But for now, let’s explore what all those symbols and hashtag
things are all about.
TWITTER TERMS
1. The @handle (username)
Everyone that uses Twitter has a username. In order to
include people or companies in the conversation, you must “tag” them on your
tweet preceded with an @ symbol. For example, “We’re having a blast learning #socialmedia
with @fuzz today!” (@fuzz) is my account, so I’ll get a notification that you
were talking about me. This also makes it very likely I’ll reply or “re-tweet”
your post – gaining us both more attention.
2. The #hashtag
Twitter is all about conversations happening in any given
moment. The hashtag symbol # followed by a word, or group of connected words
makes them trackable and includes that topic in a group of others that may be
discussing the same topic.
If a topic of interest is appearing with a large amount of
people, it is considered a “trending” topic and more likely to appear in
searches and the new “moments” feature Twitter just launched. In our earlier
example, “We’re having a blast learning #socialmedia with @fuzz today!” –
anyone searching about #socialmedia would see our tweet along with all of the
others. It’s a great way to put your topic or industry in the front of the
line.
3. Tweet
One writes a letter for the mail, an e-mail message for your
inbox, and a “tweet” on Twitter. This is the message you will send out to the
world at any given moment. The format is usually on the more casual side, and
you only have 140 characters to say what you want to say. The micro-blogging
platform allows a lot of information and conversations to be seen at one time.
Imagine entering a cocktail party, and hearing part of a conversation here,
part of one there and when you hear something
that interests you, you can stay a bit longer to hear more. Twitter is very
similar.
4. Follow
With over 300 million active users per month, things can get
a little noisy. To help focus what kind of tweets you’d like to see, or to keep
track of certain companies or people you can “follow” them. The more people
follow you, the bigger your audience becomes. Following is usually a two-way
street in the Twitter verse. Imagine exchanging phone numbers at that cocktail
party. It would be kind of rude to only ask for one and not give one in return.
This should help get you started – so go out there and start
listening and joining the conversations!
Happy Tweeting!
Justin
