The tagline on Twitter’s homepage reads, “The best way to discover what’s new in your world.” I believe that to be true; however, it’s also true that in order to ‘discover what’s new’ on Twitter you have to learn a new language just to understand what people are saying!
Well, maybe it’s not that dramatic, but I do get questions about ‘Twitter Language’ ALL THE TIME. In this post I hope to address the most common of these questions.
There are essentially three different pieces of jargon that came into being thanks to Twitter. All three of them were created on the basis of Twitter’s search capability: the ability to search tweets (or status updates). Twitter itself didn’t invent them. In fact they were all created by the users who were actively engaging with Twitter when it was first released. This fascinates me. Let’s get started!
[This is part of the How To: Social Media Series, check out the rest of the series HERE.]
1. Why do you keep putting ‘@’ before people’s name?
I don’t get this question as much anymore since Facebook has taken the idea and implemented their own version. This was originally referred to as an ‘at-mention’.
An ‘at-mention’ is performed by placing the ‘@’ symbol in front of a person’s username.This signifies that you are speaking to or quoting the person designated after the ‘@’ symbol.
When you do this, the user who is being named receives a notification that they have been ‘mentioned’. So if you are replying to them or quoting them, they are made aware of it. It is most commonly used in the ‘Reply‘ feature and also as part of the next thing I’ll be talking about which is the “RETWEET“…
2. Retweet, RT, Via @SOANDSO– What are you saying?!
“What does RT mean? What is a ‘RETWEET‘? What does it mean when you put ‘via @soandso‘?” This, my friends, is the ever-evolving realm of the retweet.
The RETWEET is a way of quoting another Twitter user and giving them credit for the original tweet. It’s the twitter version of citing your source.
The retweet has gone through many different formats throughout its history. It started before Twitter developed a native ‘Retweet Button‘ as a way of not only quoting someone, but allowing you to also add your two cents to what they said. It is done by adding the letters ‘RT‘ before an ‘at-mention‘, followed by copying and pasting what the user said. For instance:
RT @DustinWStout: In case you missed it – “How To: Customize Your Twitter Background” – dustn.ws/dIJ1qR
— coconut flapjacks (@coconutflapjack) March 23, 2011
This user reposted something I said, but made sure people knew it was me who originally said it. Make sense? Good.
Another form of retweeting someone is by copying exactly what they said and adding the phrase ‘via @soandso‘ to the end. This was created (to my knowledge) by TweetDeck. I could be wrong though, if you know the originator of this format, please let me know! 
Example:
RT @adamtucker: Top Social Sites You Should Be On | DUSTN dustn.us/blog/top-socia… via @DustinWStout
— Dustin W. Stout (@DustinWStout) March 29, 2011
I managed to work in both the RT style AND the ‘via @‘ style in that one. Here’s what happened in that tweet in case you’re lost: I quoted (copied and pasted) what AdamTuckerhad tweeted (a link to one of my blogs) and he indicated that I was his source by adding “via @DustinWStout” at the end. Confused? It’s okay, keep reading, you’ll get it in about an hour when you’re not thinking about it.
Using the native Twitter ‘RETWEET‘ button requires no special Twitter lingo knowledge. Moving on to the next, MOST MISUNDERSTOOD Twitter communicative device– the ‘hashtag‘!
3. What is ‘#’ for, and what in the world is a ‘HASHTAG’?!
Like I said before, this is the most misunderstood AND misused communicative device in the Twitterverse (haha– another piece of Twitter terminology that I’ve subtly worked in).
The ‘#’ symbol is used to signify the beginning of a ‘hashtag’. A ‘hashtag‘ is like an ‘at-mention‘ but instead of indicating a person, it indicates a context for what the tweet is about.
Example:
“Whatever it is you fear, you are compensating for it in your leadership.” – @AndyStanley #CatWest
— Catalyst (@CatalystLeader) April6, 2011
In the example above, the author (CatalystLeader) was quoting AndyStanley and they wanted to signify that it was a quote from the event #CatWest (which is short for Catalyst West). This is the most common practice for hashtags, though it’s not limited to events. A hashtag is simply a way of giving a CONTEXT to what is being said.
Hashtags are often seen amongst Twitter’s ‘Trending Topics’ (a list of the most tweeted words or phrases– just gave you another BONUS term! BAM!).
And there you have it! A crash course in this weird, enigmatic language from the Twitterverse! Congratulations, you made it through!
Was this helpful in any way, or was it just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo? What are some other questions you have that I haven’t answered? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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So in regard to the misuse of the hastags…can you give some examples? By context do you mean it was not realy meant for the #Winning that our friend Mr Sheen decided to use it or was it not meant to be used to make things “trend” like #samuelhahn
Thanks,
David
What I mean (mostly) by the misuse of hashtags is when you see things like this: “I’m tired. #shouldnthavegoneoutlastnightandpartiedlikecrazycausethatwasabadidea” Newsflash, you could have just tweeted that without creating a hashtag. lol! The point of a hashtag is to join in a conversation that others are already having, or that they might join by a mutual experience. The longer your hashtag, the less likely it is that someone else is using it.
I’m feeling like I’m being called out, Dustin! I do have a question. Is there anyway of knowing if your hashtag will work in the tweet before you posting it? I suppose I could search it. However, it might interfere with the inspiration that hits when I’ve completed my tweet.
Yes, I recommend you search the hashtag before you tweet it… you never know what conversation you could be joining.
I get it, so it’s used mostly to connect you into an existing converstion but using it to make a shoutout is not uncommon but yeah, obviously making a drawn out statement is sorta rediculous. One of favorites has to be #JesusSwagger
Yes, helpful: I had been wondering about the hashtag thing. Thanks for de-mystifying this for me.
Glad I could help!
It was helpful and thanks for the shout out my friend!
Solid stuff man. #YouAreAwesome
I have been so busy lately, that when I saw this I was compelled to stop in and post.
I am loving how much I am learning from your blogs. I find myself posting and thinking…”Hey..I learned that tip from Dustin!” Thanks!
You’re welcome David! It’s nice to hear I’m actually helping people! You’re going to love this series I’m working on (once I actually get it going). I think next week will be a heavy social media category week.