Is Twitter too confusing for you? There are so many social networks out there that it can be difficult to keep  up with all of them.

Here’s one simple test… try to decipher the following message, which you can assume was posted by @inConcertWeb:

“You’re welcome! MT @captainamycakes @inConcertWeb TFTF! #FF”

Did you get it?

Continue reading this article for the answer…

Luckily for you, we’ve put together this helpful glossary of Twitter-related terms so that you can stay on top of your game in the online world.

Twitter handle – “Handle” is just another word for “username”. Check us out on Twitter – our handle is @inConcertWeb.

Twitterer – Someone who uses Twitter. One amusing plural for this term is “tweeple”.

Tweet – A tweet is a single post. Some busy Twitterers may have amassed hundreds of thousands of Tweets over time, while other accounts may not even have a single Tweet posted and are used more for browsing than for contributing.

Follow – To follow someone means that their Tweets will appear in your news feed. Don’t forget that if your Tweets aren’t public, anyone you follow will be able to view them. As with anything you post on the Internet, just because you haven’t granted access to a specific person doesn’t mean it’s impossible for them to find it, so be careful not to post anything that could put you in danger or other troublesome situations.

Block – If you don’t want to interact with an individual for whatever reason, you can block their account, which means that their Tweets will not appear in your stream, and they will no longer be able to Tweet at you or send you messages.

DM – DM stands for Direct Message. These messages are not public Tweets – they are private messages between two Twitterers.

RT – RT means “retweet”, and there are two ways of retweeting someone, depending on how you are accessing Twitter. Sometimes you will see Tweets that start with “RT” and that means they have copied and pasted the rest of their Tweet from another Twitter account. Other times, you will see Tweets in your stream from Twitterers that you do not recognized, with “Retweeted by so-and-so” underneath (so-and-so being someone that you have already followed).

MT – Much like RT, MT is a label for Tweets that aren’t your own. It stands for Modified Tweet, a very straightforward term that simply means a Tweet that you have copied, modified and reposted. Often this will be because someone wants to add their own opinion, either before or after the original message.

TFTF – This term means “Thanks For The Follow” and is used more often by Twitterers who are trying to grow their networks and expand their audiences, rather than the casual Twitterer posting about mundane daily life details.

Fail Whale – The Fail Whale is a character created by Twitter for their error page, which appears when Twitter is over capacity or having issues for whatever reason. This is an attempt on Twitter’s part to use humor and cute animals to assuage the rage of Twitter users experiencing a failure. Don’t worry if you’ve never seen the Fail Whale – that just means you’re not having any Twitter problems.

Avatar – This term is not strictly limited to Twitter, but it’s worth including! It means the photo that you choose to associate with your account. Most people I know refer to this as their “profile photo” since that’s what it’s officially called on Facebook. Others call it their “default photo” or similar terms.

Now, to figure out that message! Here it is again, and remember, we’re assuming this message was posted by @inConcertWeb:

“You’re welcome! MT @captainamycakes @inConcertWeb TFTF! #FF”

Here’s the breakdown:

  • The message contains “MT” which means part of the Tweet was originally posted by someone other than @inConcertWeb. It’s usually safe to assume that the beginning of the Tweet (“You’re welcome!”) is the part that was added by @inConcertWeb before they posted it.
  • @captainamycakes is the Twitter handle listed immediately after MT, which is usually a good indicator that @captainamycakes is the Twitterer who posted the original message. From that, we can deduce that the original message was most likely “@inConcertWeb TFTF! #FF”
  • “TFTF” means “Thanks For The Follow”, and @captainamycakes’ message is directed to the Twitter handle @inConcertWeb, so we can conclude that @inConcertWeb recently followed @captainamycakes, who is expressing gratitude.
  • The Tweet is tagged with #FF, so it’s likely that @inConcertWeb began following @captainamycakes on a Friday, or that @captainamycakes was included in a #FollowFriday tweet that @inConcertWeb saw and responded to by following @captainamycakes.

So to sum it all up, @inConcertWeb found @captainamycakes on Twitter on a Friday and followed her account, which prompted her to say thanks. Then @inConcertWeb replied with a “You’re welcome” and included some context so that others would know why.

If that still doesn’t make sense to you, we’re here for you! At inConcert Web Solutions, we have a team of experienced individuals with the knowledge to help you with any of your web needs. Call us today or contact us on the web.