UPDATE:
I just realized that this post has been re-tweeted a bunch of times. Pretty awesome (new to me) Thanks.Alright, there are approximately ten million articles out there with the theme "Secrets of How to Conquer the World Using Twitter." This isn't one of them. Neither is this a preachy compilation of "Twitter
do's and
don'ts." I'm just looking to make some suggestions and start a conversation.
Twitter is a medium where being concise is a necessity, and since we're not all Ernest Hemingway, we should establish a baseline for tweet abbreviation. I'm not talking about the "ROFL"s and "CUL8R"s; my entire being intensely opposes this kind of homophonic reduction. I don't know why, but let's move on...
There are a few punctuation marks we're not using effectively; they can come to the rescue for Twitter shorthand. Adopting some common rules will help us save characters, better categorize our tweets and get the most value from the service.
I'll stick to punctuation marks that are actually on the computer keyboard and in the symbol pad of most phones. I know that we're ignoring the rest of a glorious character map, but
simplicity is key with twitter. We'll begin with a bit of grammar and twitter background to build reference, and then move up to the more "advanced" operators.
Before you start running around giving your twitter password to third party sites, you need to check out
search.twitter.com. Getting started, everyone follows a few famous people and news sources, but you can use "advanced" search to find people near you geographically, or who have similar interests.
@ - "At" is the basic punctuation mark of Twitter, and the only one that the makers of the site have designated use for. @username sends a tweet to that person. If the tweet has @username somewhere in the middle, it won't show up in their "@ replies" box on the right. This is sometimes necessary if you want to reply to multiple people with one tweet.
Go to search.twitter.com and search for your username (no @ symbol), then bookmark the results. That way, if someone mentions your name, or tweets @ you in the middle of a tweet, you are sure to see it.
# - Pound Symbol, also known as "hash tag," which people tend to mis and over-use. The beauty of twitter is it's transparency and searchability. You don't need to hash a tweet if you have already used the word you're re-hashing. The important time to add a hashtag is when you're contributing to a discussion tracked by an abbreviation, like #techGOP. Another time to use a hash tag is when you want to create a meme or make a point. See: #johnmccainknows
EG - "For example." A classic Latin abbreviation that remains the height of grammatical fashion for pseudo-intellectuals. Remember EG as Example Given.
IE - More Latin, meaning "that is to say." not to be confused with
Internet Explorer. But who on twitter uses THAT? Think of IE as "In Effect" to avoid confusion with EG. Expands an idea or restates a phrase for clarity.
& - Amperstand is your friend. You just saved two characters & some time. See what fun this is?
RT - The most selfless thing you can do on twitter is Re-tweet a great link or quote, giving credit to the original poster instead of plagiarizing it as your own insight or discovery. It's the Twitter equivalent of forwarding an email.
// - The Forward Slash gets a lot of work following http:, but we use it even more. One thing severely lacking in text and twitter is the ability to write in bold and italics. You can get the bold effect simply by using CAPITALS, but for italics you have to be a little more subtle. I use the slash to simulate the /slanty/.
{ , } - Braces. Often with a RT, the original tweet gets mingled with commentary added afterward. It gets especially confusing if the comment is in disagreement with the original tweet. Using these symbols to "close" a RT makes clear where the commentary begins and looks neater than quotation marks:
{RT @DerekNP81 I like peas} I liek them 2! Ure awesome!* - The Asterisk is traditionally used for emoting, *sighs and shakes head disapprovingly* but I'd like to see two asterisk in a row used to denote an original tweet. That is, it contains a link to your original content.
**
http://youtube.com/dereknp81 . How much value would this add to Twitter search?
% and | - Percent and vertical bar. For song lyrics, poetry, anything where you want to convey a little rhythm. I know you can get that neat quarter-note symbol that blip.fm uses, but you have to memorize alt+something to insert it. Remember, simplicity.
%Oops I did it again |I played with your heart |Guess I'm not that innocent.< and > - less than, greater than. If you're a science-type person, you probably already use these. Not just for comparing numbers, they can mean "Is superior too," or "preferred over."
The Empire Strikes Back > Return of the Jedi.
2008 Oprah < 2004 Oprah~ - Tilda is used in math notation to signify "approximately." On Twitter, we can use it to say "Reminds me of" or "is a lot like."
\ - Forward slash _ - Underscore
^ - Caret - [Update: this symbol has been suggested to signify "high-five". ^5 to
@LegalEagle2009, &
@Ylice` - Grave Accent.These last few, I can't think of a good use for on Twitter. You think of some suggestions, then tweet'em
@dereknp81.
