Twittionary: A Guide to Twitter Terms and Shorthand Abbreviations

Ross Penkala, TSNE communications internBy Ross Penkala
Communications Intern

With the many different Twitter guides on the Internet it may be difficult to find one that works for you or your organization. Here at Third Sector New England, we wanted to provide our staff with an accurate account of what is happening and the language used throughout the Twitterverse. This twittionary was created as a guide for staff beginning to read and use Twitter. It includes words, phrases and abbreviations that are relevant while tweeting about the nonprofit sector.

Twitter birdTweeting – "the act of posting a message" – is different than blogging or other online writing, because you have to communicate your message in only 140 characters. When tweeting, if you feel that you need more than a single message of 140 or fewer characters to fully communicate your point, rethink the message. You don’t want to carry your point over to an additional tweet, because no one wants to read the next tweet to understand what you are trying to say. Instead shorten your message. With Twitter, less really is more. 

Remember that when you’re tweeting, you’re tweeting on behalf of your nonprofit, and every Twitter update will reflect your organization. You are developing an online reputation with constituents and peers, so always make sure you're adding something useful to the conversation.

Technical Twitter Terms

Twitter Feed: An ongoing stream of Twitter messages (tweets)

@ = Mention: A way of talking directly to or mentioning another user on Twitter (i.e., @username [@tsne])

# = Hashtag: A way of categorizing tweets on Twitter (i.e., #sports, #movies, #nptech, #fundraising, etc.)

DM = Direct Message: Twitter’s private message feature, used when contacting a person about more personal issues – very much like email (i.e., d @username [d @tsne])

RT = Retweet: A tool for reposting a useful, intelligent or relevant tweet that someone else has already tweeted

TTs = Trending Topics: The current top 10 most tweeted words or phrases on Twitter, usually displayed to the right of one’s Twitter feed

Commonly Used Conversational Twitter Abbreviations and Acronyms

Most of the abbreviations and acronyms below are considered unacceptable in day-to-day writing. However, Twitter’s140 character limit means that most tweets often contain at least one of them. While many may not appear in professional tweeting, you may come across them when reading tweets by avid Twitter users.

  • 1 instead of one or won
  • 2 instead of two, to or too
  • 4 instead of four or for
  • abt instead of about
  • b4 instead of before
  • b/c or bcz instead of because
  • btw instead of by the way
  • cld instead of could
  • FB instead of Facebook
  • IMO instead of in my opinion
  • IMHO instead of in my honest (humble) opinion
  • IRL instead of in real life
  • L8(er) instead of late(r)
  • lol instead of laugh out loud
  • plz instead of please
  • ppl instead of people
  • R instead of are
  • thx instead of thanks
  • TY instead of thank you
  • U instead of you
  • ur instead of your
  • w/ instead of with
  • wld instead of would
  • YW instead of you’re welcome

Other Twitter Language and Applications to Know

Promoted Tweets = a source of revenue for Twitter:  Companies are able to “purchase” these tweets to appear in certain search results on Twitter’s website.

Lists = a way to organize the people you follow on Twitter:  Lists can be made with any form of categorization in mind. (i.e. family, news, foundations, local shelters, etc.)

Tweet Up: A real-life meeting organized on Twitter

URL Shorteners: Tools to condense URLs to fit within the 140 character limit of Twitter

HootSuite: A website and online brand management service that publishes to Twitter and other social media

TweetDeck*: A desktop (or mobile) application for Twitter and other social media that allows users to send and receive tweets and view profiles on the user's desktop

Now, use your very own nonprofit Twittionary to tweet on!

* Applications like TweetDeck are an excellent way to manage multiple accounts and lists for an organization in one place.


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