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You might be getting going on twitter because your mates use it, because your manager has asked that you do, because you would like to market your business, or simply because you want to discover what all the fascination is about. But irrespective of the rationale, when you first join up, it can look as if there is something of a learning curve when you start viewing the first tweets in your tweetstream.

It can definitely look bewildering - @, RT, #, hashtags, tweet-ups, trending topics - what ARE these things? Well, in this report I'm going to explain it all.

A lot of these twitter abbreviations stem from the well-known fact that each time you post on twitter, it has to consist of less than 140 characters. It is for this reason that space is at a premium, so there just is not room, in a lot of tweets, to add "for the attention of..." or "I'm discussing...".

Twitter Slang Guidebook

@ - pronounced 'at', this is going to be recognizable from emails. On twitter, it is put into use as a way to direct a person's interest to your tweet. So if you want to send a tweet specifically to Ashton Kutcher, you begin it with @aplusk Getting a tweet with @ ahead of your username means that it will show up in the "@mentions" column on the twitter web-site, or in whichever twitter program you use. Likewise, when you utilize @, the individual whose name follows it is less likely to miss it because it will turn up in their 'mentions' column too.

RT - an abbreviation of 'retweet'. A retweet is when you discover a tweet that is so good, you would like to share it with your own followers too. Unspoken twitter manners means that it is unacceptable to just copy and paste it, preferably, always retweet it to credit the initial tweeter. You make this happen by, if you are retweeting Bill Cosby, you start it with RT @billcosby, then the original tweet. Nowadays, the kind of RT that I have just detailed is referred to as an "old retweet". This refers to the fact that all those who use twitter from the twitter.com web site can no longer retweet posts in that way. Now the only retweets available are the "new retweets", where you have no possibility to add your own thoughts or commentary to the start. The majority of the twitter software that can be obtained will provide you with both possibilities, and even a newer "new retweet" which, ironically, is similar to an old RT but as opposed to starting with RT @billcosby, it puts Bill's whole tweet between quotation marks.

On account of the structure of the retweet, including the @ from the original tweeter, every retweet will appear in their @mentions column for each and every retweet they get. So, if another person retweets your tweets, you can find out by taking a look at your personal @mentions column.

# - a hashtag. This is used on twitter as a shortened way of saying "what I am talking about is...". So, a tweet might read "This is so hilarious! #frasier" or "Take a look at our latest offers #cupcakes #baking".

Tweet-up - A tweet-up is when individuals who met on twitter get together in real life.

Trending topics - When hundreds or thousands of people on twitter are all talking about the exact same thing - frequently a TV program or a breaking news story - it can develop into a trending topic. These are presented in the right hand column on the twitter web site, frequently in the form of hashtags.

So with these basic principles, you'll be able to now go forth and begin the process of making use of twitter without dread!