Blossom Nnodim
In
my daily run to grasp as much as I can from the drama, inspiration and
value that Twitter has to offer, I recently came across a certain “bio”
of a Twitter user. It reads, “RTs: N150. Read/Share: N1k; Subs: N5k
(corporate), N2k (private); Hashtag: N100k (for duration), Voltrons:
N50k, LMAOs: N200/laff Followback: N3k; Trending: N500k; Avi Change:
N100k.”
To a newbie (a new user) on Twitter, it
will not account for much but for a seasoned and proficient Twitter
user, it will certainly warrant a second look. In my own case, my
initial reaction was a feverish burst of laughter which was quickly
followed by a deep reflection on the assumed value that Twitter can
offer.
In a spate of seconds, I realised that
there was a need to write an article that can attempt to explain certain
terms especially within the Nigerian Twittersphere.
I will only make an attempt to list and
explain as much terms as I can think of but will thoroughly appreciate
if more terms are suggested and via your comments and emails.
Username:
This is the name that a user is
identified with on Twitter. It is different from your profile name.
Whereas the former has the “at” sign (@) the latter could be the actual
name of the twitter user, his/her brand, event, etc.
Example: My profile name on Twitter is Nnodim Blossom and my username is @blcompere.
Bio: This is your Twitter
biography. Your Twitter ‘bio’ is more or less like a definition of who
you are and why folks would want to connect with you. It must embrace
the gospel of brevity as you are limited to just 160-characters.
Example: My Twitter “bio” reads:
“Author| Blogger| Compère| Passionately using Social Media for Social
Good. The duo of @AdoptATweep and @NewMediaNaija are registered
trademarks of @blcompere.”
Avi: This is your Twitter avatar.
It basically means the photo you upload on your profile page.Twitter
automatically gives you an initial photo as a user. This is a photo of
an egg that is yet to hatch. The first thing you are expected to do on
creating an account is to change this photo to a desired one. It could
be a photo of you or anything/anyone that you are pleasantly proud to be
associated with.
Tweet: This is the message you
send out to your followers. Twitter tries to lure you to post a message
or an update with the words “Compose new Tweet…” as shown in the tweet
box. By default, each tweet must not be more than 140-characters. As
such the gospel of brevity must be embraced.
@replies: This is also known as
“mentions.” An “at” sign (@) is normally used in front of a Twitter
username to reply to someone, to refer to the person, or to directly
engage the person in a conversation. A tweet that begins with
“@username” will only appear on the home pages of followers who also
follow the person you’re referencing, but if the @username of the folk
is placed later in the tweet, it appears to everyone who is also
following you.
Retweeting (RT): Retweeting
involves sharing someone else’s tweet with your followers. It more or
less amplifies the thoughts originally shared by one Twitter user to
folks that are not directly connected with the person on twitter.
Typically, when one sees a tweet that you think would add some form of
value to your followers, you can click the “retweet” button to make that
tweet appear in your followers’ home pages. They’ll know you were the
one who shared it.Some folks also retweet manually by initially typing
“RT @username” which is followed by the tweet’s contents. The “username”
is the original author’s Twitter username. This allows you to provide
your own context as well.
Follower: A Twitter follower is
someone that willingly subscribes to click the “follow’ button on you
profile to enable him/her access to your tweets. By default, Twitter
allows folks access to another person’s tweets unless the folk decides
to make the tweets private. The more followers a Twitter user has, the
more reach, impact and influence that his/her tweets will potentially
have on Twitter. It is important to note that Twitter connections and
followership are not symmetrical. Even if you follow someone, he or she
may decide not to follow you back. It is entirely at one’s discretion to
follow and unfollow at will.
Hashtags (#): A hashtag is a word
or a phrase prefixed with the symbol #. A Twitter hashtag is an
innovative means of aggregating thoughts, ideas, conversations and
dialogue concerning a particular topic in an easy to follow trend.
When one clicks on a particular hashtag
of interest, all aligning tweets on the subject is aggregated in an easy
to follow trend. Best practices recommend using no more than two
hashtags per Tweet.
DM: A direct message (DM) is a
private message sent via Twitter to one of your followers. You can only
send a direct message to a user who is following you; you can only
receive direct messages from users you follow. Unlike the public
@replies, DMs are private and do not appear to anyone besides their
specified recipients. Brevity is once more called for here as DM’s are
limited to 140 characters.
The list is in exhaustive. In the sequel
to this article, I will try to list and explain some unique Twitter
terms that originated from Nigeria and have absolutely gone global as at
today.
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