Bookmark this page if you are a small business that uses Twitter—or should be. We are going to use this Glossary to build on the great glossary that Twitter provides. Our list will focus on terms that a small business-related user, especially a new one, may run across.

This glossary will grow. If you see a missing term, email us at [email protected]. Include the term “Twitter Glossary” in the subject heading. Or, better yet, send it to us via Twitter where you can find us here at @SmallBusiness.com

Activity: Lives in the Notifications tab. Activity is a real-time dashboard to view what the people you’re following are up to on Twitter. You can view Tweets they’ve favorited and discover other good content on Twitter.

Avatar: Another name for your profile photo.

Bio: A short personal description of 160 characters or fewer used to define who you are on Twitter.

Blocking: You can block users from following you. Here’s how. (Note: If you want to be invisible to all but those who you decide, see: Private or Protected tweets.)

Connections: The Applications tab in your Twitter settings shows all third-party websites and applications to which you’ve granted access to your public Twitter profile. You can revoke access at any time. Learn how to connect to third party apps and websites here.

Deactivation: A way to remove your profile from Twitter. Information from deactivated profiles remains in Twitter’s system for 30 days. Learn how to deactivate your account here.

Developers: Engineers who don’t work for Twitter, but who use Twitter’s open-source API to build third-party applications.

Direct message: Also called a DM and more recently simply called a “message,” these Tweets are private between the sender and recipient. Tweets sent over SMS become DMs when they begin with “d username” to specify who the message is for. Learn more about direct messages here.

Discover: The Discover tab is where you can find top Tweets, Who to Follow, Activity, Friends and Browse Categories.

DM: See Direct Message.

Email notifications: Preferences set by Twitter users to regulate notifications via email about events on your account, such as new followers and new direct messages. Read about how to change your email preferences here.

Favorite: To favorite a Tweet means to mark it as something you like, relate to or want to look at later by clicking the yellow star next to the message. You can also favorite via SMS.

FF: #FF stands for “Follow Friday.” Twitter users often suggest who others should follow on Fridays by tweeting with the hashtag #FF.

Follow: To follow someone on Twitter is to subscribe to their Tweets.

Follow count: The numbers that reflect how many people you follow and how many people follow you. This is found on your Twitter Profile.

Follower: A follower is another Twitter user who has subscribed to your tweets.

Following: This number reflects the quantity of other Twitter users you have chosen to follow.

Geolocation/Geotagging: The use of location data in Tweets to tell followes where you are in real time. This is also called “Tweet With Your Location.” Learn how to safely Tweet with your location here.

GFF (Get Followers Fast): Sites that promise to get you more followers if you provide your username and password. After signing up, these sites send spam from your account. Don’t use them.

Hacking: Gaining unauthorized access to an account via phishing, password guessing or session stealing. Usually this is followed by unauthorized posts from the account. Users often use the word “hacking” for many things that are not hacking. Read more about how to keep your account safe here.

Handle: A user’s “Twitter handle” is the username they have selected and the accompanying URL, like so: http://twitter.com/username. Find out how to change your username here.

Hashtag: The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users. Read more about hashtags here.

Listed: To be included in another Twitter user’s list. Listed numbers and details appear in the statistics section of your profile.

Lists:
Curated groups of other Twitter users. Lists are used to tie specific individuals into a group on your Twitter account. Learn more about lists here.

Log in: The act of signing in to one’s Twitter account on www.twitter.com or any third party application. https://twitter.com/login

Mention: Talking about another user in your Tweet by including the @ sign followed directly by their username is called a “mention”. This also refers to Tweets in which your username was included.

MMS: Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), often called picture messaging, allows you to send media like audio or photos from your phone. Learn how to Tweet a picture via MMS here.

MT: Similar to a RT, an abbreviation for “Modified Tweet.” Placed before the retweeted text when users manually retweet a message with modifications, like shortening a Tweet.

Mute (or muting): Mute is a feature that allows you to hide a user’s Tweets from your timeline. When you mute a user on Twitter, their content will no longer be visible to you, and you will no longer receive push or SMS notifications from that user. Unlike “blocking,” you can continue to follow the user and the user will continue to see your tweets and interact with you. How to mute can be found here.

Name: A name that can be different from your username and is used to locate you on Twitter. Must be 20-characters or fewer.

Notifications: The Notifications tab lets you view interactions, mentions, recent follows and retweets. Using the Notifications tab you’re able to view who has favorited or retweeted your Tweets, who has recently followed you, and all of your @replies and @mentions.

OH: “OH” most often means “overheard” in Tweets. This is used as a way to quote funny things people overhear.

Parody: To spoof or to make fun of something in jest. Twitter users are allowed to create parody Twitter accounts, as well as commentary and fan accounts. Twitter’s parody guidelines are here.

Phishing: Tricking a user to give up their username and password. This can happen by sending the user to a fake login page, a page promising to get them more followers, or just simply asking for the username and password via a DM or email.

Profile: A Twitter page displaying information about a user, as well as all the Tweets they have posted from their account. Learn how to change your profile information here.

Profile photo: The personal image uploaded to your Twitter profile in the Settings tab of your account.

Promoted Tweets: Tweets that selected businesses have paid to promote at the top of search results on Twitter. Read more about Promoted Tweets here.

Protected/Private Tweets: Twitter accounts are public by default. Choosing to protect your account means that your Tweets will only be seen by approved followers and will not appear in searches.

Query: A search performed to retrieve information from a database.

Reply: A Tweet posted in reply to another user’s message, usually posted by clicking the “reply” button next to their Tweet in your timeline. Always begins with @username.

Reactivation: The act of bringing a deactivated account back to life on Twitter. It’s alive!!

Retweet (noun):
A Tweet by another user, forwarded to you by someone you follow. Often used to spread news or share valuable findings on Twitter.

Retweet (verb): To retweet, retweeting, retweeted. The act of forwarding another user’s Tweet to all of your followers.

RLRT: “Real Life Retweet” is another way of saying OH (“overheard”). Used to quote something a person said in “real life.”

RT: Abbreviated version of “Retweet.” Placed before the retweeted text when users manually retweet a message. See also Retweet.

Short Code: A five-digit phone number used to send and receive Tweets via text message.

Sleep Time: Hours in which all mobile Twitter updates will cease to be delivered to your phone. It can be set up through your Settings tab. Learn how to use Sleep Settings here.

SMS: Short Message Service (SMS) is most commonly known as text messaging. Most messages are a maximum of 140 characters.

Spam: Unwanted messaging or following on Twitter. Twitter staff works hard to eliminate it.

Suspended: The act of being prevented from using Twitter due to breach of our Terms of Service.

Text Commands: When using Twitter via SMS, these commands allow you to access most Twitter features with simple text keywords. Learn the Twitter text commands here.

Third-Party application: A third-party application is a product created by a company other than Twitter and used to access Tweets and other Twitter data.

TIL: Acronym for “Today I learned.” Often used at the beginning of a Tweet, for example: “TIL what a hashtag is!”

Timeline: A real-time list of Tweets on Twitter. See also Home Timeline.

Timestamp: A note displaying when a Tweet was posted to Twitter. It can be found in grey text directly below any Tweet. It’s also a link to that Tweet’s own URL. Learn how to link directly to a Tweet here.

TL: Short for “Timeline.” See also Timeline and Home Timeline.

Top Tweets: Tweets determined by a Twitter search algorithm to be the most popular or resonant on Twitter at any given time.

Trends: A subject algorithmically determined to be one of the most popular on Twitter at the moment.

Tweet (verb): Tweet, tweeting, tweeted. The act of posting a message, often called a “Tweet,” on Twitter.

Tweet (noun): A message posted via Twitter containing 140 characters or fewer.

Tweet button: A button anyone can add to their website. Clicking this button allows Twitter users to post a Tweet with a link to that site. Find out more here.

Unfollow: To cease following another Twitter user. This means their Tweets no longer show up in your home timeline. Learn how to unfollow here.

URL Shortener: URL shorteners are used to turn long URLs into shorter URLs. Shortening services can be found online.

Username: Also known as a Twitter handle, it must be unique and contain fewer than 15 characters. It is used to identify you on Twitter for replies and mentions.