Lanthorn.com

Twitter defined

By Nadira Kharmai GVL Staff Writer
4/11/2009

Twitter - People write short updates, also known as "tweets," via cell phone or the Internet. These messages are posted to the author's profile, blog or Facebook and are sent to his or her followers. Tweets are also searchable on Twitter search.

Tweets - Update 140 characters or less. They are similar to the Facebook status.

Followers - People receiving Twitter updates from someone. When following someone, every time he or she posts a new message, it will appear on the followers' Twitter home pages. New messages are added to each user's home page as people post them, so updates are available in real time. Twitter offers other ways to follow people, too, with a setting that sends updates to cell phones.

@reply - An @reply is a public message sent from one person to another, distinguished from normal updates by the @username prefix. If a message begins with @username, it is posted in the replies tab.

Can you edit a tweet? - No. Once it is out there, it is out there. A tweet can be deleted by clicking the trash icon on the right end of the update and the user can create a new update from there.

RT - RT stands for re-tweet. While it is not an official Twitter feature, it is used universally. People precede their updates with RT to indicate that they are re-posting another person's Twitter update.

nkharmai@lanthorn.com

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