I’m always amazed at how our minds make the unfamiliar things complicated. I was speaking to a Soldier about Twitter and how he really needs to get a Twitter account. He said; “I don’t understand all of the symbols–@, #, RT.” I realize that sometimes, these new “languages” are hard to understand. However, they are simple to figure out after you allow your brain to remove the block. So today, I’d like to clear up these three basic symbols to help you understand Twitter just a little more—and, if you use them, you can soon be successful using this social media powerhouse.
@ First, I’d like to introduce you to the “at” sign. The “at” sign or “@” is simply they way to address someone specific on twitter. If you are addressing me, it is as simply as @chaplainandrews. The message then will show up in my “notifications” que and I will find it there.
# Now that we have the message addressed, I want to introduce you to the hashtag. The hashtag or “#” (the number sign) is a little way that people on twitter will “tag” their message in order to find it later. When having a conversation with other people it is also a good idea to hashtag the conversation, enabling you to track the conversation in the search field.
RT Finally, we come to the “Retweet” message. The Retweet sign is “RT”. This is used when you simply desire to repeat someone else’s message. If you like something that someone said Retweet it to the other people that are following you to see—this is called sharing….and sharing is caring.
So there you have the three most used symbols on twitter. You may use at least one in every message. Using these symbols frequently will help you address, track, and repeat the messages that you send and follow on Twitter. As always please, feel free to follow me on Twitter at @chaplainandrews and ask me any further questions that you may have—or even simply try out your messages.
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