Twitter. What does it all mean?

Twitter. We all use it to share our views. We’re also all liable to plagiarise and piggyback off somebody else’s musings and witticisms. So I’ve put together a quick alternative guide to what some of the shorthand, acronyms and initials mean on Twitter – and what people are REALLY saying when they use them.

What does RT mean?

RT stands for ‘retweet’, which means that instead of hitting the retweet button, you take the time to quote (some smartphones will do this automatically with a separate ‘quote’ button) somebody else’s tweet, including their username, and stick the initials ‘RT’ at the front of the tweet to show who’s feed it appeared on in the first place.

What RT really means

You’ve seen something mentioned on Twitter that you wish you had said yourself, so you take it and essentially accredit it to yourself by adding a comment, then PRAY for someone to retweet yours instead of the original. For example:

LOL! RT @WstonesOxfordSt Taxis with tasteless adverts on the side which play beautiful football. A tiki-taka tacky taxi.
RT @WstonesOxfordSt Taxis with tasteless adverts on the side which play beautiful football. A tiki-taka tacky taxi < #brilliant

Twitter - having your cake and eating it

 

What does MT mean?

MT stands for ‘modified tweet’, which has the same principles as a retweet but you are acknowledging that you’ve changed the words slightly to either fit into the 140-character limitation or tweaked the content to appeal better to your target audience.

What MT really means

You’ve seen a tweet and you thought, “Hey, I can do so much better than that!” But you’re wary of being accused of plagiarism, so you play it safe through accreditation while hoping that your heightened sense of the situation will win you more retweets and followers than your competitor. And make no mistake, they are your competitor. Twitter is a battlefield, and your brain is your ammunition. (Note: this analogy loses credibility when you see how many followers Kate Price has.)

What does #FF mean?

#FF stands for ‘Follow Friday’, which sees the hashtag accompanied by a sometimes one, but often a multitude of usernames, and a brief summary of who they are or why you should follow them. For example:

#FF my homies @house @flat @temporaryrentedaccommodationwhilebuildingworkisgoingon
#FF @$lut @tr4sh @bimb0 @sxxxxxygrrrrl all mah babez 4 bN bootyful, innit!

What #FF really means

Follow Friday is essentially a big love-in, a massive orgy of back-scratching and subtext. “We are laughing, and we are very good friends!” really means “Look, I’ve retweeted everyone of your tedious tweets, give me some exposure goddammit!” People want to add to their follower count by supplementing them from their friend’s followers; when a follower is stolen completely so that they unfollow their original friend, the endgame is nigh. One day, someone will have won Twitter when they have ALL THE FOLLOWERS – it is rumoured that this will provoke Armageddon. It is also rumoured that Justin Bieber is a robot sent from the future to hasten the world’s end in this way.