Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)

This post is brought to you by the word:

argot (ahr-goh) /ˈɑr goʊ / -noun

  1. a specialized idiomatic vocabulary peculiar to a particular class or group of people, especially that of an underworld group, devised for private communication and identification.
  2. the special vocabulary and idiom of a particular profession or social group: sociologists’ argot.

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Want to know more about using social media like Twitter for professional information and collaboration? See the top right sidebar for links to the entire blog series —->

Using Twitter professionally is very rewarding. I’ve learned more from a short time on Twitter than at any number (and possibly ALL) of the conferences I’ve EVER attended. But Twitter can be a bit confusing at first.  The concept is extremely simple: say anything you want in 140 characters or less. And it is this simplicity that is appealing about Twitter; its brevity.  However, once you launch yourself into the Twitter community or Twitterverse, you may find that there are many little things that make Tweeting better.  

In my last post I explained how I, personally, use social media to build my own PLN (personal learning network). By the end of this post I hope that you will understand how to use Twitter on a fairly basic level. I will talk about more advanced features and functionality of Twitter as well as the social rules and general tips to remember in future posts.

Decide early if you want to use Twitter primarily for professional information to build yourself a PLN, for personal interest, or for both. This doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind later, but it will help you to enjoy your Twitter experience sooner.  I chose to join Twitter for professional purposes so I rarely post anything to all of my followers that isn’t related to my profession somehow.  I am always thinking “What does this tweet contribute?”. But I am a person and I’m connecting socially with others so the occasional tweets about something funny or interesting not related to my profession helps people see that I’m not a tweeting robot (note: twitter actually has such things, known as ‘bots’). Also, conversations between people don’t necessarily go out to all my followers (see below) and that is where I allow myself to stray, sometimes liberally, from this rule. Conversation with others in my PLN accounts for most of my tweets. You don’t always have to be serious – the #SLPeeps like to have fun too!

This is a good time to remind you that twitter is public.  Let me repeat that: TWITTER IS PUBLIC. This means that anything you tweet can be seen by anyone at any time in a multitude of ways (except for direct messages and protected tweets, although they can be subpoenaed by a court of law). If you are using Twitter professionally (and even if you’re not) please don’t forget its public nature.  I am reminded of this whenever I’m having a conversation with someone that “feels” private and a company “butts in” on the topic.  You can search any keyword and see tweets that use that keyword. Thus companies are, logically, using this feature to monitor any potential conversations about their product or client. I’ve had good and bad experiences with this, but usually good experiences.

What’s in a tweet?

Twitter traditionally asks you to answer one question: what are you doing? If you’re tweeting professionally, however, I would suggest that you answer the question: what interesting idea/information have you recently been exploring? If you think this way, you’re more likely to share meaningful information with your PLN. Don’t forget that once you’ve developed a community you can pose questions to the community and get great replies.

What do all these new terms mean?

In Twitter there is a new lexicon that users must learn to really understand what’s going on. Here is a fairly complete list you need in order to understand what people are talking about.

General Lingo

Timeline/Feed – all the tweets from people you follow are seen in what’s called your timeline or your Twitter feed.

Handles – this is the name you have on Twitter and how people find you and interact with you. They always start with the ‘@’ symbol. For instance, my personal handle is @SLPTanya. Notice how I have used a mix of capital and lowercases letters to make it easier to read. It is not case sensitive, however.  If someone writes @slptanya, I will still see that tweet in my mentions column (see below).

Following – You can see updates from people in your timeline if you ‘follow’ them, similar to being ‘friends’ with someone in Facebook (Tweetdeck even calls them ‘friends’), except that this can be unidirectional. Technically, you can see anyone’s tweets (unless they are protected) by going to their profile page. In order for their tweets to automatically show up in your timeline or twitter feed, you must “follow” them. You can follow someone without them having to follow you and vice versa. There is a fairly comprehensive list of SLPs in my Blogroll. You can use it to find people to follow quickly if you’re starting up (or even if you’ve been on for a long time). I wish I’d had this when I started up a year ago to save time searching for people!

Followers – This is a term that turns people off of Twitter because it “sounds like a cult”. But ‘followers’ simply means the people who want to see your tweets. Anyone who is following you will see your tweets in their timeline, so long as the tweets are not directed at anyone in particular (see below for mentions and direct messages). As you gain more followers, you have more people who will potentially respond to any questions you may pose to the Twitter community.

Favorites – If you see a tweet you really like, click ‘favorite’ to keep it forever. As far as I can tell, favorites never go away and are available to you whenever you want them. You can link your Diigo.com site to Twitter so that any links in your favorited tweets will automatically be saved to your Diigo account.

Twitter Clients – a ‘client’ is anything you are using to access Twitter whether on the web at Twitter.com or in a desktop or iPhone version like TweetDeck or Hootsuite. I will blog more about these in the future but I prefer TweetDeck* and Hootsuite and find it much easier to manage flow of information with the use of these (free) Twitter clients, primarily because of the columns to view different types of tweets.

*UPDATE March 2014 – TweetDeck was bought out by Twitter.com and they completely ruined the platform. I preferred the OLD version of Tweetdeck and was using bootleg copies to run it but those won’t work anymore. Fortunately, Tweetdeck updated the platform again and while it’s not as good as the old one, it’s pretty close – but no app version (?!) so you can only use it on desktop. My second favourite is now Hootsuite and I use that on iPad/iPhone and on desktop.

Learning to play with friends

Mentions – if someone uses your handle in a tweet, you can see that under ‘mentions’.  There are a few ways to use this feature to different effects:

Directing tweets and replying: if you begin a tweet with someone’s handle, that tweet will show up in their mentions page/column and is not necessarily seen by all of your followers. If someone is following both you and the person to whom you are directing your tweet, they will see your message/conversation. However, if someone is following only you OR the other person, they will not see your conversation in their timeline. If you click ‘reply’ to comment on someone’s tweet, it will automatically put that person’s handle at the beginning of the tweet (and create a trackback to the tweet to which you are replying, making it easier for them to know to what you are referring if they don’t see it for a while). When you do this, the characters in their handle are counted in your 140 characters. Choose YOUR handle wisely for this reason. The shorter, the better.

For example, let’s pretend I follow @SLP1 and @SLP2 but not @slp1Mom.

@SLP1 sends a tweet directed to @SLP 2

@SLP2 what tests do you use to assess language skills?

Then @SLP2 replies to @SLP1

@SLP1 I use the CELF-4, the TACL-3 and the TOPS.  You?

I will see this conversation in my timeline and could ‘butt in’ if I had anything meaningful to contribute. I can reply to both users if I include both of their handles in the tweet.

@SLP1 @SLP2 butting in, but I just got the WABC and it’s great for assessing concepts

Now pretend that @SLP1 sends a tweet directed to @slp1Mom

@slp1Mom we’re going to grandma’s tomorrow, are you able to come too?

I will not see that tweet (or any of @slp1Mom’s replies to @SLP1) in my timeline, because I do not follow @slp1Mom and Twitter assumes (usually correctly) that I’m not interested in those conversations.   

Mentioning: you can include someone’s handle ANYWHERE in a tweet and it will show up in their mentions feed. If you begin your tweet with anything other than a person’s handle, it will go out to all of your followers. Mentioning is a good way to ensure a particular user sees your tweet or to give that user credit for information you learned from them. Including someone’s handle at the end of a tweet is a way to include them, but let them know that you are not directing your comment at them specifically.

Direct Messages (DM): you can send a private tweet to someone by starting the tweet with ‘D’, a space, and then their twitter handle (e.g. D SLPTanya). Only the person who receives the DM will see that tweet.  You cannot (yet) send DMs to more than one person in a single tweet. NOTE: The person has to be following you for you to DM them. If you want to send a message to someone who does not follow you, the only way is to direct the tweet to them (i.e. start your tweet with their twitter handle). However, they can reply to you in a DM if you are following them.  The characters in their handle DO NOT count towards your 140 characters in a DM.

Playing nice (Don’t be an idea thief)

Retweet (RT): A retweet is a way to broadcast someone’s tweet to all of your own followers, while giving them credit for the original idea/information. Retweeting is extremely important in Twitter; it’s how information circulates quickly (e.g. during a major event) but, more importantly, it allows ideas to spread – which is why many professionals are using Twitter.

The best use of a RT is as a sort of informational democracy; like a vote for that idea or resource.  Retweeting someone tells them that you like their idea and want it to spread. Of course, it doesn’t mean that if someone does not RT you that your information is not something they liked.  In a community like the #SLPeeps, there is a tendency not to necessarily RT something people like very much.  This happens because many people are all following each other, and thus they assume that everyone else saw the tweet. This is not the best approach – although I have also fallen prey to that manner of thinking – because someone may have missed the tweet and are not catching up on what they missed.  More importantly, however, if a RT is thought of as a sort of ‘vote’ for the information it contains, than you should RT it to indirectly say so, regardless of the fact that everyone may have already seen that tweet. Besides, repetition is a virtue. I have frequently glanced over a tweet and thought “sure, that’s interesting” but when I see that someone else has retweeted it, I may take more notice of the information or idea and explore it further. The fact that I saw the same tweet more than once gave it more weight. And remember, repetition is a virtue. (Also remember that TWITTER IS PUBLIC).

A good rule of thumb is to leave enough characters in your tweet to accommodate a RT and make it more likely to be retweeted.  For example, I must leave 14 characters in a tweet to make it easier to RT (this is exactly 14 characters ->RT_@SLPTanya:_).

Old Style RT: This is the old way that Twitter allowed tweets to be RTed – you could modify the information in the tweet before sending it out. This is nice if you want to make a comment of your own about the tweet. You cannot do this from Twitter web currently (unless you cut and paste the tweet and add the RT information yourself). Twitter clients such as Tweetdeck allow you to choose this as an option and I suggest enabling it.

New Style RT: You cannot change the tweet at all when you RT it. The one advantage of this is that you can RT someone who has not left enough character spaces. The disadvantage is that it will not allow you to add your own comments. This is the way it is currently in the web based version at Twitter.com

Modified Tweets (MT): if you change the wording of someone’s tweet in order to make it flow better or to get around the character limit, you can use MT to signify that you are sort of paraphrasing. Similarly, you can add “(via @handle)” to a tweet instead of MT to show the source of your information/link and not be rude.

Shorties (not the girlfriends)

Because you are only allowed 140 characters at a time, people tend to use many short forms and acronyms. Here is a list of some of the more common ones for the #SLPeeps community, but you can always ask or Google them to find out others as you come across them. Please feel free to add others that may have confused you in the comments section

  • ppl = people
  • IRL = in real life
  • tx = therapy/intervention
  • ax = assessment
  • dx = diagnosis
  • ped/pead = pediatric/peadiatric
  • FF = Follow Friday – Fridays are designated days for people to give shout outs and recommend people to follow.
  • pt/pts: patient/s
  • CA = chronological age (but use context to know if it may mean California, obviously)
  • biz = business
  • plz = please
  • smh = shaking my head
  • imo = in my opinion
  • imho – in my humble opinion

In addition to short forms, you should shorten all links with bit.ly or a similar platform. Tweetdeck and other Twitter clients will automatically shorten links for you when you add them to your tweet. Shortened links work exactly as longer ones do but take up less space.

Tagging (without spray paint)

You can include a ‘hashtag’ or’ tag’ to a tweet to mark its topic and make it more searchable. Hashtags always start with the # sign and cannot include any spaces or dashes. Common ones used by speech pathologists include #slpeeps, #slpchat, and #FF but there are many others. For instance, if you are tweeting about autism you may want to include #autism in your tweet. Efficient tweeters include hashtags as part of the tweet (e.g. Hey #SLPeeps, check out this new #autism awareness site) but more often they are tacked on the end of a tweet (e.g. I found this great site for autism awareness #autism #SLPeeps). Like handles, hashtags are not case sensitive, but sometimes easier to read if you use capitalization for effect. People also use hahstags to make jokes (e.g. #SLGeek) or offhanded, witty remarks. Sometimes you’ll see entire sentences as a hashtag to varying degrees of comedic effect.

More on hashtag use here.

You can search for a given hashtag and ‘follow’ that tag.  For instance, I follow #SLPeeps and #slpchat so that I see tweets that include those tags. I’ll also follow a conference hashtag leading up to and during any given conference (e.g. #CASLPA2011 #ASHA13). You can search for any keyword, however, regardless of a hashtag. I’ve had companies tweet me in response to a tweet I made about their product on several occasions such as Super Duper Inc, Pearson Assessment, and even Dyson. This is a good time to use the virtue of repetition: Twitter is PUBLIC. I’ve even seen my tweets or those of friends on websites related to the topic of our tweet or in Google searches.

To protect or not to protect…

If you want to, you can choose to make your tweets private. People who do this are considered “Protected” in Twitter.  You must request to follow protected users and they must approve your request in order for you to see any of their tweets. There are obvious pros and cons to this option.

Pros:

  • You don’t have to worry as much about the fact the Twitter is public. Your profile and tweets will only be visible to people you’ve approved.
  • If colleagues or your boss are on twitter and you think it may cause a conflict, they would not see your tweets.
  • You don’t tend to get any spam tweets (but you are not completely immune).
  • You have the opportunity to “pick” your followers so if you don’t want businesses (or the individuals with only 5 tweets who is following 10,000 people) following you, you can decline their request to follow you.
  • You know your messages are being seen by the target audience, not every person with a twitter account.

Cons:  

  • Your ideas/tweets are limited in who sees them.
  • It is more difficult and takes more effort to build your PLN because Some potential followers may not follow you as quickly if they have to request permission.
  • You CANNOT direct a tweet to someone who doesn’t follow you, even if you include their handle in the tweet. So, you cannot effectively comment on a non-follower’s tweet or ask them any questions (e.g. you can’t ask them to follow you, even!)
  • You have to research and approve EVERYONE who follows you.
  • You cannot properly participate in chats such as #slpchat unless you go to your settings and unprotect your tweets temporarily.

You can turn protection on and off whenever you want but each option affects all tweets (e.g. either all protected or all unprotected). NOTE: Twitter recently changed this so that tweets while protected remain protected once you are unprotected. Tweets that were unprotected are not viewable by non followers when protected again.

I strongly discourage you from protecting your tweets if you are trying to develop a PLN. The entire point of Twitter is to interact and protecting your tweets limits your ability to interact with everyone. However, you may have a good reason to protect. It’s a personal choice. Also remember that you can protect your tweets, but you can’t stop your followers from retweeting your tweets, which effectively makes them public. Just because your tweets are “protected”, it doesn’t mean they are private.

In my next post I will talk about the social rules of twitter and how to tweet effectively in a PLN.

Other sources for this information:

http://www.jhische.com/twitter/

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/05/18/the-best-resources-for-beginning-to-learn-what-twitter-is-all-about/

33 comments on “Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by CASLPA, Tanya Coyle. Tanya Coyle said: New blog post with an intro to using Twitter to develop a PLN: http://bit.ly/hvknLZ #SLPeeps […]

  2. Heidi says:

    Hi Tanya,

    I’m enjoying your blog! Thanks for writing this post on using Twitter. It was very helpful. There is still so much I don’t know and I’m trying to figure out!

    Heidi

    • slptanya says:

      Hi Heidi! thanks for your comment, sorry, I just realized it went to the spam filter for some reason. I hope this and future posts will help you create a better PLN for yourself!

  3. Erin Harrison says:

    This was great! I just joined and was overwhelmed by it all. Your cheat sheet was timely and appreciated!

  4. […] February 21, 2011 at 1:21 pm Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter « Lexical Linguist […]

  5. Sean Sweeney says:

    This was wonderful! Thank you. You should really publish this and your other post on social media as a booklet on Issuu or Scribe and link to it somewhere as a permanent fixture. It’s really great to have something so specific to SLPs.

  6. nicole SLP says:

    Tanya, thanks for this post! I just had some of the SLP’s I work with ask me for help with twitter. I tried to tell them some of this…but really you said it so much better, I think I will just link them to here. Great post!

    • slptanya says:

      Hi Nicole,

      Glad you found it helpful. I’ll be posting tips soon and have many more posts to come on how to use social media professionally. Let me know what they are still unsure about so I can incorporate it into a future post!

      🙂 Tanya

  7. Kim says:

    Thanks again! I couldn’t have figured this all out without your blog. Could you include information on lists (or did I miss it somewhere?) – what they are and how to make/use them? Thanks!

  8. Thanks for the reams of information on how to get up and running with Twitter. I’m trying to encourage my colleagues to try Twitter with the #SLPeeps and am sharing links to your blogs!

    • slptanya says:

      Awesome! Glad to be of help; it’s the main reason I started this social media series. I’m hoping to make it easier and feel ‘safer’ for new people to try Twitter with purpose and be successful more quickly. 🙂

  9. Barb says:

    Wow! I am new to twitter and have learned mainly by trial and error. I appreciate the advice. I majored in Speech Pathology for a whole semester. Later, I realized when I took related courses that it is really a love of mine. It was not possible for me to change back at that time so I live my dream in other ways. I love information on the subject that is quite in depth. Of course, it is sometimes the little tidbits that keep me going too. What I’m going to do with all of this remains to be seen, but I think it is good practical knowledge. I have applied some information in good ways already.

    • slptanya says:

      Thanks for the comment (and the follow on Twitter), Barb! So what profession did you end up in if not SLP? I hope the info on social media helps you; I’ve geared it to SLPs and AUDs but it’s usually general information that anyone could use.

      If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask on Twitter or here 🙂

      T

  10. Barb says:

    Tanya, well if ended up with a degree in Communication and there was a cross-listed course for Communication, Psychology, and Anthropology majors in Psychology of Language about my second to last semester. I so loved it! It was even more in depth in some areas that the classes I took when I was a Speech Pathology and later an education major. I have never used my degree for my profession. I take hotel reservations for a living at home with a major hotel chain. I have a set schedule and they try to keep us at one call after another. I am shy and don’t like a lot of risk at failure in a job for pay. I volunteer at my sister’s company by writing for her blog and submitting poetry. I have other dreams that would entail using Speech Pathology and Literacy/ Children’s Play but I have huge obstacles in getting there. But in small ways, I try to live my dreams.

  11. […] writing effective tweets that get read by others! If you don’t yet know what hashtags are, please go here first. If you want a list of commonly (and not so commonly) used speech and language hashtags go […]

  12. […] was all about I was fortunate to stumble across an expert in @SLPTanya and can highly recommend her fantastic blog on using Twitter as a professional resource in the field of Speech and Language practice. I soon […]

  13. Tina says:

    Awesome! Thanks for clearing up some social media questions.

  14. Jenn Alcorn says:

    This is so helpful!! Thank you for all of the info! I really think that Twitter is an awesome place for all of us to connect and I am so excited about being there!

  15. […] Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs) […]

  16. […] who will listen (and even some who won’t)? For me, that post was Tanya Coyle’s post “Nomenclature and Basic Functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)” on her blog Lexical Linguist. I feel like she basically took all my jumbled thoughts on why and how […]

  17. […] Most influential blog post: As new #slpeeps begin to find Twitter, I consistently direct them to @SLPTanya‘s blog “Lexical Linguist”, and more specifically her post “Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)“ […]

  18. […] – A Significant Error That Policymakers CommitLeading Motivated Learners – Dear Dr. John KingLexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog – Mystery Skype Call With Langwitches!Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog […]

  19. […] Classroom Blog – November is Family Blogging Month!  (228 votes) –Runner Up: Lexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and A… (151 votes) –Runner Up: Teach From the Heart – Evaluate Me, Please (84 votes) […]

  20. […] Yollis’ Classroom Blog – November is Family Blogging Month!  (228 votes) –Runner Up: Lexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs (151 votes) –Runner Up: Teach From the Heart – Evaluate Me, Please (84 votes) –Runner […]

  21. […] for “Most Influential Blog Post,” “Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter” by Lexical Linguist, for example, gives novices a “101” introduction to the social media platform, sharing pointers […]

  22. […] Reflections – Eric SheringerThis and That – Jon CastelhanoMost influential blog post 2012Lexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDsTeach From the Heart – Evaluate Me, PleaseAngela Maiers – 12 Things Kids Want from Their […]

  23. […] Επιλαχών: Lexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs  […]

  24. npmcneil says:

    Thanks! This is really useful information for newbies like myself. I look forward to reading more of your posts.

  25. […] Most influential Blog Post: Lexical Linguist post on basic functions of twitter […]

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