Twitter terminology can be confusing for novice microbloggers. Take a look at the definitions and descriptions below to get up to speed on the language of Twitter.
1. Tweet
When a Twitter user posts an update to their Twitter account, that update is often referred to as a "tweet" and the user is said to have "tweeted". Tweet can be used as a noun, referring to the actual written update, or a verb, referring to the action of publishing an update.2. Follow
You can either sign up to follow other Twitter users or they can sign up to follow you. If you follow someone, it simply means that you automatically receive that person's Twitter updates. Each time that person posts an update on Twitter, it appears on your Twitter home page instantly. Updates for all the people you sign up to follow appear in reverse chronological order with the most recent update on top of the page.3. @reply
@reply precedes messages sent from one person to another that are public. In other words, anyone who can see your Twitter updates can see the @replies that you send or that are sent to you, whether or not they are following you or you are following them. These messages appear on Twitter updates as @username (with "username" replaced by the person's actual username from their Twitter account).4. Direct Message
A direct message is a private message from one Twitter user to another. You can only view your direct messages in your direct message Inbox after you log into your Twitter account. You can only send a direct message to Twitter users that you are already following.
