Twitter Glossary: Terms and Tools To Know Before You Tweet

Twitter describes itself as "a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s happening now."

If you’re new to Twitter, that description might seem a bit vague and ambiguous. So, to help you wrap your mind around the microblogging messaging tool, start thinking about Twitter as a new form of online communication. Twitter is just communication in a new shape, but it’s also a platform for listening to the communication of others in new ways.

Basically, Twitter is all about sharing links and content – but in 140 characters or less. Every post is known as a tweet. Yes, some tweets may be as boring as "I'm eating breakfast!" but Twitter is also a great business tool and another way to share your content. You build community by retweeting other content. Here are a few simple introductory terms to learn when you're just getting started on Twitter.

The Importance of @
On Twitter, when your username is preceded by the @ symbol, your username becomes a link. These are called "at-replies" or "mentions" and when someone mentions you, this makes it easy for their followers to view your profile and tweets with just one click, so it's important to use the @ symbol – and to get their username correct.

• If someone wants to say something directly to you, they'll begin a tweet with @[your username]. Example: "@livability Where is the best coffee in Pueblo?"
• If someone wants to mention you in a tweet, it has the same effect: "Going to Solar Roast -- @livability says it's the best!"
• There's no limit to the number of mentions you can use: "Going to @SolarRoast on @livability's recommendation!"

If you want to say something privately, you can send a direct message, or DM, which is essentially a 140-character e-mail through Twitter. You can do this through the DM link on your Twitter page, or by typing "D @username".

Retweets
Retweeting is how Twitter users share interesting tweets from the people they are following. To give credit to the original person, users usually put “RT” plus the original tweeter's username at the beginning of the tweet. Here’s an example:

To do this, all the user has to do is click the retweet button. However, this feature is relatively new to Twitter. If you want to leave some commentary, just copy and paste the tweet instead. (TweetDeck and other third-party applications make this much easier for users with functionality long before the new retweet button.)

Hashtags
One of the most complex features of Twitter for new users to understand is the hashtag, a topic with a hash symbol or pound sign (#) at the start to identify it. Twitter hashtags help spread information on Twitter while also helping to organize it. Hashtags are linkable, and you can click one to view all tweets with a single hashtag. They're popular at conferences, as well as events, topics and places.

URL Shorteners
When you're limited to 140 characters, URL shorteners are a must. TinyURL, bit.ly, kl.am and URLzen are just a few. Bit.ly tracks analytics for you too, so you can see exactly how many people clicked on your link. Both bit.ly and kl.am offer customized (or kustomized) vanity URLs, so you can incorporate keywords into the link, as well as make it seem more trustworthy and more likely to be clicked on.

Are there any other Twitter terms that confuse you? What else do you want to know about tweeting and microblogging? Check out the resources below, and let us know in the comments if you have any more specific questions.

Resources:

Mashable's Twitter Guide Book

YouTube video: Twitter: A Brief Guide to Tweeting

3 Blogger Gadgets Every Blog Should Have

My name is Kim, and I am addicted to blogging gadgets.

On a recent Wednesday, I spent more than two hours researching gadgets for this blog (and I must also admit, for my personal blog, too). Blogger gadgets can be added to your blog sidebar and allow you to add content that will essentially "stay put" – and not move down the page and into the archives like blog posts do.

When you create a new blog in Blogger, the only standard gadgets added to your blog are Followers, Blog Archives and About Me. For me, it just wasn't enough – thus the two-hour research.

Here are my top three favorite gadgets for my blog, along with instructions on how to install them on your own blog.
 
Note: All of my instructions below are for Blogger, so the process for Wordpress will be different. Feel free to comment below with any links to how to add these types of gadgets to your Wordpress blog.
 
1. Labels

Every good blogger knows that you should assign labels (or tags) to each of your posts. It helps with search engine optimization, but it also helps your readers pinpoint specific content. For example, if you visit this blog and only want to access posts related to Facebook, you can click on our "Read By Topic" List (on the left) and just click Facebook to read only those posts. To the reader, it's a super helpful navigation tool.
To add this gadget, To add this gadget, go to your blog dashboard, select Layout, then Page Elements, then "Add a Gadget." In the pop-up window, select Labels. Once the gadget was added, we changed its name to "Read By Topic" – but Labels works fine, too. Don't forget to hit Save.
 
2. Subscription Links

As an avid user of iGoogle, being able to subscribe to RSS feeds is muy importante for me. This gadget allows anyone who visits your blog to subscribe to posts through their RSS reader – iGoogle, GoogleReader, Netvibes, etc.
To add this gadget, follow the same process as you did for Labels, but this time, click on Subscription Links.
 
3. Subscribe Via E-mail

 

Every blogger wants their posts to be read by someone. But for those potential readers who don't necessarily subscribe to RSS feeds, they need a way to stay in touch, too. Enter e-mail subscriptions.
This gadget isn't available through Blogger (yet!), but I used Feedburner to add mine. Here are the step-by-step instructions.

With all gadgets, you can drag them around on your Layout page to put them in a different order. Just always remember to hit Save!

Blogger gadgets – especially the ones provided by Blogger – can add a lot to your blog. You can add polls, current headlines from Google News, lists of websites you like, info boxes and much more. The right ones for you largely depend on the purpose of your blog and your individual needs.

What Blogger gadgets do you use? Are there any you've tried but then deleted?

Social Media: The Age of Attention

As a culture we've completely immersed ourselves in this digital world, begging to be noticed. Some of us are in way over our heads simply trying to stay afloat (see also: checking into Foursquare every time you leave the couch), while others are standing in puddles not only confused as to where they are, but also are wondering what it is exactly that they're standing in (see also: your mother leaving you voicemails telling you that she just joined 'the twitters' and needs your help – great).

The bottom line is that everyone has a story that they want to tell...only they don't just want to say it to just one person – they want to yell it to the world.

So, before you plant your social media seeds that you got by trading the old cow that your mother told you to go sell at the market, you have two very important things to consider: what is your message and who is your audience.

Thought that was the hard part? Think again. Now you have to figure out the best way to get that message to your audience.

There are more social media sites out there than there are pizza-topping combinations at Domino's. So, you'll have to do a bit of research - because just like pizza toppings, everyone has different taste.

Sure, some are more popular than others, but that doesn't mean that the others are necessarily bad. Everyone has their own personal needs and it all comes down to your own personal preference. Sometimes less is more and other times more is better. You have to choose what works best for you.

... after all, this is your story.

Can I Turn a Facebook User with Friends into a Page with Fans? [Q&A]

Question: If I already have an existing Facebook user profile with friends, can I convert it into a page with fans?

Answer: Not exactly. But in addition to having so much more opportunity to market a Fan Page, there is a 5,000-friend limit for Users, and no business wants to turn away a friend. Plus, Fan Pages have great analytics, so you can also easily monitor the success your Facebook efforts.

Unfortunately, you have to start your new Fan Page from scratch – Facebook currently will not allow you to take your friends and content with you. However, it's a great idea to use your User Profile account to create the Fan Page. Fan Pages must be tied to a User account (called an Admin), and this way you can recommend to your current friends that they become fans of your new Page. (There can be more than one Admin on a Fan Page.)

Once your Page is set up, use the Suggest to Friends button under the Page's profile photo to invite your friends. You should also use the User account to post status updates that you are moving activity from the User Profile to the new Fan Page. Just keep directing your friends via the User Profile, and over time you should get your numbers back up to where they were – or even higher than ever before.

Social Media and the Wisdom of Crowds

Recently, I was lucky enough to attend a really engaging Internet marketing seminar at Vanderbilt University on behalf of Journal Communications. One of my biggest takeaways from the session, by veteran online marketers Erick Goss and Corey Cleek, was to give a little more thought to the idea of "the wisdom of crowds."

The concept comes from a book of the same name by New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki. Basically stated, the theory is that "large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant." Need real-life proof? Of the three "lifelines" on the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the one that's most often correct is the option that lets the contestant poll the audience for help.

But how about social media proof? Simple--it's all around us. Crowd wisdom can help you buy the right toaster on Amazon, find new movies at Netflix and pick a restaurant at Yelp. As the crowd sends out its daily headlines and news links on Facebook and Twitter, the collective wave can clue us in -- in real time -- to what's important that day.

Is it time to get in on the conversation? Never before have there been more opportunities for organizations to hear from their audience, and never has it been more important to know what those people are saying. For better or worse, your crowd is already talking about you. Tap into their wisdom and you're bound to learn something worthwhile.

Using Facebook Widgets to Your Advantage

So you're company is on Facebook. Great! But are you getting the most out of Facebook? Remember, Facebook is totally free and has over 300 million users, so why not make the best of an already great situation by using its tools to your advantage? One way to do this is by utilizing Facebook's widgets.

Available widgets and how to set them up can be found here, but here's a quick break down of what they do and what they can accomplish:

Share Button - This allows people to post content from your site back to Facebook. This is one of the most commonly used widgets out there and you'd be hard-pressed to find a site that wasn't using this (or other share tools.) But why use this feature instead of just letting the reader copy and paste a link whenever they feel inclined to do so? With the Share Widget, you're not just making it easier for people to share content from your site on Facebook, but you're subtly suggesting they share it as well. Additionally, even if that shared content isn't clicked on in Facebook, people still see the URL its coming from. That alone serves as an excellent branding opportunity because whether people were looking for your website or not, it just made an impression. There's also the added benefit of being able to share that content without navigating away from your site.

Fan Box - This widget is a great way to let visitors to your website know that you have a Facebook page. It provides a small stream of current status updates from your Facebook page and has a "Become a Fan" button so people can "fan" you right then and there while still staying put on your site. Here's a great tutorial we put together on how to add this widget to your site.

Page Badge - Think of a Page Badge as a toned-down version of the Fan Box widget. It too is made to go on your site and it too let's people know that you have a Facebook page. However, it doesn't contain a feed and it doesn't have the "Become a Fan" button. Instead, it's a cleaner, simpler presentation that contains just the basics: your page name, most recent status update, and the number of fans you have.

Twitter Link - Why post to two places when you can simply post to one? Twitter Link allows you to send your Facebook updates to Twitter automatically. This is a great time-saving tool, and you might just roundup some followers on Twitter who fan you on Facebook. Don't want to send everything you post to Twitter? No worries - you can adjust the settings when you link the two accounts.

With just a few clicks of your mouse and a little copying and pasting, you'll be well on your way to driving traffic back to your website, increasing the number of fans you have on Facebook, and saving yourself a little bit of time!