Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers.

As Twitter has got really popular, there are people spending all day over twitter with signs of twitter addiction. You are addicted to Twitter when you understand the Twitter lexicon:

# Hashtag

The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. Was created organically by Twitter users.

@ The @ sign is used to call out usernames in Tweets, like this: Hello @Twitter! When a username is preceded by the @ sign, it becomes a link to a Twitter profile.

@Anywhere A group of Twitter tools and APIs that allow other websites to integrate Twitter features into their site.

API An Application Programming Interface. Contains all Twitter data and is used to build applications that access Twitter much like our website does.

Avatar The personal image uploaded to your Twitter profile in the Settings tab of your account.

Chirp Twitter’s annual official developer conference. First held in 2010 in San Francisco.

Direct Message  Also called a DM, these messages are private between only the sender and recipient. Tweets become DMs when they begin with "d username" to specify who the message is for.

Geolocation / Geotagging The use of location data in Tweets to tell us where you are in real time. Is also called "Tweet With Your Location."

Handle A user’s "Twitter handle" is the username they have selected and the accompanying URL, like so: http://twitter.com/username.

Lists Curated groups of other Twitter users. Used to tie specific individuals into a group on your Twitter account. Displayed on the right side menu of your homepage.

OH  "OH" most often means "Overheard" in Tweets. Used as a way to quote funny things people overhear.

Over Capacity Page Users sometimes refer to this page as the "Fail Whale" page. The "Twitter is over capacity" message and a whale image shows up when the site is having trouble keeping up with traffic.

Protected/Private Accounts  Twitter accounts are public by default. Choosing to protect your account means that your Tweets will only be seen by approved followers and will not appear in search.

Retweet A Tweet by another user, forwarded to you by someone you follow. Often used to spread news or share valuable findings on Twitter

Trending Topic  A subject algorithmically determined to be one of the most popular on Twitter at the moment.

URL Shortener  URL shorteners are used to turn long URLs into shorter URLs.

Verification  A process whereby your Twitter account is marked as the "Real Thing."

You are warned that you are addicted to Twitter when

You…

Get excited when someone follows you on Twitter.

Feel the end of the world when twitter gets an outage.

Send @ and RT in messages to your friends in emails.

Beg your blog readers to follow you on twitter, then beg your Twitter followers to Retweet the tweet.

Post more tweets than blog posts, and turn from full time blogger to full time tweeter.

Spend all day on twitter giving yourself the excuse that you are doing great service to your followers.

Keep searching for your twitter name and your tweets in real time twitter search.

Print your twitter id on business cards.

All of your friends’ names start with @

You start noticing that real life conversations lasting more than 140 characters are too long!

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