Social Media Explained - Twitter

In the second in our series of social media blogs from Volcanic, we look into the key terms of Twitter. Part 1 explained the meaning behind Facebook terminology if you'd like a quick reminder.

Direct message (DM)

A private Twitter message sent out to a follower. DMs can only be sent to users who already follow you.

Engagement

Clicks anywhere on a Tweet, including retweets, replies, follows, likes, links, hashtags, username, profile photo.

Engagement rate 

Number of engagements divided by impressions.  

Feed 

Your list of tweets that constantly updates when new tweets are posted by someone you follow.

Handle 

Your Twitter name - every Twitter handle has a unique URL.

Hashtag 

A word or phrase beginning with a ‘#’. A hashtag allows a user to indicate that their Tweets are about a specific topic. Clicking on a hashtag will reveal all the public and recently published messages that also contain that hashtag.

Impressions

The number of times your content is displayed, regardless of it is clicked or not.

Mention

This means tagging another user's handle in a social media message, by using their Twitter handle - for example @volcanicuk. This will typically trigger a notification for that user. A mention allows your audience to click through to the mentioned user's profile.

Reach

The total number of people who see your content.

Retweet

A tweet that is reposted by another user. It will then show up on their feed.

Trend 

When a hashtag is particularly popular on Twitter it becomes a trending topic. On Twitter's homepage, a list of most popular hashtags at a certain time will be displayed. Try to join in with trending topics by using the hashtag, which can give you access to a wider audience.

Tweet

A message posted on Twitter. Messages can contain upto 280 characters as well as videos and photos.

Url shortener

You will often want to share links on Twitter. The 280 character limit on Twitter can sometimes make this a challenge. URL shorteners allow you to shorten the link you are posting and when clicked on automatically takes the user to the longer link. Here at Volcanic we use bitly as a URL shortener.

This list of terms should get you started on your journey to becoming familar with Twitter. For more information on how you can improve your social media marketing, download our free guide.