Twitter Abbreviations to Say More with Less

Saying more with fewer words or characters is the entire basis of conversation on Twitter. Efficiency is already something top of mind in the business world, and that rule of thumb should be applied to social media tools such as Twitter as well. Getting your point across in an effective way that uses Twitter abbreviations can influence the way your customer (and potential customers) see you and your message.

Just as you don't want to be the person in the meeting who doesn't know what the hot topic or key phrase of the day is, you don't want to speak to customers and clients on Twitter in a way that shouts "out of touch!" With a little bit of knowledge, you can say more with less and generate positive responses quicker and more often.

Here are just a few key Twitter abbreviations that you need to be aware of when tweeting for business:

• Know the difference between a RT (retweet), CT (cut or partial tweet), MT (modified tweet), and PRT (please retweet).

• Referencing a company? Well you should know Facebook is FB, LinkedIn in LI, YouTube is YT and any old social network is a SN.

• Using important social media terms will also help in creating and engaging in conversation. Some abbreviations to know are SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SMM (Social Media Marketing), and SROI (Social Return on Investment.)

• Hashtags are important to learn as well. Hashtags help with organizing tweets and topics when searing in Twitter. Hashtags are trending topics that are set apart with a # symbol.  Hashtags seen most with social media are: #FF (Follow Friday), #SocialMedia (used for all social media topic tweets), and #SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Be aware that, like most things in social media, abbreviations are ever evolving and updating, so stay up-to-date of the latest topics and trends.

Social Media Today has a complete list of Twitter abbreviations that are useful when trying to make the most of the 140-character limit.

How do you use Twitter abbreviations to get the most out of 140 characters while still saying everything you want to say?