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Twitter Abbreviations You Need To Know

Someone in the newsroom this morning asked, "hey, what's MT mean on Twitter." That got us thinking it might be useful to compile a list of common Twitter abbreviations.

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Here is what we've come up with so far. It's hardly exhaustive, so please add abbreviations we should include in the comments.

Technical Twitter abbreviations:

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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tennessee-mary/390557909/">§ Mary §</a> via Flickr
  • MT = Modified tweet. This means the tweet you're looking at is a paraphrase of a tweet originally written by someone else.
  • RT = Retweet. The tweet you're looking at was forwarded to you by another user.
  • DM = Direct message. A direct-message is a message only you and the person who sent it can read. IMPORTANT: To DM someone all you need to type is D username message.
  • PRT = Partial retweet. The tweet you're looking at is the truncated version of someone else's tweet.
  • HT = Hat tip. This is a way of attributing a link to another Twitter user.
  • CC = Carbon-copy. Works the same way as email.

Conversational abbreviations:

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  • IMHO = In my humble opnion.
  • AYFKMWTS = Are you f---ing kidding me with this s---?
  • GTFOOH = Get the f--- out of here
  • OH = Overheard.
  • NFW = No f---ing way
  • IRL = In real life
  • NSFW = Not safe for work.
  • FML = F--- my life.
  • FWIW = For what it's worth.
  • QOTD = quote of the day
  • BTW = By the way
  • BFN = Bye for now
  • AFAIK = As far as I know'
  • TY = Thank you
  • YW = You're welcome

We miss any big ones? Please let us know in the comments below.

Don't miss: How To Follow Business Insider Writers On Twitter

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