www.twitter.com

twit·ter /twitər/: Noun: 1. ((of a bird) A series of short, high-pitched calls or sounds; 2. Social networking and microblogging service utilizing instant messaging, short message service (SMS) or a web interface; 3. real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting; 4. a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages, often called “Tweets” of 140 characters or fewer. Tweet / : Noun: 1. A message of 140 characters or fewer posted online via Twitter. Verb: 1. tweet/: To post a Tweet. Example: John used Twitter to tweet about his recent vacation. His Tweet was informative.

According to Wikipedia, Twitter is estimated to have 200 million users, generating 65 million tweets a day and handling over 800,000 search queries per day.

Twitter is owned by Twitter, Inc., was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and was launched in July. It is based in San Francisco, California and has servers and offices in San Antonio, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts.

Why You Should Use Twitter

“Twitter contains information you will find valuable because only messages from users you choose to follow will show up on your homepage for you to read. It’s like being delivered a newspaper whose headlines you’ll always find interesting – you can discover news as it’s happening, learn more about topics that are important to you, and get the inside scoop in real time.”

Source: Twitter Help Center

Starter Symbols

@		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.
#		The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.
RT:		Abbreviated version of “retweet.” Placed before the retweeted text when users manually retweet a message.
d		Also called a “direct message” and most recently called simply a “message,” these Tweets are private between only the sender and recipient. Tweets become DMs when they begin with “d username” to specify who the message is for, e.g., d @socialhow2