Twitter: An Insider's Guide

Molly had a great comment about helping people learn to decode "twitterspeak." Here is a quick, barebones guide for beginners (Seriously, there are better resources out there. I just want to help get you started.):

Don’t Feel Like You Need To Follow Everyone and His Mom:
1. Follow people who mean something to you.
2. Follow people you can learn from.
3. Follow people you can teach.

Don’t Ignore Weird Symbols and Letters (They Probably Mean Something):
@ = The person you’re following is talking to/about another Twitter user. When you use this, don’t put a space between it and the user name (like this: @daniellesuzanne).

# = (Hashtag) This tweet is about something that a lot of people are involved in and is now searchable (like a conference, natural disaster, topics of interest, etc.). Use sparingly. A lot of people find them annoying and intrusive (like this: #grammys).

RT = (Retweet) This tweet came from someone else and was found valuable. It’s a way to give credit where credit is due. Use this a lot (like this: RT @daniellesuzanne).

d = (Direct Message) When you put a “d” then a space and the person’s twitter name, you will be sending a message that can only be seen by the recipient. Use this when your @ conversations get out of hand (people find that annoying, too) (like this: d daniellesuzanne).

These sites will help you get the most out of Twitter:
twitpic : for uploading pics and providing links to them.
twhirl : a great desktop application for Twitter (operates like a chat window).

Follow me if you need help (or if you just want to).