Somehow, I have this sneaky vibe that most of you are Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram people. So, I am really out on a limb here writing about Twitter, but do you know why I persist still? Because Twitter can be such fun!
Imagine trying to condense your thoughts and feelings into 140 characters (not words!), since every comma, full stop, apostrophe and exclamation counts. Hence, one has to be insanely creative and succinct. Besides, who doesn’t like an #hashtag?
So, having established a few Twitter functions – 140 characters, #hashtag, ♥. What about those times when you want to “parrot” what a friend has said? We know that’s Share on Facebook, and Copy on Whatsapp, but on Twitter, it is called a Retweet. Ha! the penny finally drops, RT simply means Retweet, but there’s more.
Simply put, retweeting is like a ‘follow-back’, showing who tweeted something, and the tweet that person wrote. For example, if the user @passnownow posted an update saying “Thanks for following us!” and I wanted to share that, my retweet would look as follows: RT @passnownow Thanks for following us!
But the retweet function gets even more interesting. Tweets that are retweeted will show up in the news stream of friends as if the original poster said it! A little note will appear below the tweet to show whom the user is retweeting. On your Twitter profile page, you can even see who has retweeted what you have said.
Benefits of Retweeting
There are numerous benefits to retweeting such as:
- Using the opportunity as a great networking opportunity (having a larger pool of people in your circle of influence than you would normally have)
- Getting news out there more quickly
- Sharing fun or useful information with others
- Giving a quick nod to someone you appreciate
- Making Twitter friends
- Getting your Twitter name out there more. After all, if you retweet someone, they are more likely to retweet you. #sharingiscaring
Retweeting is one of the more useful features that Twitter offers to users. Rather than worrying, “What does RT on Twitter mean?” Get yourself out there and start retweeting some information that you would love to share, and which will be sheer bliss for your followers to receive!
