Our Beginners & Basics series is a collection of blogs and tips that are designed to help beginners understand the basics of communications, social media, and marketing. Welcome to Twitter 101.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is technically a “micro-blogging service,” allowing users to post and share comments, photos, videos and more. So what does that actually mean? Because it has a 240 character limit (recently bumped up from 140), it’s a place to share brief posts — not 3 paragraphs.

One thing to note about Twitter is that it has some unique terminology when referring to specific features. It may be confusing to newbies, so we broke down the basics for you:

Twitter Lingo:

• Tweet: to post
• Retweet: to repost another user’s post
• Reply: using the @ to respond to someone’s post
• Direct Message: private chat to specific user(s)
• Hashtag: a symbol (the # sign) that categorizes tweets

Who uses it?

Donald Trump isn’t the only one who loves tweeting. With over 330 million monthly active users and 145 million daily active users, Twitter has a huge influence on today’s society. Many of these 330 million users are younger, but Twitter’s demographic reach is not only for millennials and Gen-Z.

63% of Twitter users are between the ages of 35 and 65. While other social media platforms like Snapchat and TikTok are famous for catering to younger generations, it’s clear that Twitter appeals to a more mature audience as well.

Why is it helpful for businesses?

With such an impressive number of active users, Twitter is one of the best digital marketing tools for businesses. Twitter allows for brands and businesses to engage personally with their consumers. It allows for conversation and brands to practice transparent communication.

Twitter even made a sandwich go viral. Seriously.

However, not all brands need a Twitter account. It’s often hard to decide what social media is helpful and what’s overkill. We’re here to help you figure out who your audience is and how to reach them. Twitter may or may not be the answer!

Brands that are killing the Twitter game:

• PlayStation: 17.7M followers
• Chanel: 13.2M followers
• Samsung Mobile: 12M followers
• Starbucks: 11.2M followers

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