What does it mean when people write on twitter . . . .?

[Nena Sanchez]

(y) and <<<<< and >>>>>>
What do these three things mean?

[Maya]

(y) means "thumbs up" - it came from bbm (black berry messaging) because it's like the shortcut to put an emoji in or something
<<<< means that whatever they said before that is the worst thing in the world.
for example: stepping in dog poop <<<< (there's nothing worse than stepping in dog poop)
and then >>>> is just the opposite of <<<.
for example: meeting @justinbieber >>>>> (there's nothing better in the world than meeting Justin Bieber)

hope that helped!