How to use/understand Twitter?

[Blah_Radio]

I already have a myspace and facebook but lately ive been thinking about getting twitter.
What i dont get about twitter are the whole "symbol" things, like the "#" or "@" sign before a certain word.(it's usually highlighted in blue or something)
Pretty much i just want to know what that stands for, like how to get the hang of it or meaning...any explaining on this or how to use twitter would be great haha(:
Thanks in advance

[amvonz105]

Think of Twitter as just posting Facebook statuses.
The @ sign is placed before the username of another person on twitter. It's the equivalent of writing on someone's wall. For example, if my friend had the username FreddyDouglass, and I wanted to tweet to him directly, I would type:

"@FreddyDouglass I heard Mary Todd gave you a walking stick!"

OR, you can use the @ sign when mentioning another twitter user in your tweet. ex:

"Just broke my second ipod. @mom won't be happy about this..."

The # sign is used for trending topics. These are harder to explain. Basically, a trending topic is something that a large amount of twitter users are mentioning in their tweets at the moment. Right now, #harrypotter is pretty popular. If you're talking about a trending topic in your tweet, just do this:

"Can't wait for the premiere tomorrow night. You know I just love #harrypotter."

Hope this helps!