Twitter help please--does RT mean retweet and what does it really involve?

[Dolphin Lover]

Thanks for your explanation,in advance! :-))

[Elizabeth12]

retweet

[Jasmin Andrew]

yes RT mean retweet

[Andrew]

An RT or retweet is the process of repeating or reposting a message that somebody else has tweeted previously. Usually this would be because the message contains a link or important news/advice that you think your followers would find interesting.

You indicate that it a retweet by adding RT (because it's shorter and saves characters than saying Retweet) and include the person's name, so that your followers can see the source (and is also helpful promotion for those who want that kind of recognition).

The convention would be for you to write something like:

RT @PersonWhoSentIt Look at this fantastic site! http://bit.ly/r3OwN

Due to character limits, the "RT @PersonWhoSentIt" might take up too much extra space in your message (remember twitter messages can only be 140 characters), so you would have to modify the original message to make the important part of the message fit, e.g.

RT @PersonWhoSentIt fantastic site! http://bit.ly/r3OwN

Sometimes people then add their own thoughts to the post as they RT it, e.g.

RT @PersonWhoSentIt "fantastic site! http://bit.ly/r30wN" <- I agree totally!

And you might also see a friend of yours later re-post it again to their followers, and would include you and the original person who posted the message, like so:

RT @PersonWhoSentIt (via @YourName) "fantastic site! http://bit.ly/r30wN"

This is why you sometimes see people say "Please RT!" after a message, because they want recognition or feel the info or link they're posting is very important or useful.

Sorry, that turned into a bit of an essay!