Twitter, on account of the 140 character limit, encourages extensive use of shorthand typing. Most of these acronyms might be familiar to regular Internet users but some are very specific to Twitter.
Here is a list of top Twitter acronyms that we know so far.
RT = Retweet.
PRT = Partial Retweet / Please Retweet.
OH = Overheard.
DM = Direct Message.
@ : Reply to [username].
BTW : By The Way
FTW = For The Win.
FTL = For The Loss.
IRL = In Real Life.
FTF = Face to Face.
IMHO = In My Honest Opinion.
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary.
BR = Best Regards.
b/c = because.
JV = Joint Venture.
LMK = Let Me Know.
Also see: Twitter Guide: How To Do Things With Twitter
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/popular-twitter-acronyms/6819/
Reader Comments
How about link ?
Written by Kevin on 01.28.09
IMHO is “in my humble opinion” IMHO. Never have I ever heard anybody say “in my honest opinion.”
Written by Susan on 01.28.09
One more I’ve seen used several times: HT or Hat-tip aka nod to someone or giving due credit.
Written by sherry on 01.28.09
This would help everyone in twitter make sense of all those acronyms in the 140’s for sure.
We have done something similar too Amit. We are profiling all the coolest twitter apps at link
Hope you get time to visit us and may be review us too! That would be great :)
Written by Nischal Shetty on 01.28.09
You could also add AFAIK = As Far As I Know
Written by Aditya on 01.28.09
FTW is for the win?? i thought its the synonym for WTF :P hehe..
and i agree with susan.. i think IMHO is humble opinion
Written by Archana on 01.28.09
After SMS acronyms.. Now Twitter acronyms are getting popular…
Written by fasil on 01.29.09
“LOL” should be in the list?
Written by Modeling22 on 01.29.09
IMHO=In my humble opinion. At least this has been the definition for the past ten years of online message boards.
I’ve also seen bc=because and F2F=face to face (like b2b=business to business).
I’ve sent and received tens of thousands of Tweets and I’ve never seen PRT, that’s new to me.
Written by Liz on 01.31.09
Hey even TTYL=Talk To You Later is used frequently
Written by Rahul Jadhav on 02.13.09
IRL = In Real Life
As in, “At the tweet-up all the tweeps can meet IRL.”
@sdweathers
Written by Steven on 02.17.09
FML is fail my life but I like to say it stands for for the motherfucking lose when I use it.
SMH is shake my head but I also use this emoticon -_-
emoticons don’t seem to be very popular on twitter but I use em anyways cause that’s how I roll.
Written by richandcreamy on 02.23.09
You forgot the most widely used and important one: LMAO.
Written by Missy on 02.28.09
IIMCAIAMBSILMC = India is my country. all indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country….. haven’t you seen it in twitter?
I guess PRT is such a short form that you yourself has created.
Written by Satheesh on 03.12.09