If you are just jumping into the Twitter parade, there are a few things you need to know before getting started.

First, you are limited to 140 characters, similar to text messaging. Before you start typing away in that little box, you may want to think about what you want to say or share, then limit it to 140 characters or less. One way to do this is to use “short codes” or abbreviations of commonly used words.

For example, instead of writing “because” you would write “b/c.” Or instead of writing “two” or “to” you would simply type the number “2.”

Some frequently used short codes include:

Hashtag (#) – is a way to organize or categorize your updates. When used, it acts as a search engine to pull all the tweets that have been tweeted with that hashtag, i.e., #bacon would result in anyone talking about bacon.

@reply – means you are replying to a Twitter update that someone else posted. It is directed to the person to whom you are replying, i.e., @reply@BeMoreVisible …

RT – Retweet – you are retweeting someone elses tweet.

MT – Modified Tweet – you are retweeting someone else’s tweet, however you have modified it.

PRT – Partial Retweet – you are retweeting a Tweet but have not included the full original Tweet.

DM – is a direct message to another Twitter user you are following.

#FF or FollowFriday – you write this along with the Twitter accounts of people you would like your Twitter followers to also follow. You can write it with or without the (#) hashtag.