Are you down with the Twitter Lingo?

The BBC news homepage today brought us the gripping news that Miss Universe contestant Vasuki Sunkavalli was recently charged with the offence of ‘twagiarism’. Sunkavalli (aka Miss Universe) was found guilty of tweeting a series of tweets that resembled very closely the Wall Street Journal columnist ‘Sadanand Dhume’s political comments. Sunkavalli has been charged with the so called twagiarism because she seems to have attempted to pass the commentary off, as if it were her own.89609691

Twagiarism

We might laugh at this amusing word combination of twitter and plagiarism, but it’s certainly not the first word to have had "tw-" placed on to its bonnet.

But why is it necessary? To create a twitter language that has its own meaning..... or to simply make us laugh?

Sadanand Dhume, says it's useful to make the distinction.

"Twagiarism certainly sounds less serious than plagiarism, as it should," he says. "It's a reminder that the twitterverse is much smaller than the universe and that we should keep a sense of humour about it."

There is certainly some sense in Dhumes response and so we thought we’d give you a Twictionary of other twitter words that will help you describe twitter musings without coming across too severe…

  • tweeple: users of Twitter, or a user's followers (also "tweeps")
  • tweetup: a real world gathering of Twitter users (pre-Twitter term "meatspace")
  • twisticuffs: a verbal argument conducted via tweets
  • twitterrhoea: overuse of social media
  • tweet cred: social standing on Twitter
  • twelete: removing a previously-published tweet
  • twirting: philandering in 140 characters or fewer
  • tweme: a popular idea (meme) on Twitter
  • twittiquette: the social norms of micro-blogging
  • twebinar: a "web seminar" using Twitter

Which one is your favourite? Are these words ridiculous or are they necessary in order to refer activity in the context of Twitter?

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Enjoy the post… Vikki

Carvill Creative – the online visibility experts. A digital marketing agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  Carvill Creative covers all aspects of online visibility – website effectiveness, social media marketing, social media management and social media training, user focused website planning and conversion focused website design.

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Social Media MarketingMichelle Carvill