Let's face it. Twitter is exactly like a group of friends who meet in a café or pub after work to enjoy a beverage and shoot the breeze. Some discussions are serious, others ludicrous. And there are always those 'you had to have been there' moments that turn into running gags and friendly nicknames.

Twitter is exactly like that. Only with several million friends at once.

1. What are individual Twitter messages called? Tweets. Like birdies on a wire, see?
2. How long can an individual Twitter message be? 280 characters, these days, though Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are still limited to 140. Don't despair, though: you can always continue your thought on another tweet.
3. What can you do with a Twitter message (on Twitter) that you like, besides clicking the 'Like' button? Reply, or Retweet. Retweeting is sending the message out again to your followers, with or without accompanying comments.
4. What animal is the symbol of Twitter? A blue bird. Is it the bluebird of internet happiness? Who knows?
5. What kind of blogging goes on on Twitter? Microblogging. Self-explanatory.
6. How did 30-50 feral hogs become a Twitter meme? Somebody tweeted about them. Specifically, a Twitter user from Arkansas, who claimed menacing razorbacks were the reason he needed an automatic rifle in his home. Within hours, songs, gifs, and even computer game strategies were being designed around the new meme.
7. What is # called, and what is it used for? Hashtag, for turning 30-50 feral hogs into a meme. #TheLatestInsanity is a way to group tweets and focus discussion on the runaway topic of the day.
8. Under what circumstances is a Twitter user said to have 'won Twitter'? When the tweet and/or image is deemed un-toppably clever by a large number of users. Such as, 'During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only 30-50 hoofprints, it was then that the feral hogs carried you.'
9. Can you read Twitter without signing up and participating? Absolutely. This, of course, enables your Twitter-obsessed friends to send you unwanted links to hilarious threads about feral hogs.
10. What's the farthest a Twitter message has been sent? Depends on what NASA are up to. Tweeting definitely takes place on a regular basis between Earth and the ISS. Whether that Mars rover is actually tweeting from the Red Planet, or whether it's using an Earthling proxy, is a matter for debate.

Greg Jevin: Trampled by feral hogs.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

26.08.19 Front Page

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