If you are new to Twitter, you have probably noticed (and been confused) by all of the crazy Twitter terms being used on the social network. Twitter users have their own language, so as a newbie, it’s time for you to learn it. Here are the top 15 most commonly used Twitter terms. Learn these and you’ll be “tweeting” like a pro in no time.

1. Tweet: A post made by a Twitter user. Tweets are limited to 140 characters.

2. Retweet or RT: Reposting a tweet that has already been posted on the Twitter stream. RT usually precedes the original poster to give credit. Here is an example of a retweet: RT @localsplash New blog post: Twitter for Dummie: 15 Common Terms Explained

3. Follow: Choosing to follow someone means their tweets will appear in your home stream. You can also get their tweets sent to your phone as text messages.

4. Follower: If someone is following you, it means they have chosen for your tweets to appear in their home stream and they are most likely reading them.

5. Unfollow or De-Friend: This is when one of your followers decides to stop reading your tweets.

6. DM: This is a Direct Message sent to a twitter user. In order for you to DM someone, that person must be following you. DMs don’t appear in the public twitter stream. They go directly to the receiver’s inbox.

7. @ Reply/Mention: The @ symbol is used to reply to or mention a twitter user. For example, if @localsplash tweeted something and you want to make a comment publicly, you could write @localsplash then the message. Local Splash will be notified of the “mention” but your tweet will also be able to be seen by all of your followers.

8. # (Hashtag): A hash symbol (#) is used to comment about a popular topic in a tweet so that people who are searching for that topic can easily find it. “Trending topics” occur on Twitter when a lot of people use the same hash tag. Anyone can make up a hash tag, however, not all of them become common trending topics. Only when a large number of people use the same hash tag is when it becomes a trending topic that appears on the home page of Twitter. Hash tags provide users are way to find out what the most talked about topics of the day are. Ex: @localsplash: Hooray it’s Friday! #TGIF

9. Twittosphere: Twitter atmosphere. The collective group of everyone who uses Twitter.

10. Tweeple: People who use Twitter

11. Tweeps: Your Twitter friends. “Peeps” on Twitter.

12. Twitterati: A-list Twitter users or Twitter élite. These are people who have a lot of followers. Usually includes celebrities or people who are highly influential to other Twitter users.

There are many more Twitter terms floating around the Twittosphere. These are just the most commonly used terms. For the official glossary, visit Twitter.com.