This is a quick pictorial for new Twitter users. Do you want to know what those little interaction icons next to users’ names mean? An interaction on Twitter is when another user tweets to you, retweets your tweet or favorites your tweet. These actions show up in the interaction area of your account. Depending on your account’s notification settings, an interaction may also trigger an email to be sent to you.
From your Twitter account click on the @Connect link at the top of the page. From here you can see other users’ account names, most with a small icon next to the name.
Below is a snapshot of metrony on Twitter. There are 3 interactions listed.
- Interaction #1 with the yellow star means that tweet was favorited by another user.
- The second interaction is a retweet (RT) that was typed in manually by the user. The icon on the left shows the user’s profile icon rather than the icon you see in interaction #3.
- Interaction #3 is also a retweet (RT). The user simply clicked on the retweet button in their news feed. This interaction shows a small green symbol that resembles a recycle icon.
The next icon is not an interaction but a special case. This tweet is “promoted’ in other words, it’s a paid advertisement designed to get more followers to follow Home Depot’s Twitter account.
