Over the years, popular life, mind, and Twitter, the 140 character or less casting site, has continued to evolve. First, it all started as a “texting the internet” site in the pre-“smart” smartphone era. Around 2009-2010, Twitter became a popular app that made it easy for people to let us know how their sandwich was doing or how great a workout they had done, even when we didn’t want to hear it. During that time, people were more likely to reply to a tweet or retweet it just to show how much they cared or didn’t care. Then in the last year or so, Twitter rolled out a new feature: bookmark.

In today’s fast-paced world, sometimes bookmarking a tweet seems easier some days. All you have to do is click on the little “star” icon and you’re on your way. However, what good is it? No one else other than the tweeter can see that you have bookmarked your tweet. You do not open it for your followers to send it to theirs, etc. Kill a tweet. It falls like a rock into a pond. If followers of original people don’t see it right away, then what’s the use of a “favorite”?

So which is the best option: reply or retweet? Well honestly, a retweet not only increases the original presence of tweeters on Twitter, it also has the potential to increase your presence. A retweet can do many different things. First, you can show emotion in the form of happiness because the tweet in question may have made you laugh, smile, or just feel like someone else might benefit from seeing it. Second, it can help a growing business grow faster.

When someone retweets a link, they link back to the website that was originally tweeted. Lastly, it gives you a better chance of getting more followers you didn’t know or couldn’t find before. A retweet is like putting your work on the bulletin board in elementary school. It’s there for everyone to see when they walk past it, even if they don’t actually know you.

One of the favorites is literally the gold star. You know it’s there, but no one else knows. You care that you got one, but no one else does.

So what about the answers? What are they for in the whole Twitter scheme? In fact, they serve as a direct connection between a tweeter and a tweetee. You can “personally” praise something or ask a question without negative ramifications. If you didn’t completely like what the tweet said, you can just reply and in the thread of the conversation, people can still find the link, giving the original tweet its due. It doesn’t work in the same way as a retweet, but it can have similar effects.

In general, Twitter is controlled by the user. They decide whether or not they want to do any of these three things. However, as an avid Twitter user, people should be urged to retweet links more than anything else. Help your fellow tweeters out and retweet your news to your followers. Even if not everyone wants that information, you are still giving others the option to follow the link or not.

So get out there and tweet. There are only 140 characters to express your opinion.