Understanding what your teenager is texting—to you, about you or when she thinks you are not watching—can help you be more a part of her life. And texting is not just for teenagers any longer. The shorthand of texting has invaded everywhere from Twitter to email to what used to be formal business communications.

It is especially important to know the meaning of popular texting acronyms if you plan to use them, so you can be spared the embarrassment of inadvertent inappropriate texting—such as sending an acronym with a raunchy or insulting meaning to your boss. Or your grandmother, who is hip enough to know what it means.

Here are some of the most famous messaging sayings.

*$ – Starbucks
^5 – High five
@TEOTD – At the end of the day
2G2BT – Too good to be true
2NITE – Tonight
4COL – For crying out loud
99 – Parents are no longer watching
AFAIK – As far as I know
BFF – Best friends forever
BI5 – Back in five minutes
BIL – Boss is listening
BRB – Be right back
CID – Consider it done
CU – See you
DEGT – Don’t even go there
FML – F*** my life. Usually used to express that things are not going well.
FWIW – For what it’s worth
FYEO – For your eyes only
GBTW – Get back to work
GFTD – Gone for the day
GNOC – Get naked on camera
GR8 – Great
HAND – Have a nice day
HTH – Hope this helps
IANAL – I am not a lawyer (usually followed by an amateur legal opinion).
IAT – I am tired
IDK – I don’t know
IMHO – In my humble opinion
IMO – In my opinion
IMS – I am sorry
IRL – In real life (as opposed to online)
KUTGW – Keep up the good work
L8R – Later
LMIRL – Let’s meet in real life
LOL – Laugh out loud
NMP – Not my problem
NOYB – None of your business
NRN – No response necessary
NSFW – Not suitable for work
NTMU – Nice to meet you
OMG – Oh my God!
ONUD – Oh no, you didn’t!
PAW – Parents are watching
PCM – Please call me
PIBKAC – Problem is between keyboard and chair (uh, that means the person sitting in chair).
PIR – Parent in room
POMS – Parent over my shoulder
POS – Parent over shoulder
PRW – Parents are watching
QT – Cutie
ROFL – Rolling on the floor laughing
RUOK – Are you okay?
SWDYT – So what do you think?
TBA – To be announced
TBC – To be continued
TIA – Thanks in advance
TMI – Too much information
TOY – Thinking of you
TTYL – Talk to you later
TY – Thank you
UG2BK – You’ve got to be kidding
WOMBAT – Waste of money, brains and time
WRUD – What are you doing?
WYSIWYG – What you see is what you get
XOXO – Hugs and kisses
YW – You’re welcome

Still confused? When someone sends you a text filled with what looks like a random collection of letters, try texting back: TMA. That means “too many acronyms.”

If you feel isolated because you are working alone, social media sites can seem like a lifeline to other humans. They can also be a way to make connections with new customers, influencers and others who can help your business grow. Too often, though, I see people make simple mistakes that harm their reputations, rather than helping.

Here are some common errors and how you can avoid them.

Too little information. Let people know a little about you. Put a picture on your profile, tell us about your business and your life, link to your web site and help others make connections to you.

Too much information. There are things I do not want to know about you, such as the fact that you and your spouse had a rip-roaring fight this morning, or the exact color of whatever just came out of your nose. Spare me. Please.

Updating too infrequently. Out of sight is out of mind. You can’t form relationships with people if you only show up once a month or so.

Updating too frequently. I do not need to know every move you make. “Just woke up.” “Headed for the kitchen.” “Getting coffee. It’s hot!” “My iPhone battery is dead.” You get the idea. If you update every two minutes, you will overwhelm your friends and followers. Only update when you have something interesting to say.

No conversation. Don’t just push your thoughts out to everyone, engage with others, too. Respond to what others are saying and doing. Offer answers and help.

Too much conversation, especially when it doesn’t make sense. I will not be interested in what you have to say if all I see in your Twitter stream is a series of @ replies saying things like, “Oh, yeah. I couldn’t agree more,” or “That is one of my favorite sites, too.” When you do an @ reply, remember that many people will see only that, and not what you are replying to. Make it stand on its own: “http://IdeaLady.com is one of my favorite sites, too.”

Endless self-promotion. If the only things you ever post are links to your latest blog posts, or news about your upcoming product launch, I will lose interest. Spam all of your Facebook friends with nothing but self-promotion, and you will eventually find yourself without friends. Share information, news and helpful links to sites other than yours.

Too many time-wasters. I do not want to be poked, nudged, get in a snowball fight, or be bothered with any of the thousands of useless Facebook apps that are out there. Send one too many and you will be an ex-Facebook friend.

By now you may have surmised that being effective in social media requires balance. Consider what other people do that annoys you, and don’t do those things. Instead, focus on making yourself useful to your network.

Of course, the biggest social media mistake is not having a presence there. Just dive in and get started. Set up an account on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace or other site. You don’t have to use all of them. Start with one or two. Watch what others are doing, then join in.

To follow or friend me, see the links on ConnectWithCathy.com/

Twitter helps me not only to keep in touch with friends and colleagues but also to make new friends and business connections. I have used it to “meet” many new people, but I do not follow everyone who follows me.

Not familiar with Twitter? Watch this short video, then keep reading to see how I decide which Twits . . .uh, Twitterers . . .uh, people to follow on Twitter. You might want to use similar criteria to evaluate connections on Twitter and other social networks. And following these guidelines for your online profiles may help you get more friends and followers.

When I first got on Twitter, I started following people I knew personally. As I met new people at events and online, I started following them, too. Most of the people who started following me were people I had encountered offline or online, so I also followed them.

As my numbers of followers/following grew, I started getting follows from people I did not know at all. Usually this happened because we had a mutual friend and discovered each other through that friend. That is the “social” part of social media. I have made many great connections this way.

Then the marketers came. Suddenly, there were people just looking for an audience to spam with their blog posts, ads and other garbage Tweets. They were not interested in community, just seeing how many people they could blast stuff out to.

Lots of other people got on Twitter but then they never did anything with it. They never Tweet, and they do not participate in the community.

When I get a notice that someone is following me on Twitter, I check them out before I decide to follow them. You may also want to do so. Here are some of the things I look for:

Is there a picture? A picture of the person is best, but an attractive avatar is fine. If someone can not take 30 seconds to upload some kind of image, how involved will they be?

What does their profile say? Again, if you can’t take a couple of minutes to add a link to your web site, where you are located (you do not have to be too specific), what you do or some of your interests, why should I care about you?

Have they updated? When I see that someone has not even taken 15 seconds to key in something simple, such as, “Learning how to use Twitter,” I assume that they will not be an active part of the community. Make at least one update before you start following anyone, and make several before you start following a lot of people.

What is their follower/following ratio? There are lots of Big Internet Names (BIN) who are followed by thousands of people but only follow a few dozen to a few hundred. That is to be expected. Lots of people want to know what the BIN is thinking, but the BIN may not want to follow thousands of people they do not know.

It is the other side of the coin I avoid: Those who are following 3,748 people and have 17 people following them. That tells me that this is someone who is following everyone in sight in the hopes that some of them will follow back so they have people to spam. And they are not interesting enough for most people to care about them.

What kind of updates do they post? Is every one just a product pitch or a link to their blog? Is it all about them? Or do they engage with other users (through @ replies, etc.), post interesting links to sites they do not own, and share information? I will not mind getting the occasional self-promotional Tweet from you if that is not all you send.

How often do they Tweet? There is no magic answer here, but once a month is not often enough and 100 times a day is way too often.

If you are not sure about whether or not to follow someone, you can always follow them and then unfollow them later if they do something annoying. The great thing about Twitter is that you can ignore (or even block) anyone you do not want to hear from. When you follow someone they receive an email notice; however, they will not receive an email saying that you unfollowed them. (Update: There is now an application called Qwitter that will notify someone when you stop following them. Qwitter users will get an email when you unfollow.)

Want to follow me on Twitter? I am at http://www.Twitter.com/CathyStucker. If you want me to follow you, too, you might want to take a minute or two to go through this checklist. I am open to following new Twitter users, but I do look for a photo, at least one update, and something in the profile.

Once you follow me, send a Tweet to @CathyStucker and let me know you found me through this blog post. Sometimes the email notices of new followers do not get to me, and that way I will be sure to see you.

Tweet you later!