Monday, 4 March 2019

25 Social Media Slang Terms You Need to Know

social-media-terms

The unprecedented connectivity we see in the digital age means that new slang words are appearing at a faster rate than ever before. And this is especially true on social media.

While many slang terms spread and gain popularity on social media, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are also the birthplace of their own subsets of slang.

To help you understand the words and phrases being thrown around on social media, here’s our list of popular social media slang terms.

1. Facebook Official

relationship-status-facebook

“Facebook official” describes a romantic relationship that has been declared on your Facebook relationship status. You can do this by linking your account to your partner’s in the relationship status section of your Facebook profile.

While this term is specific to a social media platform, the word has also spread into everyday usage to imply that a relationship has gone from casual to serious.

2. Twitter Egg/Egg

Calling someone a Twitter egg implies that they are a troll, some random anonymous user with little credibility, or even a Twitter bot account. This is because many new accounts created for the sole intent of harassing, accusing, or trolling other users don’t go through the effort of uploading an avatar.

The term “Twitter egg” comes from the social network’s original default avatar for new accounts—a white egg on a blue background. Twitter has since changed the default avatar for new users, but the term has stuck.

3. Social Notworking

If you are procrastinating at work by spending time on social media, you’re guilty of social notworking. The word plays on the term “social networking”.

An example of its usage would be: “I have a deadline, but I’m social notworking. Got sucked into reading #InappropriateFuneralSongs instead.”

4. Ratioed/Ratio’d

When someone refers to a tweet’s ratio, or a ratio’d tweet, they are bringing attention to the number of comments versus retweets and likes on the post. This is because tweets with many comments but few likes usually signal that the opinion expressed in the tweet is very unpopular.

Ratio’d tweets are therefore posts that are considered bad takes and controversial opinions, since they’ve attracted many responses but few positive interactions such as likes.

5. Tweeps

Tweeps are Twitter users. The slang word is a combination of the words Twitter and peeps. Tweeps is also the shortened version of tweeple, which has the same meaning.

6. Don’t @ Me

When someone says “Don’t @ me” in a tweet, they’re indicating they don’t want to hear your opinions on what they’ve posted. It often follows a (sometimes controversial) declaration and shows that the user doesn’t care what people think about it.

You can use the term either seriously or in jest. The term comes from Twitter’s reply function, which tags a user with the symbol “@” and their username.

7. Sliding Into DMs

Sliding into someone’s DMs refers to direct or private messaging a person on social media that you find attractive with the intention to hook up or spark a romance. This differs from direct messaging for professional or platonic reasons.

As such, you may find people commenting negatively on people in relationships who slide into DMs.

8. Instafamous

Instafamous is an adjective describing someone who is famous on Instagram due to a large number of followers. Usually, the person is not a typical celebrity, but rather an Instagram influencer who is not famous outside of the platform.

The word is also sometimes used as a noun to refer to people who are Instafamous.

9. Subtweet

A subtweet is a Twitter post that criticizes someone without directly mentioning their name. It’s essentially a form of social media passive-aggressiveness that involves complaining about someone without actually identifying who the person is.

10. Tweetstorm

A Tweetstorm is a barrage of related tweets on a topic, usually as part of a rant or long thread.

11. Grammable/Gramworthy/Instaworthy

These terms describe moments and pictures that are worth sharing on social media, specifically Instagram. You can also use the words more broadly to include other social media platforms.

12. #Blessed

People use #blessed to express that they are grateful or lucky to have something that they have mentioned in a post. However, the word has become such an iconic hashtag on Instagram and Twitter that it is sometimes used in spoken language ironically.

13. Vaguebooking

Vaguebooking refers to the times when someone posts something on social media that is intentionally vague. This term usually refers to posts on Facebook, but can also apply to tweets and Instagram posts.

Examples of vaguebooking include people posting that they are sad without explaining why, or saying that they are excited for something without explaining what.

14. Twar

The word twar is a combination of the words “Twitter” and “war” and refers to an argument or fight between two Twitter users. Twars are usually very public and involve multiple retorts or interactions.

15. Delete Your Account

If someone says “delete your account” in response to a post on social media, they find the post offensive or just plain wrong. The phrase expresses staunch disagreement.

You can also sometimes use “delete your account” as a joke or as a hyperbolic reaction, such as when someone criticizes your favorite singer or movie.

16. Finsta

A finsta is a secondary, private Instagram account. This account is usually locked and only has a few followers who are close friends or family. The word comes from a combination of “fake” and “Instagram”.

While some people have a finsta account to anonymously follow others who may have blocked them (such as an ex-partner), most people use it as a personal account for content that they don’t want to share with the public. This includes unflattering selfies, but also more personal posts that people don’t want employers or strangers to see.

17. Thirst Tweets

Thirst tweets are tweets that express lust or attraction to certain people, especially celebrities. A popular video trend that has emerged involves celebrities reading thirst tweets that others have posted about them.

18. Lurker/Lurking

A lurker is someone who browses social media, social media profiles, and forums, but without interacting or posting anything themselves. While lurking, people simply observe and follow the posts and interactions of others.

19. Twitterati

Twitterati refers to elite Twitter users, such as those with huge follower numbers. The word comes from the English terms literati and glitterati, which refer to other elite groups of people.

20. Rage-Tweet/Rage Tweet

Rage-tweeting refers to the act of posting angry tweets. This can often result in a tweetstorm, but rage tweets can also appear alone as sudden outbursts of anger on Twitter.

21. Facebook Stalking

Facebook stalking refers to looking at someone’s Facebook profile to find out more about them, but with harmless intentions. This differs from cyberstalking, which is malicious and often involves harassment.

22. Weird Flex But OK

People on social media use the phrase “weird flex but OK” in response to others bragging about odd, strange, or otherwise unnoteworthy achievements.

23. This Ain’t It

When someone is considered to have a bad take or idea, social media users often respond with “this ain’t it” or “this ain’t it, chief”. It can be used in response to posts that the original poster thought would be cool or edgy, but that ends up achieving the opposite effect. You can also use “this ain’t it” in response to opinions that you consider incorrect.

It is a less aggressive way of indicating disagreement compared to “delete your account”. The phrase is very popular on social media and also appears in internet memes.

24. Thirst Trap

Thirst traps refer to sexy photos posted on social media by users, with the aim of attracting attention. The word can also refer to social media accounts that routinely post these types of photos.

25. Sharebait

While clickbait refers to links that try to influence users to click on them, sharebait posts prioritize shareability over quality or accuracy.

Sharebait often includes misleading images with criticism of popular culture, but the most prevalent sharebait posts are ones that prompt users to share or like to express agreement and disagreement. People sometimes use memes in sharebait, but the best internet memes differ from sharebait since they are not created with the sole intention of being shared.

Find Out More About Modern Slang

Slang is constantly evolving and every day brings new words to our vocabulary. These are some of the slang terms you’ll come across on social media, but there are many more slang terms out there.

To find out more about online slang, check out our guide on trendy internet acronyms you’ll need to know to fit in.

Read the full article: 25 Social Media Slang Terms You Need to Know



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