Table of Contents
Abbreviations
LOL
LOL is an acronym that stands for “laughing out loud,” and it’s used
AMA
AMA stands for “Ask me anything”, and it’s an interactive post where users leave the floor open for their audience to ask them questions about anything they want to know. AMAs are a great way to connect with your audience.
AMAs originated on Reddit but have now moved on to other platforms as well.
ELI5
ELI5 is the short form of “Explain Like I’m 5”. It is used in social media and forums to ask people to explain complex topics to you in an easy and straightforward way that even a five-year-old can understand, hence “explain like I’m 5.”
ICYMI
ICYMI is an acronym that stands for “In case you missed it”, and it’s used to let people know that you are sharing something that has already been posted, talked about, or discussed.
ICMYI is commonly used in discussions as a polite way to help people who you think might have missed some discussion catch up. It’s also used on posts to reshare something or talk about an event that happened. Example: “ICYMI, here’s how our webinar went.”
IMHO
IMHO is an acronym that either stands for “In my humble opinion” or “in my honest opinion”. IMHO is used in social media to express your opinions in a non-arrogant manner and to let others know that they are your opinions and they are not facts.
Examples:
“IMHO, I think the older design was better.”
“IMHO, I think Hypefury is the best.”
YOLO
YOLO stands for “You Only Live Once” and is used in social media to encourage taking risks and living life at its fullest because you only have one life to live. It can be used to prompt another person to do something or even justify one’s actions after doing something.
Examples
“You should build that business, YOLO”.
“You’re not going to the party to study? YOLO”.
AFAIK
AFAIK is the short form of “As Far As I Know”. It is used in social media and communications to convey that the speaker is providing information based on their knowledge, but is not entirely sure about its accuracy, as it may have changed or something like that.
IIRC
IIRC is an acronym that stands for “If I Recall Correctly” or “If I Remember Correctly”, and it’s used in social media to convey that the speaker doesn’t know for sure if what they are saying is accurate, but to the best of their memory, it is.
IIRC is similar to AFAIK,b ut the former is for recalling something, while the latter is for knowledge on something
TBH
TBH stands for “To be honest”, and it’s used to admit something or express an opinion.
TBH is usually used at the beginning of a sentence, followed by the admission of the expression.
“Tbh, I think the green one looked better on you”.
FOMO
FOMO stands for “Fear of Missing Out”. It’s used to express a feeling that you may be missing out on exciting events that other people are doing. FOMO is also used as a business term, especially in marketing.
IYKYK
IYKYK means “If You Know, You Know”. It is used in social media to show an insider joke or reference that the majority of people will not understand, but only a few will.
CTA
CTA is an acronym that stands for “Call to Action”. A call to action is the action that you want your viewers (or website visitors) to take after reading your post.
AFK
AFK is an acronym that stands for “Away from Keyboard”. It’s commonly used in chats and discussions to indicate that a person is currently away from their computer.
B2B
B2B is a business term that means “Business-to-business”. It’s commonly used to refer to a business that caters to other businesses. They provide services or sell products to other businesses.
B2C
B2C is a business term that means “Business-to-consumer”. It used to refer to a business that caters to consumers.
Social Media Terms
Algorithm
An algorithm (or algo) refers to a set of rules, steps, or processes that are followed to solve a problem. In social media, an algorithm means a set of rules and calculations that social media platforms use to determine which content to show to users and in what order. This is why not every user sees the same post.
Ghosting
Ghosting is a term used in dating and relationships to refer to a sudden and unexplained ending of communication or contact with someone. When someone “ghosts” you, it means they have ended all communications with you without explaining why.
Newsjacking
Newsjacking involves incorporating your brand’s thoughts or opinions into current news events to generate coverage and increase brand awareness.
Imagine you’re a body language expert and Will Smith just slapped someone at an event. Newjacking is when you add your expert opinion on whether the slap was fake/planned, or it just happened based on body language.
Looksmaxxing
Looksmaxxing is a trend that involves someone improving their physical appearance. This consists in improving your skin, hair, jawline, and body. Looksmaxxing is a term commonly used with men.
Banger
Banger is a term used to describe something that is exceptionally great, impressive, or high quality.
For example, “That is a banger tweet.”
Brain rot
Brain rot is a term used to indicate a deterioration of one’s mental health caused by overconsumption of low-quality content on social media.
Algospeak
Algospeak refers to code words and expressions used by social media users to bypass automatic content moderation systems. This is to avoid their posts and accounts from being flagged.
Examples:
- “Corn” or “🌽” instead of porn
- “🍆” and “🍑” private parts, related to porn
- “Unalive” instead of kill
- “Accountant” instead of sex worker
Accountant
Accountant is a code word used on social media to dodge questions about one’s profession, and is commonly used as a slang term for “sex worker” or others who create content on OnlyFans.
Doomscrolling
Doomscrolling (or doomsurfing) is a term used to refer to the excessive and compulsive consumption of negative news and content online.
