Casual language is the preferred language on the Internet. It includes shortened words that are contracted and phrases that are abbreviated. This makes the modern language easier to express and cool-sounding. Learning social media abbreviations will allow you to easily pick up what your online friends are saying. Plus, using them when writing your posts or messages will make your content relatable. Don’t be left out and fit in with your online audience by learning our list of useful social media abbreviations. Scroll down to see them.
1. AMA – Ask Me Anything
If you are conducting an online event where you will have a question and answer approach, use the acronym AMA. Just make sure that it is clear to your audience that the questions they will ask must be related to the niche you focus on. By being an expert in a certain industry, activity, or craft, you are confident enough to share your knowledge by welcoming questions from your audience. Some businesses use this as their marketing strategy to increase engagement with their target audience. It is also a good way to learn their interest and which area do they need more help.
2. TBT – Throwback Thursday
People like to share their photos. Usually, you post the most recent ones to update your friends about what you’ve been up to lately. This includes your activities, places you’ve visited, and the people you were with. However, when you want to share old photos to let your audience have a peek of your past experience, may it be fun, interesting, or unflattering. Different reasons for posting old photos include showing the comparison of your before and after look or letting others see consistency in you regardless of the time passed. Your audience can appreciate this because it can entertain, encourage, or inspire them. If you are going to post like this, including the acronym TBT in your message will enable your friends to instantly identify that you share retrospective content.
3. OOTD – Outfit of the day
OOTD is an abbreviation mostly used by people who are into fashion. Since they want to express themselves by dressing up, they want to document their clothing style and share it with others. This allows you to flaunt your creativity in styling clothes or how good you can look in a particular style of clothing. People are interested in OOTD posts as they give them an idea of a look they can try for their upcoming activities. This is one of the reasons why this abbreviation has become popular.
4. FOMO – Fear of Missing Out
Due to our technologically advanced world, events are much more fast-paced. Changes can happen in an instant; that’s why many would want to grab the opportunity to be part of upcoming popular events or activities right away. While some have no intention to be actively part of it, they are still interested in being updated, so they can share the news with others or engage in a conversation where the topic is related to it. Nobody wants to be left out. Everybody wants to be updated so they can connect and communicate effectively with others. If you refer to that feeling where your audience desire to be updated on the latest news or take part in a new activity, use the acronym FOMO.
It’s not surprising if you encounter this acronym when you join a marketing meeting. FOMO has been widely used by marketing professionals as this also refers to their marketing strategy. This is usually employed when offering limited deals or access to something.
5. JOMO – Joy of Missing Out
If FOMO is the fear of missing out, JOMO is the opposite of it. Instances wherein you’re grateful or relieved after missing out on something commonly happens to us. If you want to share this with others, include JOMO in your message. The content of this message is to show what you did or enjoyed after missing out on something. It can be because you were able to rest well, visit an interesting place, spend time with your loved ones, or do things you’ve been delaying to start or complete.
6. FTF – For the win
People love to celebrate success. Sending positive messages to motivate others to win or congratulate them shows that you support them. Although it is ideal to do this personally, communicating it online is more practical, faster, and convenient. If you wanted to cheer for someone’s victory, FTF is suited to be used. This can be employed when describing what you did to win or when cheering someone to be great to succeed.
7. DM – Direct message
Seeing compelling posts on social media may trigger you to comment on them, which can be seen by the public. If you wanted to talk about sensitive or specific details that are not suited to be read by the public, it is much better to speak about it in a private chat. Talking about it through post comments will only make it a long comment thread, which others may not be interested to know because it’s irrelevant to them. It can also lead you to share too much information publicly. If you wanted to have further conversations with like-minded people, include in your message, “DM me.”. This acronym invites people to message you directly to talk further about a certain subject or common interests. Another alternative abbreviation you can use for this is “PM,” which stands for a personal message.
8. BRB – Be right back
Social media is used for sharing posts and good pictures. It is also an ideal medium if you wanted to be updated about your friends’ latest trends or activities. It is also utilized as a messaging platform where you can easily chat with someone or a group. One of the common abbreviations you can use when chatting with others is BRB. This tells your chatmate that you have to leave for a moment but will come back. Informing them serves as a courtesy. They will not be surprised if you are gone suddenly and won’t expect an immediate response from you.
9. GTG – Got to go
GTG is an alternative abbreviation you can use when telling your chatmates that you have to leave. Inserting this in your message will tell your chatmates that they don’t have to wait for you because you may be away for a longer time doing something or going somewhere else. This is one of the old abbreviations in chat messaging but still actively being used up to the present.
10. FYI – For your Information
This common abbreviation is mostly used when you wanted to provide further details about something. This can be because you wanted to update your audience or give them a heads up. Although this is widely used in social media, it is also used in business conversations. So if you wanted to use this during meetings or when talking with your colleagues, feel free to do so because it is applicable.
11. ICYMI – In case you missed it.
When your post contains content that is crucial for others to know or can help you in promoting something, you want it to be seen by most of your audience. A better way to ensure that others read it is to repost it. Use the abbreviation ICYMI if you are posting content that is not too recent. Doing this kind of post will enable those who have missed it to see it or serve as a reminder to those who’ve already seen it.
12. GG – Good game
Sports enthusiasts enjoy talking about game updates or describing how it went. If you have watched a game or a team that you know your friends are interested in, use GG to tell them if it was a well-played game. You can also use this acronym if you wanted to share your experience in playing sports with others.
13. IRL (In real life)
You may share something about yourself on social media but do not really reveal much. You may want to have an updated social media but still prefer to have a sense of privacy, so you limit what you share online. In some instances, you may want to open up more and tell something that happens to you in real life. For this kind of post, use IRL. Putting this in your message can make your audience see that you wanted to be transparent to them for revealing something about you.
14. WFH – Work from home
Remote working has been the trend recently. Some are digital nomads who are working where they want to be, while many remote workers are working from the comforts of their homes. If you wanted to tell that you are currently working in your humble abode, use WFH. Your connections will instantly know that you are productive even while staying at home.
15. GOAT – Greatest of All Time
Finding something that is incomparable to others due to its premium quality will make you want to flex it. You wanted to share about it so others can also appreciate or learn about it. If you wanted to emphasize that what you have or seen is the best so far, use GOAT.
This abbreviation can be used to promote something. To inform others about the superiority of a certain product or service, marketing professionals include it in their messages to make it more compelling. Knowing that something is the greatest, people will be instantly curious and interested in trying it.
Social media acronyms are aimed for casual conversations, so some may not be appropriate in informal business conversations. Be sure to check which ones are fitting and which ones are not. Since the internet language is continuously evolving, you may see that it comprises old and new acronyms. It is not uncommon to see newer abbreviations on public posts or comments of social media users. For other abbreviations that you haven’t seen here, you can simply Google them if you’re confused or unsure of their meaning. In the meantime, including our list of acronyms on your personal list to get you started.
Want to learn new cool words and speaking them just like how a native speaker does? Enroll in our Useful Expressions or Free Conversation course today. We give you plenty of time to practice speaking with your teacher so you can be fluent quickly. You can also check out other courses and choose the course that fits your learning goal.
