The majority of us are familiar with fun and conversational acronyms, but these days social media slang words can look a bit like alphabet soup. Day by day social media acronyms are becoming more normal. IKR – I know, right? It’s crazy.
Don’t worry, you haven’t lost your cool if you aren’t sure what all these terms, hashtags or acronyms on social media mean. However, knowing the meaning behind these social media abbreviations will be helpful when marketing your business and chatting with your millennial or Gen Z audience. So let’s get started!
Network-Specific Social Media Acronyms
Before we dive in, let’s start with the common acronyms related to specific social media networks. You may already know most of these, but some may be less familiar depending on which platforms you actively use.
FB – Facebook
IG – Instagram
LI – LinkedIn
YT – YouTube
TW – Twitter
You might also come across some acronyms that refer to the unique features on each of these networks.
DM – Direct Message: A private message sent between two users. Mostly used on Twitter and Instagram.
Fleet – Temporary Twitter posts that disappear after 24 hours. Like Instagram Stories, Facebook stories, or the original disappearing content, Snapchat.
FYP – For You Page: The FYP is the main timeline you see when you log into TikTok. Instead of people you follow, the ‘for you page’ shows users popular, viral and random videos that they might like based on their personal algorithm.
IB – Inspired By: If you see the letters ‘IB’ in a TikTok caption, it means that the video has been ‘inspired by’ another viral or notable video.
MT – Modified Tweet: A tweet that has been altered before resharing.
PM – Private Message: Another term used for a one-on-one message. Mostly used on Facebook.
RT – Retweet: When you share someone’s Tweet to your own feed.
Tweet – Twitter Post
#XYZBCA – The #xyzbca hashtag is simply a popular hashtag that people use in the hopes of getting more views on their TikTok videos. It’s kind of like #FYP and #ForYouPage. It’s just a bunch of letters and has no meaning at all.
Conversational Social Media Acronyms and Slang
2mr – Tomorrow
AMA – Ask Me Anything: Often used by celebrities, influencers, industry experts and regular social media users as an open invite for questions.
ASL – Age / Sex / Location: A throwback to AOL chatroom days, TikTok has lead to a resurgence for this standard internet phrase.
BTS – Behind the Scenes: Use this social media acronym when you’re giving your followers a behind-the-scenes look at what your brand is doing.
BTW – By the Way
DYK – Did You Know
F2F – Face 2 Face
FBF – Flashback Friday
FBO – Facebook Official
FF – Follow Friday
FOMO – Fear of Missing Out
FTW – For the Win
FYI – For Your Information
GIF – Graphics Interchange Format
GTG – Good to Go
GTR – Got to Run
HBD – Happy Birthday
HMB – Hit Me Back
HMU – Hit Me Up
HTH – Here to Help
ICYMI – In Case You Missed It
IDC – I Don’t Care
IDK – I Don’t Know
IKR – I Know, Right?
ILY – I Love You
IM – Instant Message
IMO – In My Opinion
IRL – In Real Life
JK – Just Kidding
LMAO – Laughing My A** Off
LMK – Let Me Know
LMS – Like My Status
LOL – Laugh Out Loud
MCM – Man-Crush Monday
MIA – Missing In Action
MTF – More To Follow
NBD – No Big Deal
NM – Not Much
NSFW – Not Safe for Work
NVM – Nevermind
OBV – Obviously
OMW – On My Way
OOTD – Outfit Of The Day
OP – Original Poster
POV – Point of View: Often used in captions and on-video captions to signify when the viewer is meant to be watching it from their own perspective.
PP – Profile Picture
QOTD – Quote Of The Day
ROFL – Rolling On The Floor Laughing
SELFIE – A Picture of Yourself
SMH – Shaking My Head
SOV – Share Of Voice
TBH – To Be Honest
TBT – Throwback Thursday
TIL – Today I Learned
TL;DR – Too Long; Didn’t Read
TMI – Too Much Information
TTYL – Talk To You Later
TY – Thank You
WBW – Way Back Wednesday
WCW – Woman-Crush Wednesday
WFH – Work From Home
YOLO – You Only Live Once
YOLO – You Only Live Once
YW – You’re Welcome
Slang
Cheugy – Gen Z coined term for something that is off-trend. It’s mostly aimed at millennial styles and trends, and it’s similar to calling someone basic.
Clickbait – The practice of using a provocative title with the sole purpose of driving clicks.
Crush It – When someone’s doing particularly well on something, they are crushing it.
Fam – Short for family. Refers to a person or a group of people you consider family.
Fire – When something is exceptionally good. The fire emoji is often used for the same purpose.
I Can’t Even – Indicates the speaker’s inability to convey their emotion because they’re either overjoyed or frustrated.
It Me – Used when someone can relate to something, usually a quote or meme. Evernote cleverly uses it in the following tweet where it shared the tool’s top functions and used “it me” as a caption.
Lit – Used to describe something that’s “happening.”
Savage – When someone or something is extremely harsh. Often used as a commendation.
Shadowbanned – When your content is ‘blocked’ without you knowing. Your account can be removed from searches, and your reach will be limited to your own followers.
Slay – You’re “slaying” something if you do it exceptionally well.
Slide Into Someone’s DMs – The practice of randomly sending a DM to someone.
Squad goals – A term used to describe something that you would like your group to become or achieve.
Throwing Shade – The act of publicly denouncing or disrespecting someone. Often used in reference to sarcastic remarks against someone or something.
Trendjacking – When users take over a trending topic with irrelevant content.
Yaas – A particularly enthusiastic form of “yes.” You could use as many A’s as you’d like.
Best Practices For Using Social Media Acronyms
Overall, social media’s use of emojis, tweets, acronyms, and hashtags have created a clear impact on today’s language. Learning these acronyms is the first step in relating to your millennial or Gen Z audience.
Injecting social media slang words can give your brand and content strategy an edge. If social media slang doesn’t align with your company’s voice, converse with a friendly tone. There should be a strategic reason behind everything you post as a business on social media, so make sure you are knowledgeable and authentic.
Staying on top of the latest trends for your business is a lot for one person to handle, but it’s what we do best. If you have any questions, give TargetMarket a shout or slide into our DMs. TTYS – Talk to ya soon!
