What are you saying to me?

I recently came across an article call 'OMG! Over 40 Twitter Abbreviations You Should Know' on the Social Media today website and I realised that the information it contained was actually something most business people don't know...especially those of us on the other side of, well, really most of us older than 16 would have absolutely no idea what 99% the abbreviations on the internet (and sms) mean, let alone Twitter!!


There are many funny sites that poke fun at we oldies, one of the best is "When parents text" and as humorous as it is to laugh at those who wrongly believe that 'LOL' means 'Lots of Love' (eg Sorry your cat died LOL), it raises an interesting thought when it comes to managing your online persona's from a business point of view.


Do you know how to respond correctly when a prospective customer writes on your Facebook wall in short hand? Where do you go to find out?


As the posters says, just "Keep Calm and Google it". It's better to take 5 mins to research the foreign terminology than to answer incorrect or god forbid, ignore it. Urban Dictionary is also a really good reference tool to use.


Referencing the previous mentioned article and adding some addition "must knows", here are some common acronyms you may encounter in your social media daily life (and on teenagers mobile phone / Facebook accounts ):

• AFK or afk: Away from keyboard
• B4: Before 
• b/c or bc or bce: Because
• BRB or brb: Be Right Back
• BTW or btw: By The Way
• Cod or COD or CoD: Can mean Classic Old Dude or the game 'Call of Duty"
• ctfd or CTFD: Calm down
• DC or dc: Don't care
• DM: Direct message (A twitter term)
• EM or EML or e: Email
• Fab: Fabulous
• FB or fb- Facebook
• FF- Follow Friday (#followfriday- A twitter term)
• F2F: face to face
• FYI: For Your Information
• Gr8: Great 
• GTG or G2G: Got To Go
• HT: Hat Tip, or "Heard Through" instead of a classic "RT"
• HTH: Here to Help or "Happy" To Help
• IC: I See
• IDC: I don't care
• IDK: I don’t know
• ily or ILY: I love you
• ilwswdlmb: In love with someone who doesn't love me back (oh *bless*)
• IM: Instant Message
• JK or J/K: Just Kidding
• KK or kk: Okay, cool
• Kthx: Ok thanks
• Kthxbi of kthxbye: Ok thanks bye
• L8: Late
• LI: LinkedIn
• LMAO - Laughing My Arse Off
• LMK: Let Me Know
• LOL: Laughing Out Loud (not “lots of love” )
• MT: Modified Tweet
• NSFW: Not Safe For Work
• NSFH: No Safe for Here or Home 
• OH: Overheard
• OMG: Oh My God
• OMW: On My Way
• ORLY: Oh Really?!!
• ROFL: Rolling On The Floor Laughing
• @: At (as in, I'm talking at you)
• RT: ReTweet
• SMH: Shaking My Head (and Sydney Morning Herald if you are a New South Welshmen)
• Thx or Tx: Thanks
• TMI: Too Much Information
• TTYL: Talk To You Later
• TTYS: Talk To You Soon
• TY or Thx: Thank You
• Ysomfr: You Set Off My Funny Receptors
• ysmyisym: You show me yours, I'll show you mine
• YT: YouTube

If you know of anymore that you think should be on list, by all means, please let me know.


Hope this helps.
H x