Lingua franca of social media
by Louise Darko
We know the English language is constantly evolving and adapting; indeed it’s a perpetual work in progress, as Emily Cathcart writes in The Language of Awareness. But with so much communication now taking place on social media, just how fluent are you in ‘internet English’?
Photo: Taylor Herring
Emojis and onomatopoeia
Because social media excludes social and linguistic cues like facial expressions, an organic environment for the evolution of ‘internet speak’ has been born. Face-to-face communication allows for expression and gestures; written messaging relies on punctuation, abbreviations and capitalisation; while virtual communication uses symbols designed to give emphasis.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, a cliché especially true when it comes to the use of emojis (😀) and onomatopoeia (zzz): practices now more prevalent than ever. The first emoji was created in 1999 by Japanese artist Shigetaka Kurita — the word emoji being a combination of two Japanese words, ‘e’ (picture) and ‘moji’ (character) — and thus a new era of quick, casual communication was born. The use of onomatopoetic spelling isn’t entirely recent, with a well-known example being the use of ‘haha’ to indicate laughter.
Language is arguably the world’s most powerful tool for getting our thoughts across. Data engineer and New York University academic Fred Benenson, an emoji artist, decided to test the limits of internet speak when he began work on a translation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick into emojis in 2009. The result—Emoji Dick—sees the 200,000 word classic rendered into tiny symbols.
Long-form vs short-form
Today, there are many unspoken rules of engagement when posting on various social media channels. There’s an etiquette for everything, including microblogging sites like Twitter that limit the number of characters used; texting and direct messaging that allows for quick, shorthand messages; and more long-form channels such as Facebook that allow users up to 60,000 characters. Instagram focuses on crucial, concise messaging while LinkedIn abounds with informative, keyword-rich content.
As a social media platform geared towards business professionals, LinkedIn exemplifies the power of microblogging. Users have the ability to post short status updates (short-form), as well as publish longer articles (long-form).
Extremely active on LinkedIn is founder and CEO Liz Ryan, a thought leader in the human resources space; she’s known for the ‘Ask Liz Ryan’ series in which individuals submit career questions. Common topics include job hunting and toxic workplaces, with Ryan adept at neatly encapsulating this content into short-form stories and shareable tips.
Email etiquette
Internet English “is a distinct genre with its own goals, and to accomplish those goals successfully requires subtly tuned awareness of the full spectrum of the language”, writes sociolinguist Gretchen McCulloch in the Guardian. Whether you agree or disagree, we can't deny that social media has influenced what we knew of the English language.
Oh-so-familiar email etiquette is possibly the form of internet English we use most, with many of us reading and composing an average of 50 to 60 emails a day (according to Entrepreneur.com). Communicating via email can lead to misinterpretation though, with tone of voice a lot harder to judge. Entrepreneur.com’s advice? “Be polite, choose your words wisely, use proper punctuation and avoid capitalising all your words.”
Passive aggression is common in email, as anyone who has ever used the phrase “just checking in” will know. Other awkward examples (compiled by boredpanda.com) include:
“Not sure if my last email was received”, which could translate as “Just how long do you plan to ignore me?” and “correct me if I’m wrong”, which could translate as “I know I’m not wrong and there is no use in trying to challenge my opinion.”
For a generation that has always had access to the internet, becoming fluent in internet English is now an essential skill. At the very least, that means being clear on the correct tone of voice, knowing your ‘thinking’ emoji from your ‘side eyes’ emoji, and steering clear of SHOUTY CAPS 😉.