The world of Twitter

With 554, 750, 000 registered users and 130,000 people signing up everyday (http://www.statisticbrain.com/twitter-statistics/), no wonder Twitter users feel the need to constantly give updates about their everyday life. In just 140 characters, tweeters express their love for celebrities, ask followers questions, or even let everyone know what they're having for dinner. The possibilities are endless and that's why we alter the language we use on one of the internets top ten visited websites. It's even causing us to change the way we speak in reality by giving us these new words that have  escaped from the crazy social media frenzy. For example, the "#hashtag" is used on Twitter to create a specific connection between users and the topic they're talking about, this groups together tweets that are instant accessible by clicking on a #. The use of the hashtag has filtered it's way into our daily lives as we see it everywhere we look as its on advertisements, television programmes, and magazines etc. You even hear people using the word everyday to describe certain situations, a familiar one being #awkward. As well as the infamous hash tag, other symbols are used. The ">" (more than) and "<" (less than) is normally apparent in tweets by teenagers comparing two things together to show their view on something which normally has split opinions. An example a long the line of Justin Bieber > Harry Styles. The "@" (at) symbol allows users to mention other Twitter users into tweets they make. This can be in reply to another tweet or the beginning of a conversation. It allows interaction to be easy and simple. (http://m.wikihow.com/Use-Symbols-in-Twitter-Updates) 

The way we communicate on social networking sites like Twitter is being mirrored more and more frequently in the real world. Abbreviated words are very often used as tweeters have a strict 140 character limit that they have to stick to. Popular abbreviations include SMH meaning "shaking my head" when referring to something that has caused disappointment or humour in disgust. RT stands for "retweet" and it's the action which allows you to share another persons tweet where you have the option to add a comment. TBH is abbreviated from "to be honest" which is used to add or explain an opinion, usually to an existing argument. (http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2012/09/15/a-list-twitters-language/) 

In the ever growing world of social networking and media, it's no surprise we've began adopting these somewhat cringeworthy habits. What ever happened to social interaction!

Shannon Zilioli