Social media speak: The 60 new abbreviations that are dominating the way young people communicate with one another

• LOL, OMG and ILY top the list, with more than 2 million uses by Australians
• WeAreSocial.com.au monitored Twitter for three months to gather data
• Despite growing list of acronyms, people are also returning to full words
• The use of these words are usually accompanied by a form of visual media
  

By Daniel Mills and Louise Cheer

Published: 06:34 EST, 12 July 2014 | Updated: 03:09 EST, 13 July 2014

Young people are now employing a raft of new abbreviations for their social media discussions

An emerging list of new-age abbreviations have begun to dominate the way social media users connect and communicate - and it is only set to get longer.

The minefield of new meanings, at least according to social media marketing agency wearesocial.com.au, have grown from the days of the simple yet effective LOL (Laughing Out Loud) abbreviation to a list as long as 60.

And the social media savvy are now employing them in every day communication.

Those using the abbreviations do so as a tactic for speed in text communication, a university professor on linguistics said, while others just choose to do so because they are a code that older people don't quite understand.

WeAreSocial.com.au managing director Julian Ward said the various different shortcuts, which range from the the compassionate ILY (I Love You) to the more profain WTF (What the F***) are commonplace now and indicate the changing way people harness social media.

Using social listening tools, WeAreSocial.com.au monitored trending terms used by Australians on Twitter from April 1 to June 30.

The top ranking term was, LOL which was used a total of 1,242,935.

'We can see a range of clever to practical acronyms as people look for speed and limited thumb work - plus of course it feels good to be in the know, especially on more subversive terms,' Mr Ward said.

But now the abbreviations have become so complex that if sent alone without an accompanying graphic or visual element to give them context, have no meaning.

'The use of abbreviation should not be considered in isolation, rather as a set of activities that enhance efficiencies but importantly satisfy our need for a greater range of self expression,' Mr Ward said.

'The accelerating trend to express through visual stories. Short videos, plus the pervasiveness of the GIF, exploding out of Tumblr and now even adopted by Twitter.'

LOL was the top trending abbreviation used by Australians on Twitter from April 1 to June 30

And despite the growing list of abbreviations, Mr Ward said people were also returning to using entire words in hashtags 'so people can find something that’s trending'.

WeAreSocial.com.au also discovered in their research that using visual images as a form of expression was on the rise in non-public platforms, such as instant messaging services.

'Instant Messaging platforms are enormous in message volume, where messaging of this type is ripe,' Mr Ward said.

'Think WhatsApp, Line, WeChat, Facebook Messenger to name a few. WhatsApp alone says it has more daily users than Twitter.

'By the end of 2013, WeChat had 355 million monthly active users.

'Use of emoji or emoticon stickers is the staple here. Expect to see the 250 new emoji keyboard characters enter your feeds shortly to support our urge to tell stories in brief and express associated emotion.

'Look out for sure thing favourites, the Desert Island and of course, the Vulcan salute.'