How Social Media Is Changing the English Language (and

Why It Matters to Marketers)

Technology is changing the way we communicate. From 140-character Twitter limits to an everexpanding list of text messaging acronyms, technology is clearly having an impact on language
and the words we use to relate to one another.
For more than 200 years, Collins Dictionary has been one of the world's most respected
dictionaries and a gatekeeper of the English language. Recently, we at Collins opened up
CollinsDictionary.com to crowdsourcing, inviting English speakers from around the globe to
suggest words they believe should be included in the lexicon.
As a result of our crowdsourcing initiative, we're discovering that social media is playing an
important role not only in introducing new terms into the dictionary but also in accelerating the
rate at which new terms reach critical mass in the culture. More important, we're learning that
social media and crowdsourcing are helping us do a better job in achieving the objectives at the
heart of our publishing.
Crowdsourcing the English Language
Staying current with the pace at which the English language is evolving is difficult. Online
technology is a driving force in the rapid creation and proliferation of new words. These days,
people are just as likely to turn to a dictionary to look up terms they encounter online as they are
to search for words they have encountered at school or work.
By crowdsourcing suggestions for new words, Collins Dictionary is able to match the pace of the
culture, creating opportunities to record new words as they arise. Because each word suggestion
is subject to a rigorous vetting process, crowdsourcing allows us to stay credible and current at
the same time.
Many of the suggestions we're seeing are directly related to social media ("tweeps,"
"cyberstalking," "twitlit") or they have achieved widespread recognition thanks to the social
media activities of pop culture influencers ("Tebowing," "photobombing," "YOLO").
But social media also plays a part in encouraging participation by celebrities, bloggers, and the
public, making the selection process even more complete by ensuring the widest possible range
of entries. Online networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ fuel
discussions around suggested words, increasing the likelihood of the term's inclusion in the
dictionary and accelerating the adoption of the word by popular culture.
Why It Matters to Marketers
How social media is transforming the English language offers insights for businesses and
marketers. With the right strategy, marketers can use those insights to achieve social media wins
in their organizations.

Reach. Crowdsourcing has broadened Collins's base, allowing us to capture a much

wider range of new word suggestions than would have been possible via traditional
channels. Social media and crowdsourcing offer businesses in other industries similar
opportunities, allowing them to gather customer feedback, new product
recommendations, and other types of input from a broad base of consumers. Social media
and crowdsourcing also extend the organization's reach and influence and increase the
quantity of information that businesses are able to capture from their customers.

Speed. At Collins Dictionary, the speed of social media is essential in helping us keep up
with the evolution of language. For marketers, social media may present the best option
for keeping up with the pace of change in the marketplace. Social media dialogues and
monitoring can go a long way toward equipping marketers with the tools they need to
compete in today's fast-paced business environment.

Engagement. The use of social media as a vehicle for soliciting new word ideas and
accelerating the adoption process has engaged a new generation of speakers in the growth
and evolution of the English language. With social media skyrocketing in popularity,
marketers across a range of fields and industries can devise strategies to achieve
comparable levels of engagement using social media for their own purposes.

We expect social media to remain a driving force in the transformation of language and the
expansion of our lexicon, dramatically reducing the amount of time it takes for new terms to
achieve widespread adoption in the culture. But just as important, we expect social media to be a
critical tool in crowdsourcing information back to our organization and other businesses that
place a high value on customer engagement.

Social networking: teachers blame Facebook

and Twitter for pupils' poor grades
Teachers believe social networking sites such as Facebook
and Twitter are to blame for pupils' poor grades, a study has
concluded.
Seven in 10 British teachers believe children are becoming more and more obsessed with
websites such as Facebook
10:38AM GMT 18 Nov 2010

Children who spend much of their time online find it harder to concentrate in class, are
permanently distracted and have shorter attention spans, researchers found.
Many teachers are also unhappy at the increase in the number of children who are using textspeak or social networking chat - such as 2mor, msg, lol and bk - in place of English grammar.
The worrying stats emerged in a study of 500 teachers conducted by leading school trips provider
JCA - which motivates personal and social development outside the classroom.
A spokeswoman for JCA said: "This research clearly demonstrates that students up and down the
country are spending more and more time using social media.
"Rather than relying on life experiences, educational travel and face to face interaction with
others, children are becoming obsessed with social networking and this is shaping their attitudes
instead.
"And as the teachers spell out, it is this obsession which has a direct impact on the future of our
children - affecting their grades because they fail to complete their homework on time or to the
standard required, and being unable to concentrate in class."
The report concludes that the children with the poorest grades at school are the ones who spent
most time on social networking.
Seven in 10 British teachers believe children are becoming more and more obsessed with
websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
Half of the 500 teachers polled believe this fixation is affecting the children's ability to
concentrate in class.
And two thirds say the quality of children's homework is poor as they rush to finish it so they can
communicate with others online.
Kairen Cullen, an educational psychologist, said: ''It's a complex subject. Drawing on the basis of
my clinical practice working with lots of children and young people, in this day and age it is
inevitable that children will want to access and make sense of social networking.
''They enjoy using this tool but there is a danger that these virtual interactions filter out
problematic or emotional issues, which in real life, support social and emotional development.
''Social networking has become so much the norm, for adults and children alike, that nonparticipation can result in feeling excluded or even socially ostracised.
''The time invested in social media versus real life interpersonal interaction can detract from that
available for real human contact and contribute to delayed and/or distorted social and emotional
development.''

It is also claimed that children who are online at every available opportunity are less willing to
communicate with adults.
And some teachers believe that despite schools banning mobile phones, many pupils secretly
take smart phones to school and remain connected to social networking websites in class.
Abbreviations commonly used on sites such as Twitter and Facebook are also making it into
coursework, essays and experiment write-ups.
And 35 per cent of children regularly use excuses such as ''my computer broke'' and ''I couldn't
print it'' to explain why they haven't done their homework.
Teachers believe pupils don't spend nearly enough time on their homework as they should - and
73 per cent believe parents should take responsibility and limit the amount of time their child is
spending online.
Unfortunately, 58 per cent of teachers believe mobile phones and computers are responsible for
children being unable to spell as well as previous generations.
And 54 per cent say children can't write as well as they should because they are more used to
keyboards and touch pads.
Educational Psychologist Kairen Cullen continues: ''If children are spending hours at night on
social media it is perfectly feasible that teachers will see the negative results of poor
concentration, excessive tiredness and lack of engagement in learning in school. In the worst
case scenario, children can become quite isolated and withdrawn in the school situation and
anywhere else that does not feature computer access.
''It is commonplace to find sleep deprived children who can't concentrate in school after a late
night of social media antics which we need to realise is now part of our social reality.
''Currently there is little empirical research and related guidance on how to integrate social media
into school-based learning, although I am aware that many teachers are grappling with this
challenge in their day to day practice and some are managing to use this new media very
constructively.
''What is clear to all adults involved in the business of supporting children's learning and
development, is that children's all round development, including emotional and social
development, happens over time, requires a range of relevant, meaningful and engaging activities
and lots of opportunities to interact directly with other children and adults at school and at
home.''

How social media is changing language

From unfriend to selfie, social media is clearly having an impact on language. As someone who
writes about social media Im aware of not only how fast these online platforms change, but also
of how they influence the language in which I write.
The words that surround us every day influence the words we use. Since so much of the written
language we see is now on the screens of our computers, tablets, and smartphones, language now
evolves partly through our interaction with technology. And because the language we use to
communicate with each other tends to be more malleable than formal writing, the combination of
informal, personal communication and the mass audience afforded by social media is a recipe for
rapid change.
From the introduction of new words to new meanings for old words to changes in the way we
communicate, social media is making its presence felt.
New ways of communicating

An alphabet soup of acronyms, abbreviations, and neologisms has grown up around

technologically mediated communication to help us be understood. Im old enough to have
learned the acronyms we now think of as textspeak on the online forums and internet relay chat
(IRC) that pre-dated text messaging. On IRC, acronyms help speed up a real-time typed
conversation. On mobile phones they minimize the inconvenience of typing with tiny keys. And
on Twitter they help you make the most of your 140 characters.
Emoticons such as ;-) and acronyms such as LOL (laughing out loud which has just
celebrated its 25th birthday) add useful elements of non-verbal communication or annoy people
with their overuse. This extends to playful asterisk-enclosed stage directions describing supposed
physical actions or facial expressions (though use with caution: it turns out that *innocent face*
is no defence in court).
An important element of Twitter syntax is the hashtag a clickable keyword used to categorize
tweets. Hashtags have also spread to other social media platforms and theyve even reached
everyday speech, but hopefully spoofs such as Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlakes sketch on
The Tonight Show will dissuade us from using them too frequently. But you will find hashtags all
over popular culture, from greetings cards and t-shirts to the dialogue of sitcom characters.
Syntax aside, social media has also prompted a more subtle revolution in the way we
communicate. We share more personal information, but also communicate with larger audiences.
Our communication styles consequently become more informal and more open, and this seeps
into other areas of life and culture. When writing on social media, we are also more succinct, get

to the point quicker, operate within the creative constraints of 140 characters on Twitter, or aspire
to brevity with blogs.
New words and meanings

Facebook has also done more than most platforms to offer up new meanings for common words
such as friend, like, status, wall, page, and profile. Other new meanings which crop up on social
media channels also reflect the dark side of social media: a troll is no longer just a character from
Norse folklore, but someone who makes offensive or provocative comments online; a sock
puppet is no longer solely a puppet made from an old sock, but a self-serving fake online
persona; and astroturfing is no longer simply laying a plastic lawn but also a fake online grassroots movement.
Social media is making it easier than ever to contribute to the evolution of language. You no
longer have to be published through traditional avenues to bring word trends to the attention of
the masses. While journalists have long provided the earliest known uses of topical terms
everything from 1794s pew-rent in The Times to beatboxing in The Guardian (1987) the net
has been widened by the net. A case in point is Oxford Dictionaries 2013 Word of the Year,
selfie: the earliest use of the word has been traced to an Australian internet forum. With forums,
Twitter, Facebook, and other social media channels offering instant interaction with wide
audiences, its never been easier to help a word gain traction from your armchair.
Keeping current

Some people may feel left behind by all this. If youre a lawyer grappling with the new geek
speak, you may need to use up court time to have terms such as Rickrolling explained to you.
And yes, some of us despair at how use of this informal medium can lead to an equally casual
attitude to grammar. But the truth is that social media is great for word nerds. It provides a rich
playground for experimenting with, developing, and subverting language.
It can also be a great way keep up with these changes. Pay attention to discussions in your social
networks and you can spot emerging new words, new uses of words and maybe even coin one
yourself.