Marketing Communication Ink
Tips on Marketing, Business, Careers & Life. Advertising on this site is placed by WordPress – I have NO control over it.
The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Hashtags and Internet Acronyms, with Some Abbreviation Humor on the Side
Today’s topic is abbreviations and acronyms for the digital world. I’ll share several resources — a newly published Twitter Guide to hashtag acronyms, as well as a roundup of web links to articles on internet abbreviations. But first, a funny story on abbreviations has me, shall we say, “LOL.”
LOL @ Abbr.
I use LinkedIn a lot, to find new connections for myself and help others to network through my colleagues, as well as to stay on top of articles and discussions, events and job postings. I use LinkedIn so much, that I’ve taken to abbreviating it to “LI” when referring to it in correspondence.
This morning, I was trying to assist a new, out-of-state acquaintance by connecting her to another woman in my Professional Services Group, as both worked in the Human Resources (HR) field. So I reached out to my colleague, a woman of Chinese descent, and wrote:
Hi H. – How’d the meeting go today? I met a woman (via LI) who is an HR consultant in the Maryland area. She specializes in life science firms, helping companies large and small to put together HR programs, (compensation packages, strategic staffing plans, and so on.) I thought I might be able to connect her with an HR manager (or higher level company exec) at the ABC Company, where you once worked. Is there anyone you might recommend?
My friend immediately responded:
Our meeting went well, today. We got a lot accomplished. I’ll talk with my connection at the ABC Company. Let’s see what she suggests. If you have more info about Via Li, feel free to send it to me.
At first, I was a bit puzzled. I shot back the following note:
I’m trying to figure out who this “Via Li” is, and if I’ve met her. But then I realized, she is NOT a person. In my note to you, I was abbreviating. I meant that I met a woman via LinkedIn – via LI — haha. This is just too funny.
Via Li… I kind of like the sound of it. If I ever need a professional pen name to ghost write under, I think I’ll use it.
Mashable’s Complete Guide to Twitter
And now for some really useful information, “The Complete Guide to Twitter Lingo” by Amy-Mae Elliott, was just posted on Mashable.com on July 19, 2013. It’s a comprehensive, alphabetic listing of all those Twitter hashtags that make the virtual world go round. Amy-Mae is a full-time staff writer at Mashable, and can be followed at @amymaeelliott.
Another great Twitter resource is this digiphile blog article, titled “Top 50 Twitter Acronyms, Abbreviations and Initalisms” published in 2009 by Alexander B. Howard, a nationally published author who blogs at http://digiphile.wordpress.com/ or can be followed at @digiphile on Twitter.
Need even more help with Twitter? There are tons of sources, but MarketingProfs.com offers all kinds of articles, podcasts, online seminars, tutorials and guides to the topic. See http://www.marketingprofs.com/topic/all/twitter.
Abbreviation for the Word Abbreviation
On a side note, did you know 40,500 people a month do a Google search for “what is the abbreviation for the word abbreviation?” I don’t know why, but this also struck me as funny.
Even funnier, is the topic of “why ‘abbreviation’ is such a long word.” The answer, according to Wiki.answers.com is “so that you can abv. it.”
Incidentally, there are, apparently, many acceptable ways to abbreviate “abbreviation”:
- Abbr. or Abbr
- Abbrev. or Abbrev
- Abb
- ABB
- Abbrvtn
- A
- Abbrn.
So. Did you learn anything? Did you enjoy? If so, please comment below or pass it along to your fellow bloggers, colleagues, friends and groups, using the convenient share button icons, below.
10 Secrets to Powerful Public Speaking … Even If You’re Deathly Afraid of Being the Center of Attention
Available at Kindle Ebooks - Click image to grab a copy today!
Marketing Communication Ink 