The Facts:
Facebook had 1.23 billion daily active users around the world as of December 2013, according to its fourth-quarter report.
Twitter had 52.7 million monthly active users, as of September 2013, according to nasdaq.com.
Between 2012 and 2013, the presence of users 55 to 64 years old increased on Twitter by 79 percent, according to a Global Web Index study.
Social Media Slang:
Attwaction: attraction between Twitter users
Dweet: a drunk tweet
Subtweet: tweeting behind someone else’s back
Text message-spawned acronyms and doge memes proclaiming “such wow” could lead to the assumption that today’s technology is crushing language and condensing it into “LOLZ” and “OMG.” However, some professors say otherwise.
Professors agreed users are adding their own personality and color to the English language through social media, and Ball State is seeing better writers because of it.
Eva Grouling Snider, an English instructor, said students write regularly outside of the classroom, which is “not something [she] could have said 15 years ago.”
“They write on Facebook, they text, they send emails to their parents,” Grouling Snider said. “They write all the time.”
Facebook had 1.23 billion daily active users around the world as of December 2013, according to its fourth-quarter report. Twitter had 52.7 million monthly active users as of September 2013, according to nasdaq.com.
Paul Ranieri, an English associate professor, said he is “marveling” at what social media is doing with characters, images, syntax and punctuation.
“I wonder both how these small screens will integrate eventually with other forms of communication and what technology will come along next and build on top of what we have now,” Ranieri said.
The social media age has produced words like “attwaction,” which is attraction between two Twitter users, “<3” and “dweet,” which is a drunk tweet.
In the case of Twitter, users are limited to a 140 characters, which forces the user to narrow the focus. Grouling Snider said it has produced a better crop of shorthand writers.
“Twitter has a pretty profound effect on how we think about language,” she said. “It encourages brevity, wit and a certain punch to your writing.”
Nicholas C. Kawa, assistant professor of cultural anthropology, said this is the most interesting time to study the English language.
“English is probably more vibrant and more diverse than it ever has been,” Kawa said. “The flow of ideas and information though social media and the Internet is enabling certain forms of pop culture to take hold. It’s always evolving.”
And it’s not just an exciting time for the younger generations, but for the older ones, too. Between 2012 and 2013, the presence of users 55 to 64 years old increased on Twitter by 79 percent, according to a Global Web Index study.
Ranieri said the English language will always find ways to diversity itself, no matter how it is being used.
“The language will take care of itself and will evolve as people develop new ways to communicate that build on the old,” he said.
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