They are now official words in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)! That's right OMG, LOL and BFF were all added in the online edition released last week.
My favorite addition is not an acronym or abbreviation but the heart symbol. Whether you are expressing your love for something or someone, the <3 is perfect for many occasions. And now these words are all official in addition to 1,900 other revisions to the dictionary.
According to OED, OMG and LOL are "merely shorthand for surprise and mirth." This description in itself makes me want to LOL. When discussing their new additions, they said:
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"The intention is usually to signal an informal, gossipy mode of expression, and perhaps parody the level of unreflective enthusiasm or overstatement that can sometimes appear in online discourse, while at the same time marking oneself as an ‘insider'...associated with the latest technology."
Are these additions just another example of how #SocialMediaisTakingOvertheWorld?
Yes and no actually. According to an article by Daniel Ionescu on PC World, OED found OMG in a letter dated 1917, and FYI, the acronym for For Your Information, originated in the language of memoranda in 1941. Also, LOL was used in 1960 to describe a "Little Old Lady."
So, although these "initialisms" were used as far back as the 1910s, it is my belief the major surge in social media has integrated them into our everyday conversation. These words are convenient to use during posts on social media sites or in text messages. The vast majority of our population knows about these "initialisms" so they have become an integral part of our diction.
So, since OMG and LOL are real words now, does that mean I can use them in papers and other assignments? I don't think I would go that far yet, but it would be safe to say that I definitely <3 the new additions! TTYS.
Last week, I heard about this video and it absolutely blew my mind. I know #SocialMediaisTakingOvertheWorld but this further solidified my belief. This video discussed the internet, social media and new technology. I will highlight the parts I found most interesting and relevant to this blog.
The first statistic that surprised me was that Americans now have access to 1,000,000,000,000 web pages, and that is 1 trillion if you didn't know. There are also more than 65,000 iPhone apps.
Accessibility to these new forms of technology has caused all forms of traditional advertising, such as television, newspapers, the radio, and magazines, have gone down, while digital advertising on cell phones apps and the internet has increased by 18.1% and 9.1% respectively.
And more about cell phones...the video states that 95% of adults have them and that they will be the primary connection tool to the Internet in 2020.
"The computer in your cell phone today is a million times cheaper and a thousand times more powerful and about a hundred thousand times smaller..." according to a quote in the video by Ray Kurzweil, American author, inventor and futurist. "So what used to fit in a building now fits in your pocket..."
Let's briefly discuss YouTube's overwhelming success. A statistic in the clip states that more videos have been uploaded to YouTube in the past 2 months than if ABC, CBS, and NBC news stations had been airing video 24/7 since 1948. Let that statistic sink in...that is a lot of video! Along these same lines, ABC, CBS and NBC get 10 million unique visitors every month, collectively, while Facebook, MySpace and YouTube get 250 million. This statistic is amazing considering Facebook, MySpace and YouTube have been around for less than 6 years.
What about the growing issue of illegally downloaded music? Well, this appears to be a serious problem since according to the clip, 95 percent of music was not paid for last year. Maybe music artists do have a reason to worry.
What about our favorite site? Wikipedia! It started in 2001 and now has "more than 13 million articles in more than 200 languages." Wow!
The video discusses some instances where social media has had a significant impact on companies and people. For example, Dell reported making $3 million from Twitter posts alone since 2007. Barack Obama raised $55 million through social media in 29 short days.
So there you have it...social media really is taking over the world. The video begins by saying that it is "easier than ever to reach a large audience, but harder than ever to really connect with it." This quote explains my purpose for writing this blog, not only to highlight the successes of social media but also to discuss the problems with it. While social media is great for connecting people, it is also becoming very impersonal.
Issues like these are what I will continue to touch on in my blog posts.
For now, just consider the statistics above and how they affect your life. It really is true that #SocialMediaisTakingOvertheWorld.
According to a report on Mashable.com,Charlie Sheen set a new Guinness World Record for the "Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers." This award was approved on Thursday morning according to Dan Barrett, the Guinness community manager.
Sheen made a Twitter account on March 1 and within a matter of minutes he had upwards of 60,000 followers. He reached the million followers milestone in just 25 hours and 17 minutes.
Sheen had this to say regarding his instant Twitter fame:
"In all sincerity... Thank you Twitter community for the warm reception & the followers that helped get me to 1M in 24 hours!!! #teamsheen"
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As you probably know, after reports of drug and alcohol abuse, prostitutes and porn stars, and domestic disputes with his ex wife, Brooke Mueller, Charlie Sheen has been right in the middle of a media frenzy. Most recently, it was been reported that he had two prostitutes taking care of his children before his ex-wife took them from him and got a restraining order.
Also, according to CBS News, as of Monday, Sheen is no longer a part "Two and a Half Men," the hit TV show for which he also holds a Guinness record for “Highest Paid TV Actor Per Episode — Current” at $1.25 million. Although I personally cannot keep up with Sheen's dramatic lifestyle, let's just hope it gets smoother from here on out.
I just checked Charlie Sheen's Twitter page and he now has over 2 million followers in just a week. I've been on Twitter for months and I only have a mere 117, therefore, I would say Charlie Sheen is #winning.
