What do OMG, LOL and the Heart sign All Have in Common?

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.