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What are social media?

Social media is a new term in English. It is used to describe various websites or other forms of technology where people can connect and interact with one another and share information. Websites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or personal blogs are considered social media.

The term social media was introduced into English very recently. These new ways of connecting with people have led to new vocabulary and new uses of words in English.

Twitter

1) Follow
When you visit someone’s Twitter profile, there is a button on it that says Follow:

Follow is a verb. It is an action. When someone clicks the ‘follow’ button, they become a follower. When you want to thank someone for following you, the correct phrase is ‘Thank you for following me!’ (Remember, you cannot say ‘Thank you for follow’ because for is not used before a verb)

However, in English to follow someone has a negative connotation – it means that someone else is a leader and you are a follower. To be a follower is also considered a negative action. A follower can be a supporter, but it can also be someone who obeys. This is why a lot of people say ‘Thank you for the follow,’ where follow is used as a noun. They are trying to avoid calling someone a follower. This is a new use of the word ‘follow,’ and it is only used this way on Twitter.

2) Direct Message
Message in English is a noun – you can send a message or messages. On Twitter, there is an option to send someone a private message. It’s called a direct message:

The correct phrase in English is “Send me a direct message” or “I’ll send you a direct message.” However, there is room for only 140 characters in a tweet, so people now use message as a verb: “Message me,” or the even shorter “DM me” / “I’ll DM you” (where DM = direct message).

Message seems to now be a verb for all forms of social media, not just Twitter. You can also ‘message someone’ on Facebook. To ‘message someone’ could also mean sending a text message / sms on your cell phone.

Facebook

In English, friend is a noun. The verb be or become is commonly used with friend: “Let’s be friends!” or “We are friends!” On Facebook (and some other forms of social media) you can send someone a friend request – a request to become/be friends on Facebook. I often say ‘Thank you for the friend request!’ However, people have now turned friend into a verb – ‘Friend me on Facebook.’

In 2009, the Oxford American Dictionary chose unfriend as the word of the year. To unfriend someone means to remove them as your friend on Facebook. A synonym is defriend.

To friend and unfriend / defriend someone can also be used on any social media platform where you can add people as friends.

YouTube

On YouTube you can subscribe to someone’s channel. You can also invite someone to be a friend. To invite (someone to something) is a verb; it’s an action. An invitation is a noun. However, when you sign into YouTube, you will see:
Here, invite is used as a noun. This is unique to YouTube. This is why on YouTube you will see many people leaving comments ‘Thank you for the invite.’ They are thanking someone for sending them an invitation to be friends on YouTube. It should be “Thank you for the invitation,’ but on YouTube invite is now used as a noun.

“Thank you for the add.” or “Thank you for adding me.”
I have noticed this sentence being used on all forms of social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other networks like MyEC). It could mean anything! I think the general meaning is ‘thank you for adding me to your network.’ On Twitter, it could mean ‘thank you for following me;’ on Facebook it could mean ‘thank you for adding me as a friend;’ on YouTube it could mean ‘thank you for subscribing’ or ‘thank you for the friend invite.

I hope this helps explain some of the new words and different uses of words that you see on various social media. Are there any other words that you often see on social media that you’re not sure about? Please let me know!