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The most common abbreviations in Social Networks

In the world of social networks, due to the immediacy and the lack of characters, many words that are often used are shortened.

If you are one of those who sent SMS, before WhatsApp existed and we all had Internet on our mobiles, you will know the importance of knowing these abbreviations to be able to follow the conversation, understanding what is being said (sometimes I had a hard time even deciphering what I had put me).

For this reason, I think it is interesting to know the abbreviations that are most used in the different social networks. For this, and to make it easier, I have separated it into three sections, those that are specific to Twitter and Instagram and those that are used in different social networks.

Most used abbreviations on the Internet

In this section, I have compiled the abbreviations that we can find in any social network.

+1

It is one of the most famous abbreviations and is used when you want to express that you like something very much. If you want to show more emphasis on it, you can add zeros (+10…).

ASAP

This abbreviation stands for As Soon As Possible and is used to say that you will reply as soon as possible.

BFF or MAPS

If you have ever seen MTV, surely you must know this abbreviation so used by teenagers and, sometimes, not so teenagers... It means Best Friends Forever or, in its Spanish version, Best Friends Forever.

btw

It means By The Way (like the Red Hot Chili Peppers song), or by the way, and is used to add something that we have forgotten or to clarify something about a topic we are talking about.

DC

It is the abbreviation used to warn that there is a third person (or more) in a conversation. It means With Copy to…

MS

It is the abbreviation of email or electronic mail.

fb

It is the abbreviation of the most used social network in the world, Facebook.

MLF or ADV

Surely you will know it better as ADV (Asco De Vida), but it also has its English version (Fuck My Life) and it is used to express that something has not turned out as expected, but much worse.

FTF

It means Face To Face and is used when you want to indicate that this conversation is better to keep it face to face.

GTG

If you are having a conversation online and you have to leave quickly, without having much time to make excuses, this is the abbreviation to use. It stands for Got To Go.

HT

It is short for Hashtag.

HTH

It stands for Hope That Helps and is used when we answer a question that we have found, to let you know that we hope that we have solved the question that person had.

ICYMI

If you are going to remember some content (text, video or image) that you published in the past, you can use this abbreviation that means In Case You Miss It.

I.D.K.

This abbreviation stands for I Don't Know and is used to let the person you're having a conversation with know that you don't know.

IG

It is the abbreviation of the social network Instagram.

IMHO

This abbreviation means In My Humble Opinion or in my humble opinion and, obviously, it is used when you are going to give your opinion on a specific topic.

IRL

It stands for In Real Life and is used to highlight that what you are sharing has happened in real life.

J/K

This acronym stands for Just Kidding and is used when you want to specify that what you have shared was just a joke.

LI

It is the abbreviation of the most used professional social network, LinkedIn.

LMAO

It stands for Laughing My Ass Off, and is used as the superior abbreviation for LOL.

From this abbreviation we can get the meaning of the well-known music group LMFAO (Laughing My Fucking Ass Off).

LOL

It is short for Laughing Out Loud, which means something like laughing out loud. It is not used as much as before, because in many social networks you can include emoticons to better express emotions, but its use is still very popular.

NP

This abbreviation means No Problem and is used to indicate that we think what is being said is good and we have no problem.

NSFW

It stands for Not Safe For Work. It is mainly used to warn other people that the information is not safe to see in your workplace, because if your boss catches you looking at it when you should be working, it will surely lead to an awkward moment.

omg

It is a well-known abbreviation that means Oh My God or Oh My Gosh (oh my god), depending on your beliefs. It is used to express surprise at a content or comment.

pls

It is the abbreviation for Please and, obviously, it is asked to ask someone for a favor.

ROFL

If we believe that LOL or LMAO is not enough to express what a piece of content has made us laugh, we have this abbreviation, which means Rolling On Floor Laughing.

THX or TKS

It is short for Thanks and is obviously used when you want to thank something.

TL

It means Timeline and with it we refer to the main page of our social networks, where we can see what the people and companies that we follow publish.

TMI

Its meaning is Too Much Information and we use it when we want to express too much information or that we have been told too many things in a short period of time.

tw

It is the abbreviation for the social network Twitter.

WA

It is the abbreviation of the most used messaging application, WhatsApp.

WARD

This abbreviation is used to indicate that you have saved the content they have posted so that you can peruse it later. It is being used quite a lot lately on Facebook.

wtf

When something astounds and baffles us at the same time, this is the abbreviation we would use. It means What The Fuck and it would be translated as something like this: but what the hell?

Y.T.

It is the abbreviation of the video social network, YouTube.

Most used abbreviations on Twitter

Once we know the most used abbreviations in general in social networks, we are going to see those that are more specific to Twitter (although that does not mean that they cannot be seen in other social networks).

Some of these abbreviations can be found as hashtags.

AKA

This abbreviation stands for Also Know As and is used when the username and the name of the person or company do not match and you want to specify that it is also known as…

DM or DM

It is the abbreviation of Direct Message or Direct Message. With it we refer to the private sending of messages through Twitter, in which only the recipient and the sender will be able to see the message.

FF

This abbreviation is often used as a hashtag and stands for Follow Friday. Although it is not used as much as before, it is used to recommend to your followers some interesting accounts to follow and is used on Fridays.

LMLT

It is the abbreviation of Look My Last Tweet and is used when you want to draw attention to the last tweet you have published, because perhaps the solution to some question is there.

MT

It stands for Tweet Modify and is used to indicate that you have modified the content of a tweet.

RT

It is short for Retweet and is used to mention a person when you are sharing one of their tweets.

RTRL

In this case, we are referring to a Real Life Retweet, that is, what we are sharing is a quote that we have copied from a conversation that we are having, or have had, in the offline world.

TBT

It stands for ThrowBack Thursday and refers to a practice, less and less used on Twitter, which consists of sharing an image, video or content from your past on Thursdays.

TMB

Although many used it to shorten the word also in SMS, if you see it on Twitter it usually has another meaning, that of Tweet Me Back or answer me. It is used to request that a specific tweet be replied to.

TT

It is the abbreviation for Trending Topic, which means that something is trending on Twitter and a high number of users of this social network are talking about a specific topic, using a particular hashtag.

Via

Although it is a word in itself, it is considered one more abbreviation that is used a lot on Twitter. It is used to mention the person or company that has created the content that is being shared.

Most used abbreviations on Instagram

If you have an Instagram account, this section is of interest to you, since you can give your images and videos greater visibility by using these abbreviations that, in all cases, are used as hashtags.

BNW

The is a hashtag used to share black and white images (Black and White).

F4F

It means Follow For Follow and it means that if you follow that account, it will follow you too, or if you use it, that you agree to follow everyone who follows you.

Personally, I do not like this practice, since you end up following accounts whose posts may not interest you and those who follow you are not quality followers or your target audience. But it is a very common practice in many social networks.

fbf

This abbreviation stands for FlashBack Friday and is used to tag the images and videos you share from your past (as long as you share it on a Friday).

Fitspo

It is an abbreviation used by sports lovers to share content about healthy habits and sports in general.

GF

It is short for Global Family and is a community of Instagrammers that supports photographic talent and shares the best photo of the day tagged with the hashtag #global_family.

L4L

Like F4F, we also have the abbreviation L4L, which means Like for Like and with which you agree to give a like to the people who like your photo or video.

LCM

This abbreviation stands for Man Crush Monday and is used on Mondays to share a photo or video of a man you admire.

OOTD

It stands for Outfit Of The Day and is used to share images or videos that contain the look you are wearing that day.

POTD

This abbreviation is similar to OOTD and stands for Photo Of The Day. It is used when you share an image of that day.

QOTD

This abbreviation is similar to OOTD and POTD, and stands for Quote Of The Day and is typically used in conjunction with content that contains a motivational, funny, or original phrase.

SMH

Its meaning is Shake My Head and it is used with images and videos that contain ridiculous scenes.

TBT

As in the case of Twitter, this abbreviation is also used on Instagram to share images or videos from your past.

WCW

Just as we have the abbreviation MCM, we also have this one that stands for Women Crush Wednesday and is used on Wednesdays to share an image of a woman you admire greatly.

WHP

It stands for Weekend Hashtag Project and it is an Instagram contest for your photo to appear on the official Instagram blog. Each week there is a theme and a hashtag assigned to it, so you can post your images or videos with that hashtag.