Every year, hundreds of new words that come from the internet are added to the dictionary. Everyone has heard of "YOLO" (you only live once) for example. Other words like "selfie" have made us adapt our language along with technological advances.
But how do new words or slang words spread on the internet?
Before the use of popular social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, it was difficult to measure precisely how words spread on the internet. However, social media has made it easier for linguists to search and track the use of new words.
In the past it would take several years before new words were adopted. Due to social media, new words and slang words can move and be adopted around the world in a matter of weeks or months. It's not that language is changing more rapidly but rather technologies are allowing slang terms to move from one group to another more quickly.
In Georgia, the Institute of Technology in Atlanta conducted a study which examined the spread of new slang words in America. Between Dec 2009 and May 2011 over 30 million tweets from different locations in the U.S were analysed. The purpose of the study was to find the origin of the slang words and how they spread across America. Here is an image depicting what they found:
In light of social media playing a large part in the adoption of slang terms. I wonder how the Steemit will play a role in this in the future as it becomes more widely adopted by people.
I have created a word a slang term for the community to use: Steemstration. It the feeling of frustration linked to Steemit that you get when your post gets $0.00 in revenue or when you have a high paying post with many low earners following it.
Do you suffer from Steemstration?
