All the Social Media Acronyms and Abbreviations You Need to Know

Working with students on WordPress, web publishing, writing for the web, and social media, it’s important to learn the language of the web – in this case the social web.

All Acronyms offers an extensive list of social media acronyms and abbreviations and NetLingo – The Internet Dictionary claims to be the largest resource featuring all of those funky letter combinations that say so much in so few keystrokes.

Some long time favorites are listed:

AFAIK: As Far As I Know
BFN: By For Now
BTW: By The Way
FYI: For Your Information
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
LOL: Laugh Out Loud
TY: Thank You

And of course our favorite WTF.

Some are a little confusing as they haven’t totally standardized like FTL. Depending upon how you use it it is “For the Lose” or “For The Loss,” neither for sorrowful greetings. Dig a little deeper and you will see that FTL also means the following to the rest of the world:

Family Tree Legends
Federal Tax Lien
Feel the Love
Ferritin Light Chain
Field Team Leader
Flash Translation Layer
Folding Table Legs
Follow The Leader
Follow The Link
For The Lord
Free Talk Live
Freedom to Learn
Fruit of the Loom
Future Temporal Logic

Just proof that an acronym in any industry or community may shift and change depending upon the usage and need.

Here are a few of the social media acronyms and abbreviations less well known.

::poof:: – I’m gone
<3: it's a heart
1174: Nude club
143: I love you
1432: I Love You Too
14AA41: One for All and All for One
182I: hate you
1dafulit: means wonderful
2BZ4UQT: Too Busy For You Cutey
2G2B4G: Too Good To Be Forgotten
2moro: Tomorrow
2nite: Tonight
2QT: Too Cute
420: Marijuana
4COL: For Crying Out Loud
4U: For You
511: Too much information
53X: Sex
9: Parent is watching
99: Parent is no longer watching
AAMOF: As A Matter Of Fact
AAMOI: As A Matter Of Interest
B/C: Because
B4: Before
BGD: Background
BR: Best regards
C: See
CNP: Continued in Next Post
COB: Close Of Business
COBRAS: Come On By Right After School
COT: Circle Of Trust
CRS: Can’t Remember Sh**
CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center
CUATU: See You Around The Universe
D: Direct
da: The
DBD: Don’t Be Dumb
DBEYR: Don’t Believe Everything You Read
deets: Details
EML: Email
EOM: End Of Message
EOT: End Of Thread/Text/Transmission
EWI: E-mailing While Intoxicated
FB: Facebook
FTF: Face to Face
G1: Good One
G2: GGot to Go
GR8: Great
IC: I see
IOW: In Other Words
IRL: In Real Life
itz: It is
J/K: Just Kidding
JV: Joint Venture
K: Okay
L8: Late
L8er: Later
plz: Please
PPL: People
props: Proper Respect
TMB: Tweet Me Back
UR: Your

Knowing the abbreviations and acronyms used online is critical for national and domestic security, too, as the FBI recently created a guide for acronyms and slang on social media for the public and their agents.

Here are more resources to help you identify the meaning between the letters.