Effects of social media and text messaging

[Lakshmi Rajagopalan CB]

People are increasingly using text message language like R for are, U for you, D for the, der for there, dose for those in formal communication.

Do share text language words that you come across regularly. Share some of the ways you think people should communicate in a formal or corporate setting.

[Sreelekha]

gr8 = great
4 = for
lol = lots of laughter
n = and
actually there are so many .. they irritate me .. sometimes, figuring them out is tiresome

[Ananya]

Here are some more
btw - by the way
ttyl - talk to you later
f9 - fine
gn - good night
gm - good morning
spk for speak ........and the list is endless

While this is considered to be fine in a casual setting or conversation, there have been instances where it creeps into formal conversation done via email. So care should be taken while sending emails to your client, stay away from using emoticons or abbreviations.

Thanks.
Ananya

[satish]

Here are a few more for those who do not have them in their vocabulary.
ASAP - As soon as possible
BRB - Be right back
h2cus - Hope to see you soon
PPL - People
Unfortunately, there is no escape from such blah, blah, blah.

[anisha_astrologer]

please don't forget the age old
plz=please
lol=laughing out loud
and the one that irritates me the most is
k=ok
i don't understand why can't someone just add a simple 'o' before 'k'.

[elizabeth]

While these abbreviations are fun to use, and we do use them when communicating with friends and maybe close family, i feel that in any kind of formal situation, or in any kind of formal relationship, formal communication would be in order. While a colleague or boss may find informal sms', messages, texting, or symbols a sign of familiarity, kind of crossing-the-line, an older person may feel inadequate because he may neither be able to understand the message, nor respond in like manner. While corporates do have a fair amount of informality, communication, if kept formal, would also keep the connections intact - is what i feel.

[Yamini Vijendran]

I do not know how many will subscribe to my view by I always keep the T9 option in my mobile on. This allows me to type full words and type them fast in almost all of my SMSes. But chats are a bit tricky... the finger's automatically get tempted to key in lessers characters for a word! But I do take care to always use full words as much as possible. For me it is the love for the beauty of the language that urges me to write proper words and avoid short forms.

[Shabnam Shaikh CB]

I remember this short-forms..internet slangs worked when I would make notes during a lecture session, since it was easy to listen and type and of course casually with frens/family but not beyond that. Using this language in professional arena is an absolute no-no. Leaves a very bad impression. Personally, I would not prefer to see any business email written using such abbreviations...

[dews.hyd]

True...it sounds very unprofessional!