It is easy to confuse words that are similar in sound, spelling, or meaning. It only gets worse with social media slang, but with a bit of review it is also easy to clear up this confusion. Let’s check them out together right now.
Like
Totally Facebook, right? Not really. Pinterest, Foursquare, Instagram, LinkedIn use ‘like’ as well. When you ‘heart’ a pin on Pinterest, photo on Instagram or check-in on Foursquare – you ‘like’ it (or love it – up to you).
Where used: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare, LinkedIn
Do: “Like us on Facebook!”, “Do you see what I like on Pinterest?”, “I even liked it in Instagram!”, and “I liked your post on LinkedIn this morning”
Don’t: “Like us on Twitter”, “Like us on Google+”, “How many likes does your Twitter have?”
Follow
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn use the verb ‘follow’ in their interfaces but for (kind of) different things. On Twitter to follow means to add someone to your network. On Facebook ‘follow’ replaced the word ‘subscribe’ meaning to subscribe to someone’s public posts without adding person as a friend. What is the difference between following someone and adding them as a friend? Facebook explains: “You should only add someone as a friend when you know them personally. If you do not know someone personally but want to hear what he or she has to say following him or her is a good option. When you follow someone you’ll only be able to see their public updates.”
On LinkedIn one can follow company pages only, so its updates will be loaded right to your newsfeed. Moreover, on Pinterest there are no friends (bummer!), only followers. We follow boards – one by one or all of them at once.
Others prefer to go their own way. “+1” on Google+ means to give something your public stamp of approval. Push the “add to circles” button to add an account to your network. Before you can see another person’s check-ins, badges and all that stuff, your ‘add friend’ request must get approved first on Foursquare.
Where used: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram.
Do: “Follow us on Twitter”, “We got 150 new followers since yesterday”, “I defriended my ex but still follow her on Facebook, she doesn’t know I see her public posts”
Don’t: “Follow me on Facebook”
Does social media slang give you a hard time or leave you feeling confused? Share it with us – leave a comment!