The purpose of this essay is to show how social networking on the internet has had such an effect on the English language that new lexicons have appeared that change the established order of sentences and vocabulary. The rationale of this essay is the fact that on-line communities start these new genres of language through their daily communication. Although internet social networking is relatively new, its massive growth has brought on the rise of language development and expansion. The history of this growth and some of the reasons for this language development will be given highlighting why sentences and vocabulary varieties come to be used within these social networks. Examples will be given throughout the essay highlighting English language’s unique components that can still produce meaning from dismembered sentences and vocabulary. Overall thought will also focus as to whether this use of internet language has actually permeated into the general conversation in daily life.
In an age where internet users have a myriad of avenues to communicate with each other all around the world in real time, it can be recognized that initial programs such as AOL and its instant messenger in 1997 and Friendster in 2002 allowed users to keep in contact with other members that helped create paths for chat and messaging. The combination of these two ideas for bringing people together, that nowadays many websites such as Facebook and Twitter followers, allows for friends to form closer internet relationships allowing for more chat and language with reduced formal rapport. Twitter, as a present day on-line social networking example which sends and receives messages from an assortment of devices simultaneously at the moment the message is sent, has also introduced the concept of micro-messaging where the user just comments on what is happening in the now. Here, introduces users to the concept of summarizing messages and statements giving instant gratification through their minimalization of sentences and vocabulary that creates competition for interest and a doorway to be creative.
Adapting sentences and vocabulary to use in online conversations many purists would argue diminishes the English language but it could be just a way of being creative and effectively using new technologies. It would seem unimaginable 10 years ago to envisage a new global language that has developed through such famous websites as Facebook and Twitter. Speed has to be the number one factor that affects the users’ use of long-drawn-out sentences and messages. Social Networking is about instant messages that satisfy all parties. Of course, it has to be recognized that in the first instance users are limited in how much they can say which contributes to the downsizing of their message. Twitter actually has a maximum of 140 characters per instant message. The user has no choice but to compress their new information. On the whole, within instant messages and online chat users are telling little snippets of their lives and in most cases do not need to produce long sentences for online conversing.
Internet social networking has taken over our lives. Users have a myriad of avenues to communicate with each other all around the world in real-time. Face-to-face communication is outdated! Nowadays, there are many websites such as Facebook and Twitter that allow people to share information and communicate with each other all day and all night. Social networking is now part of life, and the rapid success has been amazing but at what cost. Nowadays, because of all these websites, speed is the issue, new language is created and education is ignored. Social networking is a major social issue in the world today that highlights the drastic effect on the English language.
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