Are you lost in the menagerie of buzzwords that have flooded our collective business vocabularies? You’re not alone. Let’s take a moment to examine the new subspecies of language, or “slanguage”, that has evolved during the Web 2.0 era and further clouded the blogosphere:
First and foremost, since when is it a good thing to be viral? The last time I checked viral meant a visit to the clinic and a fews days of chicken soup and bedrest. For that matter, does anyone remember a time not so long ago when the only ones providing web services were spiders? And what are Economics professors to do now that the infamous make-believe widget is a real entity?
But then what do I know? I’m so old I’ve got lines on my Facebook. The next thing anyone Diggs for me might just be my grave – which would then become MySpace forever more. That was probably more puns than anyone should try to work into one paragraph, but regardless I think I deserve a hi5.
To me, when something is Del.icio.us it’s a reason to have another helping. The last time I checked, tagging was illegal graffiti and Ajax was a name-brand household cleaning solution. All this new jargon creates questions:
Is being LinkedIn anything like being mobbed up? Do you only StumbleUpon websites when you’ve had a few drinks too many? If you tear a bag of peas, do you apply a podcast until it has mended properly?
Twitter, Flickr, Propeller, Meetup, Multiply, ad infinitum… Where does it end? The real answer is that it doesn’t. As soon as you are comfortable with the latest and greatest, “The Next Big Thing” announces itself to the world and you’re right back where you started.
In the meantime, you can use any of the links above to get up to speed. Then do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes at bullshitr to unwind from all that you’ve learned.
Entry contributed by MGH’s Interactive Art Director, Bronson Wagner
