Proia Comunicaciones integradas

Facebook Code

By means of the semio-statistics analysis of 122,000 words used by young people aged 15 to 21 on Facebook in 2011, we can infer some trends in changes in the language, codes, and new meanings given by this group.

What is Facebook Code: The less said the better.

1) Young people use fewer words, a more concise, simple, and factual language, probably influenced by a grammatical structure suggested by Facebook and the English language.

Attention: This simplification of the language does not mean the language will become poorer; it means young people become more accurate when choosing the words.

2) The use of onomatopoeic words (haha, mmmm, ohhh, ow, etc.) is more common, showing the need to soften their words or “cushion” certain topics.

3) Unlike other generations, these young people do not claim for a space “to be” or “to communicate”, because they already have their own space, contact network, organizational structure, codes, and their own grammatical structure.

4) The iconography prevails in underage children, they prefer to share their preferences, games, or interests using icons instead of words.

5) They express their personality, preferences, and interests by means of their music choices, affinity groups, the sports teams they are fan of: “I am what I choose to be”.

Communication and the youth: The less said the better.

1) Young people use fewer words, a more concise, simple, and factual language, probably influenced by a grammatical structure suggested by Facebook and the English language.

The terminology used shows interesting changes in the way to express themselves, forms similar to the English language are adopted:

  • Low Adjectivization:

The younger they are the fewer adjectives they use; they prefer to use direct and clear words.

  • Greater use of verbs:

The vocabulary becomes more factual, with direct actions. They use the simplest structure of the English language, from clear examples such as “Like” from Facebook.

Attention: This simplification of the language does not mean the language will become poorer; it means young people become more accurate when choosing the words.

2) Onomatopoeic Language

One way to express their mood or summarize their state of mind is the use of onomatopoeic resources, mainly “Hahaha”, “mmmmm”, “ohhh”.

These forms summarize moods and communicate to the other person the tone given to the message. They also use them to “soften” ironic, acid, or high emotion phrases. They act as a semantic “cushion”, they allow them to express very strong concepts but reducing the tone.

They also show an extreme pressure, because “I don´t have time”, “the day is too short”, “there is too much to study”, are repeated phrases preceding this resource. The Hahaha, XD, etc. show the need to ease everyday situations.

Ranking of most commonly used words and their associations

Unlike other generations, these young people do not claim for a space “to be” or “to communicate”, because they already have their own space, contact network, organizational structure, codes, and their own grammatical structure.

Like adults, they are worried about “having enough time”. They have the feeling they cannot do everything they would like to.

Communication space: they have an “armored” and own communication space.

Bonds: like the vocabulary, they become simple and direct.

They value: to be liked, attract, the beauty, the senses, the perceptions.