Social networking seems to be leaving behind its footprint everywhere. Now, "Tweet" is finding a place in one of the most popular English lexicons, Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The search for the word will give you the result: "make a posting on the social media website Twitter," and "a posting made on the social media website Twitter."
Thus, "Tweet," which conventionally carries the meaning: "a brief high-pitched sound," will now also hold good as a verb as well as noun in the social media sense. The inclusion of the new word is not one that follows the rulebook. Going by the guidelines of OED, a new word needs to be current for ten years before entering the dictionary, but "Tweet" has broken this record for the word's sheer popularity.
Additionally, "Follow" now carries a meaning:" track (a person, group, organization, etc.) on a social media website or application" and "Follower" is "someone who is tracking a particular person, group, organization, etc. on a social media website or application"
This is not the first social media buzzword to enter the list, as OED had added "Tweetable" in February 2013, and "Retweet" way back in August 2011.
With all the new additions, OED's total number of entries looks to be more than 823,000!
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com