Buzzwords are a growing export thanks to the lightning-fast content generation and consumption we’re experiencing in the social-era.
Buzzwords have become increasingly vilified by the social media elite with claims that they are crutches used by marketers to mask their inability to think, write effectively or say exactly what they mean. Others go so far as to say they are used by pseudo experts to mask their lack of understanding and knowledge on a particular subject.
Why so much distain for buzzwords? Are they not just words? Haven’t buzzwords been effectively used in business-lingo for years to demonstrate consensus or to represent larger concepts in a few words? By invention or through evolution, in business buzzwords are formed with meaning. Terms like “cutting-edge,” “total quality management” and “quantum leap” were first coined to represent new thinking, new concepts or new paradigms (wait, that’s a buzzword right? I can’t keep up).
With the volume on online conversations – and the number of people engaging in them – skyrocketing at a fever pitch, can we really be surprised that certain words or phrases become overused or borrowed by other groups? In fact, hasn’t the limited space allocated to conversations in Twitter or via mobile messaging created the NEED for a set of common words that represent bigger concepts?
And who becomes the arbiter of what is and isn’t a buzzword? Isn’t one person’s buzzword another’s insight? Again, with the sheer volume of conversations and opinions being shared online today, isn’t every word technically a buzzword – or at risk of becoming one?
When in doubt, debate.
As opinionated as I am, I prefer to challenge such constructs in an effort to further my own understanding of an issue, so last night I asked our online #bizforum community to debate this very topic. Below is a highlight slideshow that contains just some of the insights shared on Twitter:
#bizforum debate – Week 60
Are buzzwords creating a new business dictionary?
Storified by @samfiorella · Thu, Jul 12 2012 05:44:47
What do you think? At what point does a useful term become a buzzword? Every buzzword was once considered useful so should we not just get over ourselves and focus on the author’s intent and not the semantics of buzzwords?
Sam Fiorella – Sensei
Feed Your Community, Not Your Ego
#bizforum debate – Week 60
Are buzzwords creating a new business dictionary?
Storified by @samfiorella · Thu, Jul 12 2012 05:44:47