There are the fashionable French expressions we all like to use when it comes to food, fashion and travel. Bon appetit literally means good appetite and used commonly to state – enjoy your meal. A la carte (literally means ‘on the menu’ that we often see in restaurants). Café (as in coffee in French or coffee shop that we commonly refer to in English ). Tres chic (literally translates as very stylish).  It is used to express ‘stylish’ or ‘smart’ as an element of fashion and the counterpart of posh. Haute couture (literally meaning custom-fitted clothing and typically used to express trend-setting fashion). Adieu (meaning goodbye that we commonly wish each other at the time of farewell). Bon voyage (literally meaning good journey, that has been adopted to express, have a good trip!). And don’t we all know what it means when someone exclaims – c’est la vie! Meaning, such is life! It has evolved to mean things like ‘It is what it is’ and at times used as an expression to say that life is tough but that one must accept it for what it is with an optimistic demeanor.

Then ofcourse there is some of the Asian influence, borrowings from Sanskrit, one of the ancient languages from India that we see being used commonly like Guru (Sanskrit script गुरु, meaning a teacher, as someone we revere and respect for his or her knowledge and wisdom). These days, we use it to describe someone who is an ‘expert in something’ in the modern context.  Avatar (अवतार, which means manifestation, and refers to the human incarnation of God per the Hindu mythology.) In modern usage we see it as the graphical representation of a user especially in the social media context. Then ofcourse, most of you are familiar with James Cameron’s Oscar winning movie Avatar in today’s context. Cashmere (originates from Kashmir, the Himalayan region of Northern India where this fine wool is derived from the undercoat of the cashmere goat).

Karma (कर्मा, which means work or fate). We see it being used commonly as bad karma (which refers back to the philosophy of, you reap what you sow). Mantra (from Sanskrit मन्त्र mantra refers to a holy message or text typically used as ‘spiritual chanting’) whereas, in the modern context the English language borrows it to connote what is the code you live by? Such as – what is your life’s mantra? Or in a marketing jargon it could imply the mystical formula to coin their mission statement or as trendy buzzwords for eg: Nike’s mantra is ‘Just Do it’.

We are in an interesting age today where we have not only borrowed from or introduced new words but evolved to a time where we’ve started ‘verbalizing’ in interesting ways. We’ve come a long way from the Greek and Latin origins of words, and today’s influx of social media has a lot to do with the infiltration of that lexicon. We have not only started using social media terms in our daily dialogues, but have created ‘new verbs’ along the way! Highlighting a few of our common ones.

Did you google the term? The word ‘Google’ which is the name of a famous search engine, is a play on the number ‘googol‘. A googol is equivalent to a 1 followed by 100 zeros and is indeed an extremely large number. This term reflects the infinite and ever-increasing volume of information that is currently available on the Internet.

I tweeted it to my friends. Twitter (verb) originally is described as – to make high-pitched sounds, as of birds. In the social media age, Twitter today is commonly known as a social networking and microblogging site that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters.

You must unfriend him after what happened! In today’s context, it refers to our digital relationships such as our Internet friendships. Unfriending here is to remove from one’s friends list on a social networking site eg: the Facebook friend list.

I blogged about today’s news. Blog is a word that was created from two words: “web log”. It refers to today’s digital diary and serves as a shared on-line journal allowing your voice to be heard and shared with your vast online audience. It empowers users to reflect, share opinions, and discuss varied topics digitally. (E.g. of some of the current blogging platforms -Blogger,Tumblr, WordPress, SquareSpace, Posterous).

I digg it! Unlike the traditional context of digging in your garden, today social media relevancy is all about social news website made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet. You get to submit the link and users get to vote and comment on submitted links and stories ranking it in popularity!

I like it! ‘Like’ today has a whole new connotation for a Facebook user. Instead of writing a comment for a message or a status update, a Facebook user can click the “Like” button as a quick way to show approval and share the message with others.

She poked me and I poked her back. Poking as we know it typically is seen as an action of tapping and/or softly jabbing another person with the tip of one’s finger or a sharp object. A poke today is a small application on Facebook that are just little reminders or ways to say hello on Facebook.You poke someone if you just want to say a quick hello, want him/her to look at your profile or just letting them know you’re thinking of him/ her.

The list goes on! What are some of the words like this you’ve been using in your daily jargon? Let’s hear it.

Photos by jovike and GRwitters.

You can extend the same philosophy to your social media presence. Having a digital footprint is a good thing these days, but what about the digital dirt we rake in along the process? How do we clean up that? While it might not be possible to erase back all your wrong moves, now might be a good time to reflect back and give your virtual avatars a detox.

Sharing some of my ideas around that -

Reposition your persona – We as people come with myriad emotions and multifarious facets of ourselves that we tend to portray in our everyday lives. Somewhere down the line, it is possible to lose track of who we are or who we ‘want to be’ under all those faces. If you feel that you have derailed from that original path or have lost your initial luster and essence, then it’s probably not a bad idea to pause and reboot your system. Don’t be afraid to start afresh and refocus your energies on where you need to be. Like one block at a time, rebuild or reposition your online persona and reputation one comment, tweet, discussion thread and post at a time. After a point, the current will supersede the old.

Sharpen your message – Are you focusing on the right things that matter the most to you? Do you still stand by what you believed in when you started out? Or do you think you have drifted away from your core beliefs. Do not ever feel pressurized to dilute down on what you originally came forth to say. In the same token don’t get distracted by all the frills and fancy in your simple messaging. It’s never a bad idea to get back to basics and discard any additional unwanted layers. I’m tempted to quote Avinash Kaushik (@avinash) again with “Don’t sexify, simplify!

Be willing to give before you ask – Don’t always hoard onto ideas or resources as your proprietary domain. Enrich it by sharing it with others and gaining back more through crowdsourcing. The more you give to your online community, the more you get back be it in the form of ideas, solutions, fans, followers or friends!

Trust the WYSIWYG effect – What you sow is what you get! (Yeah I tweaked it slightly.) So make sure you are sowing the right seeds in building your reputation. I believe it begins with not just sharing your views but respecting other people’s viewpoints. You need to give respect to earn respect! Don’t be too hung up on your way. There are many different perspectives to looking at the same thing. So allow yourself to be surprised by keeping an open mind. Today’s social media provides that perfect platform in teaching us omnifarious thinking.

I believe Social Media is like good karma, what goes around comes around in leaps and bounds. So make sure you are attracting what you are sending out to your universe whether it’s with your content, comments, friends, family or just pictures.

With that, I’d like to end this year’s last post by sending out my best wishes and warm regards wishing each one of you a very happy and promising New Year in 2011. I thank you all for your comments encouraging me to keep writing and for keeping our dialogues exciting! Until next year…so long!

Photo by Marquette La

However, the same power if used carelessly can cause more damage than you can imagine! I was compelled to write this post after watching the news today on how social media played a role in the tragic demise of Tyler Clementi, a young freshman at Rutgers University. The 18-year old accomplished violinist, tragically committed suicide after learning that that his college roommate had surreptitiously video recorded him during his private moment and broadcast it live without his consent. The otherwise considered shy and distinguished musician’s last words were left on his Facebook page “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.” Unfortunately, nobody could save this young man’s life in time.

This may be one such tragic case that surfaced online, but it comes as a huge warning and wake-up sign for all social media users. This is a glaring example of invasion of privacy and taking social media to the other extreme. We all at some point in time may have video recorded some incident perhaps at a party, and shared it jokingly with our friends. We may not necessarily think twice or make much of that supposedly funny incident except to share a few laughs while forwarding it to others. However, as a society, we need to be more conscious and bear some social media responsibility!

In this digital age with ready access to technology and the ability to disperse information instantaneously, has blurred the line of privacy converting most things into an entertainment value. Lesson to be learnt is that we don’t become puppets in the hands of technology! Hiding behind an ‘avatar’ does not give us the permission to act irresponsibly. We need to constantly remind ourselves that there is an actual person just like you sitting behind that computer that deserves the same respect as you.  Be it sending out a tweet on Twitter, updating your Facebook status, uploading and sharing photos on Flickr or forwarding a YouTube video to others, we all need to exercise proper judgment. It is important that we recognize the repercussions of our actions versus falling victims to our own making.

If everybody does their bit and acts responsibly using good judgment, social media’s positive impacts can be that much more amplified.

Photo by AJ Baxter