Keeping Up On Terminology for 2018
Each year, we try to find the new words (and repeating words) that are new yet have become part of our daily vocabulary (or will become part of our daily vocabulary). Here is the list for 2018. Enjoy - and start using them (appropriately)!
Phubbing – phone snubbing; pretending to be listening while scrolling through a newsfeed or Facebook posts.
Micro-subscription – small amount paid for subscribing to a specific item. The most common examples: downloading one song; smart-phone application
Solopreneur – an entrepreneur who works alone (solo), running their business single-handedly. (These people are becoming the go-to people for companies interested in project-based execution.)
Momtrepreneur – a woman who has children/a family and runs a business at the same time.
Side Hustle – a trendier way of referring to a side business (contract work, gig, etc.).
Slashie – a millennial who have varying ‘side hustles’ in their professional titles. This could be in addition to their 9 – 5 job.
QR Code – literally Quick Response, it is a type of barcode that contain information related to the item. (History – actually invented in Japan in the auto industry to track vehicles during manufacture.)
Kill Chain – based on the four F’s (find, fix, fight, finish), this word relates to the tactics involved in resolving an issue or concern relating to the corporate strategy.
404 – originally a technical term for Not Found 404 (which is an error message seen on a Web page to indicate a requested URL was not found on a server). It is now slang to say “404” when someone is clueless.
H2H – instead of B2C or B2B, brands are talk H2H – human to human; focus is on creating a feeling of trust and safety from the person ‘selling’; more focus on story-telling.
ROR – Return on Relationship. For companies whose business relies on relationship building, you are measuring whether the management of the relationship is fruitful to the business.
BYOD – literally Bring Your Own Device (or BYOT – for Technology); the policy of permitting employees to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, etc.) for use in the workplace where the employee can then access privileged company information and applications.
Thirsty – refers to someone’s desperation or over-aggressiveness. (Michael has been trying to reach me all week; he is so thirsty.)
Curated Commerce – based on the demand for personalization in everything we do, this term refers to creating unique product lines that provide customers with a distinct collection not offered by other online retailers in the market. (Think – online shopping in highly personalized boutiques.)
Bae – technically stands for ‘before anyone else’; it is used to describe someone or something of importance to you
Assortment Intelligence – in ecommerce terminology, this refers to a set of tools and software used to help retailers track a competitor’s inventory. The software, in real-time, uses artificial intelligence, data-mining and image recognition algorithms allowing retailers to view, compare and analyze the differences between inventories..
Ransom Note – the sting of letters or numbers that appear on some web pages that require you to type the sequence you see in order to gain access to another web page.
Phantom Pocket Vibration Syndrome – a vibration you feel in the place you usually carry your phone even when the phone is not with you.
DRM – code that keeps content like books, movies, music and generally purchased applications from being pirated. (Literal definition – Digital Rights Management.)
Mydeation – using a group to help an individual solve a challenge specific to them (focus is an entrepreneur that needs help with a specific business challenge).
FOMO – fear of missing out; a fear that is you do not go to an event, you are missing out on something great (or that others are doing something significant without you). Used in a sentence: I have to go to that presentation – I have severe FOMO.