Ultimate Guide to Instagram Slang

If you use Instagram, Twitter, or another social media platform, you are probably struggling to keep up with the slang and lingo that keep popping up on your feed on a daily basis. Don’t stress, as it’s something we’re all going through. Because of the unprecedented popularity of Instagram, new slang words are emerging at a faster rate than ever before. The new generation is innovative and actively seeks shortcuts in all aspects of life, including communication. It’s nearly impossible to decipher acronyms like TBH, LMK, AMA, DYK, and others that appear frequently in social media captions and comments.

If you want to sell your products or services, it’s even more pivotal to up your Instagram game and stay up to date on Gen Z kids’ everyday jargon. You can’t succeed unless you understand the community and the language spoken by the target audience. Whether you’re a newbie on Instagram trying to figure out the confusing jargon of social media or a seasoned pro looking to learn something new, this handy guide is for you.

POPULAR INSTAGRAM ACRONYMS

These abbreviations are also used as hashtags by Instagram users while posting

• 4eae: For Ever And Ever
• AMA: Ask Me Anything
• AFAIK: As Far As I Know
• AFK: Away From Keyboard
• ADIH: Another Day in Hell
• BD: Big Deal
• BF: Boyfriend
• BTW: By The Way
• BRB: Be Right Back
• BAE: Before Anyone Else
• BFF: Best Friend Forever
• BFN: Bye For Now
• BTS: Behind The Scenes
• CTA: Call to Action
• CMW: Change My View
• CSL: Can’t Stop Laughing
• DYK: Do You Know
• DAE: Does Anyone Else?
• DIET: Do I Eat Today?
• ELI5: Explain it to Me Like I Am 5
• FF: Follow Friday
• FBF: Flashback Friday
• FTFY: Fixed That For You
• FOMO: Fear of Missing Out
• FTW: For The Win
• FOTD: Find of The Day
• FWIW: For What It’s Worth
• GG: Good Game
• GOAT: Greatest of All Time
• GTG: Got to Go
• GTR: Got to Run
• GMTA: Great Man Think Alike
• GRWM: Get Ready With Me
• GOTD: Gram of The Day
• HTH: Here/Happy to help
• HMB: Hit Me Back
• HMU: Hit Me Up
• HIFW: How I Feel Whe
• IDC: I Don’t Care
• IDK: I Don’t Know
• ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
• IKR: I Know, Right?
• IRL: In Real Life
• IIRC: If I Remember Correctly

• IMO: In My Opinion
• IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
• FBF: Flashback Friday
• JOMO: Joy of Missing Out
• JSYK: Just So You Know
• JK: Just Kidding
• JIC: Just in Case
• LOL: Laughing Out Aloud
• LMAO: Laughing My Ass off
• LMK: Let Me Know
• LMS: Like My Status
• MYOB: Mind Your Own Business
• MFW: My Face When…
• MCM: Man Crush Monday
• MM: Music Monday
• MTFWY: May The Force With you
• NSFW: Not Safe For Work
• NBC: Nobody Cares 
• NVM: Never Mind
• NTW: Not to Worry
• NTS: Note to Self
• NBD: No Big Deal
• NGL: Not Gonna Lie
• OTP: One True Pairing
• OOTD: Outfit of The Day
• OMW: On My Way
• OMG: Oh My God
• OOMF: One Of My Friends/Followers
• POTD: Photo of The Day
• PoV: Point of View
• PDA Public Display of Affection
• PITA: Pain in The Ass
• PM: Private Message
• PTAT: People Talking About This
• QOTD: Quote of the day
• ROFL: Rolling on The Floor Laughing
• SMH: Shaking My Head
• SALT: Same As Last Time
• SYAC: Saved You a Click
• SRLSY: Seriously
• SFW: Safe for Work
• TBH: To Be Honest
• TBBH: To Be Brutally Honest
• TGIF: Thank God it’s Friday
• TBT: Throwback Thursday
• TIL: Today I Learned
• TBA: To Be Announced
• TMI: Too Much Information
• TL;DR: Too Long; Didn’t Read
• TTYL: Talk to You Later
• TYT: Take Your Time
• TIME: Tears in My Eyes
• TNTL: Trying Not to Laugh
• WFH: Work From Home
• WBU: What About You?
• WDYMBT: What Do You Mean by That?
• WCW: Women Crush Wednesday
• WBE: Way Back Wednesday
• WOM: Word of Mouth
• YSK: You Should Know
• YNK: You Never Know
• YOLO: You Only Live Once
• YW: You Are Welcome

INSTAGRAM / TWITTER SLANG

I mentioned Twitter because most of the below-mentioned slang originated there and then spread to Instagram and other social media platforms.

• Bussin: Something that tastes very good
• Bop: When a song or album is exceptionally good.
• Bio: Text under a username where you can find all the information about the brand/user
• Bro Has Drip: Nice Outfit
• Cray: To be crazy
• Caught in 4k: Catch someone red-handed
• Canceled: To withdraw support from someone, usually a well-known figure or celebrity.
• Chop Chop: Can you hurry up?
• Clickbait: The process of enticing users to click on a specific link.
• Cuffed: In a committed relationship
• Drip: Someone who is well-dressed.
• Deets: Details
• Extra: Over-the-top
• Facepalm: An expression of frustration or embarrassment prompted by doing or saying something extremely stupid.
• Fire: When something is exceptional, it is called “fire.”
• F4F: Follow for Follow
• Faded: Drunk
• Flex: Showing Off
• Fam: Family
• Foodporn: Media featuring exceptionally delectable food.
• Glow Up: A makeover or transformation from bad to good.
• Goals: Something desirable, such as someone’s success or a relationship.
• Ghosting: When you simply stop responding to someone. This is common in the early stages of a relationship.

• HundoP: 100% sure of something
• Hits Different: When something is better or more distinctive than usual.
• I Am Spent: I am very tired
• It’s So Mid: Totally Average
• Instafamous: An Instagram influencer who is well-known due to a large number of followers.
• I’m dead: Dying of laughter
• It’s me: When you relate to something.
• KK: Okay/message acknowledged
• Lit: Cool/Awesome
• L4L: Like for like
• Living Rent Free: Can’t stop thinking about someone
• MT: Modified Tweet
• Meme: A media, concept, or activity that is typically humorous and spreads rapidly via social media platforms.
• Mood: Caption for a media that reflects your current state of mind
• Nofilter: Raw images with no filters.
• No Cap For Real: I swear I am not lying
• Noob: An inexperienced person.
• On Fleek: On Point
• Regram: To share someone else’s Instagram post on your feed. Similar to Retweet
• Get the Popcorn: When you see a conflict brewing between other people, and decide to sit back and enjoy the moment.
• Salty: Upset or bitter over something minor
• Slaying: A term used to describe someone who is doing exceptionally well.
• Spilling the tea: Sharing the gossip
• Savage: A compliment for someone who is brutally honest.
• Shook: Deeply affected by something
• Simp: Someone who lavishes undue attention on the person they have a crush on.
• Snack: A person that you find attractive
• Stoked: Excited
• S4S: Shout-out for Shout-out
• Sip Tea: Instead of participating in the gossip, sit back and enjoy it.
• Shipping: Act of wishing for a romantic relationship between two celebrities
• Stan: It’s a mash-up of “stalker” and “fan.” A wacky fan
• The Math is Not Mathing: Something that is not right
• This Tune is My Jam: This is my favorite song
• Troll: Posting inflammatory or derogatory comments on social media platforms
• Thirst Trap: Images posted with the intent of gaining sexual attention or appreciation.
• Thirsty: Obsessed with women
• TT: trending Topic
• W: The letter W stands for “win.”
• Xoxo: Kisses and hugs
• Yikes: Expressing mild surprise or alarm in response to something bad or unsettling.

BASIC  INSTAGRAM TERMINOLOGY

• Archive: A feature that allows you to hide Instagram posts without deleting them.
• B2B: Business to Business
• B2C: Business to Consumer
• Caption: A short description that appears beneath the media in your Instagram post.
• Content: The digital material available to users in text, video, images, and so on.
• Conversion: The action you want visitors to take.
• Conversion Rate (CR): Estimation of the number of people who have completed the required action
• CTA: Call to Action. Asks followers to take a specific action.
• CTR: Click Through Rate. Percentage of people who clicked on the link
• CMGR: Community Manager
• CX: Customer Experience
• Double Tap: Like a post
• DM: Direct Message
• EoM: End of Message
• Engagement: Number of likes and comments received on the post
• Explore Page: An Instagram section that recommends videos to watch.
• Feed: A list of all the recent posts shared by the accounts you follow.
• Filter: An editing feature that can be used to enhance your images.
• Gallery: A collection of posts from an Instagram user’s profile.
• Geotags: The post’s tagged location
• IG: Instagram
• IM: Instant Messaging
• Insights: Data that enables you to learn more about your audience, content, and performance.
• Influencer: Someone who creates content for a large audience in a particular niche.
• IGTV: A video service that allows users to upload videos up to an hour long.
• Hashtag: The # symbol is placed in front of words/phrases to categorize the content of the post, make it searchable, and reach a larger audience.
• Handle: The username of your account that begins with @. 
• Highlights: Instagram stories saved to your profile. They can be found between your feed and the “follow” button.
• Impressions: The number of times your content has been viewed.
• Mention: When one account mentions another on Instagram.
• Notifications: Alerts that notify you of new activity on your Instagram account.
• Organic Reach: The number of users who find and view your content without the help of a paid promotion
• OP: Original Poster
• Post: A piece of visual content shared on Instagram.
• PM:  Private Message
• Paid Reach: The audience reached by a sponsored Instagram post.
• Profile: All the details regarding your account
• Reach A measure of the size of a potential audience.
• ROI: Return on Investment
• Reels: Short, vertical video clips that can be edited, sound-dubbed, and enhanced before being shared on the app.
• SEO: Search Engine Optimization
• SMB: Small and Medium Businesses
• SMM: Social Media Marketing
• Saas: Software as a Service
• Stories: Short-term content that only lasts 24 hours on the profile. It can be found at the top of the Instagram news feed.
• SMP: Social Media Platform
• Viral: An image or video that is expeditiously being circulated all across the internet.
• TOS: Terms of Service
• Tag: Adding someone’s username to a post that you share.
• User-Generated Content (UGC) The content created by social media platform users and then shared by a brand
• Username: It begins with @. It is the name given to a specific profile on Instagram.
• UX: User Experience

This list can never be exhaustive as new slang words and acronyms are coined daily. Let me know what popular Instagram slang I have missed.