by samIn February, 2013, Twitter revealed some big announcements, chiefly concerning changes to its search function. There was, however, another treat that Twitter quietly launched without any fuss at all. If you prefer your social media with a healthy helping of fun, you now have the options of turning on a new language: lolcats.
Lolcats’ popularity exploded around 2005 so it’s hard to imagine someone unfamiliar with the internet’s cutest meme, but just in case the feline funnies have you scratching your head here’s a quick explanation.
Like most things on the internet, it’s tricky to trace exactly where and when lolcats began, but a website named after the phenomenon was created in 2006 and soon became a sensation after the appearance of cheezburger cat.
The many thousands of copycat images follow a similar format; a photo of a cat, captioned in large, capitalised writing that deliberately deviates from Standard English spelling and grammar. Many lolcats stem from established internet phrases or parodies – but if you’re not up to speed on techy jokes, you can simply enjoy amusing cat pictures.
As the majority of content on Twitter is user generated, there doesn’t seem to be much room for lolcats language to take over. The navigational links of the site are really the only thing to have changed, and as these are generally only a few words long there isn’t always a huge difference.
On the other hand, though, tweets are TWEETS, Following becomes FOLLOWIN, and lists are now LISTS. Hmm, uninspiring sure is UNINSPIRING. One of the most distinctive features of the lolcats canon is based in poor grammar; longer sentences are needed to make an impact. This is a BETA version, however, so a more comprehensive disregard of spelling and grammar will hopefully be released in the future.
Twitter becomes TWITTR, and home is now HUM. You can DIRECT MESSUJ, COMPUZE NEW TWEET, search HOO 2 FOLLOW or get HALP! Even when VIEWING MAH PROFILE PUJ, there’s always MOAR to DISCOVR.
So if plain old English (or whichever tongue you’re fluent in!) isn’t exciting enough, here’s how to make the switch and immerse yourself in lolcat lingo. Either click here, or turn it on from your account settings by selecting ‘LOLCATZ’ from the dropdown menu.
Should you get particularly proficient in cute cat chat, offer your own definitions in Twitter’s translation centre.
The feature is certainly a fun way to spend an afternoon and doesn’t interfere with any of Twitter’s functionality. So what’s the point of it? Internet marketing experts will attest that novelty features increase the appeal of a site – even if the user is not intending to continually use the function it generates excitement and maintains interest.
Try it – and if you discover you’re not a lolcats lover, you can always simply…