Most of us at some point have had to sit through conversations with marketers crammed with buzzwords and jargon. It’s quite possible that marketers (like me) have the most obnoxious vocabulary in the world. And while some of these commonly used buzzwords can be helpful and informative, many of them have now been completely overused to the point where they’ve lost meaning and are now downright annoying.
Here is a list of these irritating buzzwords that, we hope they will go away in 2014.
Social Media
No matter where you are or what you’re reading, you can’t go two minutes now without hearing or reading the term “Social Media.” The types of websites that “Social Media” refers to are now so mainstream that they should simply be classed as “media.” While it’s safe to assume that websites falling under this banner, such as Facebook and Twitter, aren’t going to disappear, there are still other ways to describe them.
Cloud
This is as overused as it gets. In the beginning, the cloud referred to apps moving from a desktop or mobile device to an online folder, allowing users to take advantage of massive storage and computing power. However, the word “cloud” is now completely muddled and seems to have lost its original meaning. People apparently think it’s interchangeable with terms like “web” and “internet.”
Big Data
The past 12 months have seen just about every tech marketer overuse the term “big data,” in an attempt to talk about the grouping together of information in differing formats across a company or organization. What “Big Data” really refers to are companies or technologies that can amass and analyze such huge amounts of information that would cause a normal Macbook to melt. The NSA deals in big data, not you Mr. Social Media Guru. Oh, and while we’re on the subject:
Rockstar/Ninja/Guru
When did everyone suddenly become twelve again? Terms such as rockstar, ninja, guru or wizard added to the ends of phrases like “HTML/CSS,” or “content marketing,” to give the impression that someone is awesome at their job, are becoming more and more patronizing. You don’t need a QuizUp achievement title on your LinkedIn profile.
Web 2.0
This was coined back in 1999 to refer to a new version of the World Wide Web, which allowed websites to go beyond static pages and interact with other platforms. Web 2.0 is now painfully overused and meaningless (no seriously, it can cause kidney stones). The web has been interactive for long enough now, and we don’t need to pretend the revolution is still going on.
Game Changing
Granted, this isn’t so bad, but only when used after a company has actually accomplished somethings special. No, Snapchat isn’t “game changing” it’s an app that teenagers use to send each other photos that weren’t good enough for Instagram.
Touch Base
Thanks A-Rod. Just say you’ll email me.
Atomization
No, marketers haven’t suddenly gained degrees in particle physics, they’ve just stolen a word which is usually reserved for scientists in order to make themselves sounds much smarter than they are. All the word refers to is dividing market research into smaller demographics.
The post is written by Ilan Nass on behalf of Fueled – one of the world’s premier development and strategy firms which specializes in creating Android and iPhone apps.
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