Full disclosure for transparency about Buzzwords

I decided to growth hack my new website by discussing buzzwords. I thought I’d leverage Mark Zuckerberg announcement that Facebook will become a metaverse within the next 10 years. Talking about buzzwords is lowhanging fruit, but I didn’t just want clickbait. Content is king after all. I wanted a quick win for my first blog but because I’m customer-centric I wanted to offer a positive customer experience (CX) as a part of a value-add, digital marketing strategy for my site.

If you counted 9 or more buzzwords in the paragraph above, you are a buzzword expert!

Why we use Buzzwords

Across businesses like marketing, sales, technology, and service industries people create their own jargon, buzzwords and phrases. Buzzwords need to be ubiquitous for people to understand them and to become part of common usage. Some creep into our everyday conversation and stick, such as touch base, brainstorm, pivot, and location, location, location. Others have been around for decades.

Historical Buzzwords

• Boiling the ocean – 1914 now refers to an impossible task (Don’t mention the war)
• No-brainer – 1950’s an easy decision or activities that require little mental effort.
• Synergy – 1950’s cooperation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
• Outside the box – 1960’s to think creatively or differently (Thinking outside the box)
• Paradigm Shift – 1960’s major fundamental change caused by innovation
• Low hanging fruit – 1989 easy to resolve problem or task
• Disruptive innovation / Disruptor – 1997 a technological breakthrough that changes the market

Buzzword Pros and Cons

Buzzwords can be useful. They can be office shorthand, saving us time when speaking with colleagues. We even revert to speaking in acronyms like AI, VR, PPC, CMS for buzzwords we use frequently. They can make an idea sound new and exciting, motivate staff (initially), or encapsulate a complex process.Some people use buzzwords to enhance their business cache. Using the right buzzword in the proper context can help us appear current and knowledgeable. Have you seen that in meetings?

One thought is that we use buzzwords because of our need for acceptance.  I once lost a job interview because I didn’t pick up on the recruiter’s preferred buzzword!

However, we complicate communication unnecessarily if the words are unfamiliar to our listener.­ The meaning of buzzwords can also change and we can inadvertently use them incorrectly.  When we litter our conversation with buzzwords we can sound a little pretentious. Overused and incorrectly used buzzwords can be plain aggravating as many surveys show.

Bring on The Buzzsaw

PR practitioner Hamish Thompson invented a free tool called The Buzzsaw to eliminate annoying buzzwords from press releases and blogs. He’s a clever, funny man. According to his website my first paragraph scored a 22% buzzword factor.  https://thebuzzsaw.co.uk

Here is Thompson’s 2021 Buzzsaw Hall of Shame. Infuriated journalists and editors from around the world submitted their most loathed buzzwords to the list. Are you guilty of using any of these?

• Cohort – instead of group
• Close the loop
• Hop on a call
• Hope your [sic] well – an opening in an email
• B2H business to human – and Humaning
• Mainstream media
• Agile
• Trying times / now more than ever / new normal  / nice to e-meet you / we’re all in this together – COVID terminology
• We remain cautious
• TLA (three letter acronym)
• Ideate  / Ideation
• Non-fungible
• Woke / curate
• Socials
• Influencer

What is a Metaverse anyway?

Circling back, I should explain the meaning of metaverse according to Mark Zuckerberg, though it’s not a deep dive. The idea comes from Neal Stephenson’s 1992 sci fi novel Snow Crash which sees the internet as a 3-dimensional virtual world where users interact with each other in real time.

According to Mark Zuckerberg,

“The defining quality of the metaverse presence is this feeling that you’re really there with another person or in another place.”

“Creating avatars and digital objects are going to be central to how we express ourselves.”

Zuckerberg forecasts Facebook will pioneer this next iteration of the internet which if it happens will be revolutionary – really disruptive innovation.

The first time I put on a VR headset blew my mind, let alone a whole metaverse.

What’s your favourite Buzzword?

Saying Thought Shower, instead of brainstorm or group discussion, really makes me shudder. I dislike Onboarding too – it’s sterile. So, please tell me your best or worst buzzword in the comment box below. Give me a ping!