Research On The Use Of Acronyms In Social Media Digital Communications From The Perspective Of Affordance

Acronyms are a form of online buzzword derivatives that often appear on social media platforms.They are more simplified and faster to iterate than previous online buzzword forms,and their symbolic meanings are constantly deconstructed and reconstructed,resulting in the misunderstanding in digital communications and the loss of language.At present,relatively few studies have been conducted on the use of acronyms,mainly focusing on their socializing nature and dissemination mechanism,while ignoring the role of media technology that contributed to the birth of internet acronyms.From the perspective of affordance theory,this paper uses participant observation and in-depth interviews,focuses on the relationship between the characteristics of acronyms,the context of use,and the technology affordance of social media and users’ acronym use behavior,and brings acronym use as a microscopic phenomenon to look at the future digital shift in cultural content and speech communication,gives recommendations with actionable specifications for use.Research Findings:Firstly,acronyms are convenient,polysemous,hidden,and random.Secondly,the technology of social media platforms provides materiality and connectivity for users’ practice of acronym use.Thirdly,users’ imagination of the emotion-ability and visibility of the social media platforms provides motivation for their creative use of acronyms,forming resistance to the original technology and rules of the platforms.Fourth,from the microscopic perspective of acronym use behavior,feasible normative suggestions for regulating digital interaction terms in future social media while respecting users’linguistic and cultural needs are formed,and future social media users should also form a new media literacy of autonomous awareness maintenance and autonomous management of data visibility.Overall,acronyms using behavior is a new type of language input habit shaped by users’imagination of digital media affordance and the process of interacting with digital media in use,and as one of the phenomena of digital media communication,it provides a reference for future digital media trends.