Tongue Twisting Social Media: On Digital Slang

We dem hazum data dis now. Confused? You just don’t happen to speak/write in that particular Caribbean island slang I guess. Then lets toss in not just Hatian creole but the online text version of Haitian creole. Or how about the variation of Pashto used by Afghans online? Then there’s the text version of Ebonics and the Jersey Shore variations. In ethnic and cultural group research online, language understanding is perhaps the largest hurdle. Whether for ethnic marketing or reaching civil society for their views and opinions on policy. Perhaps you’re a non-profit looking to engage online populations?

Unfortunately Google Translate doesn’t cover slang, patois and regional dialect variations. In fact no translation tool can handle these issues. Another challenge we’ve noted in online language use is that it is always evolving. No one uses the Queen’s English in blog posts – okay, maybe English majors and literary types. They are a tiny market though.

If you’re looking to reach ethnic groups online, for marketing or public policy issues, understanding online language use is critical. In our research in Africa, we’ve found that the use of English or French is always mingled with tribal elements. When different ethnic groups meet in online forums where they may be discussing political issues or products, they will identify themselves via their ethnic group or tribe/clan. This helps us from a researcher perspective, but can make for an interesting time putting this into usable information.

Example of Caribbean slang used online:

Sparky = money

:bouncy::bouncy: = stoned or drugs (note also the use of colons)

likker ga kill we = Booze will kill you

lip shet = Keep your mouth closed

Sands and chicken sous = booze reference, means drinking

If you’re looking for software to conduct textual analysis (e.g. sentiment), don’t bother. The sheer volume of text data required to provide a reasonable sample size and avoid significant false positives is simply not available online. The other challenge is the constant shifting of terms and meanings in today’s fast-paced cyber world. In addition, characters such as colons and semi-colons plus those for emoticons are also often used, adding a significant level of automation challenges to any software.

We’ve also noted the influence of Western entertainment and products in slang terms in countries like India, Ghana, Sudan, Emirates and a number of others. A product name or use of the product can take on an actual meaning, like Kleenex becoming a word used for tissues, even though it’s a product. We saw in some Caribbean research that Gosling’s rum was picked up for a time as “git gosled” (pro: gozzled) and in India we saw the term “makked” referencing the Gilette Mach series of razors, it was a positive use for this brand. But this shows how digital language adapts swiftly in online communities and how products and issues are absorbed. Our research into the referendum in Sudan two years ago showed a number of Southern Sudanese using the term “kartoomed”. In this case it meant the individual in question was loyal to the government in Khartoum and was therefor deemed against secession from the north.

Identifying language use, cultural, ethnic and regional/local variations is critical when looking to engage with ethnic audiences. Not doing this can miss a critical piece of understanding who and where to engage online and in the real world where so many ideas and online discussion translates to real-world activity.

Muslim Women and Social Media: An Overview

This was a complex research project for MediaBadger; understanding the roles and activities of Muslim women in social media channels. Muslim women are quite active in social media and in complex ways. We’ve done some comparative research of Christian women in social media from prior projects. But we wanted to gain a deeper understanding of a community of women that are often misunderstood and incorrectly portrayed in mainstream Western media.

Age Group Participation
We quickly found that when it comes to Muslim women, they tend to skew to a younger demographic for engagement in social media channels with the most active group between 20 and 35. There is a sharp decline after age 50 we found. The median age of the active demographic is 26.

Muslim Men and Women
We found that 63% of the profiles we analysed were women with 37% being male. When we looked at geographical presence however, we found that in Western nations or predominantly non-Muslim nations, men were more active at 46% compared to women.

Complexities of Muslim Society
There are significant differences dependent on sect and country. This also influences the level of activity and the channels used. For the most part, online Muslim women tend to stay within well defined, closed social networks. In Western nations where they will have friends and associations who are non-Muslim they will be active in more diverse social networks such as Facebook or Orkut. Although they will maintain up to two primary social networks in predominantly non-Muslim countries, with their primary social network being a Muslim-based one. We were able to hypothesize that the stricter the sect or country, the less active both Muslim men and women were, although they are active. In those countries or sects, the most active age group is 17-28, dropping significantly afterwards.

A Growing Voice
Muslim women are becoming increasingly active on the Web as a whole, with social media and through news media services. Over 35% of the news articles in popular online publications that we looked at addressed “misconceptions” of Muslim women. The second most popular topic of coverage was the Hijab.

Muslim Women Engage Non-Muslims
Part of our research looked at how Muslim women engage with non-Muslims in social media channels. We found that overwhelmingly Muslim women are very open to positive dialogue with non-Muslims. They respond to questions in blogs, news media and channels like Twitter quickly and with well articulated responses. Muslim women are 27% more likely to respond to inquiries than Muslim men and are 62% more likely to maintain a positive, open dialogue than males.

The Social Media Landscape for Muslim Women
There is a very strong, poisitive, landscape in Cyburbia for Muslim women. They form tight communities yet are very open to engagement with non-Mulsim men and women in other communities. There is an online marriage site for Muslim women and similar dating and social networking services, like Naseeb following Muslim lifestyles. In many Middle East countries such as Qatar, UAE and Bahrain, there are localized social networks (most often using Ning networks) for Muslim women. Muxlim.com is a popular spot for Muslim women and the juncture between Western and Islamic society. Alif is a social network built around religious Islamic music and is very popular with Muslim women. There are over 150 Muslim centred social media services online varying in their degrees of popularity with SistersZone being one of the most popular for Muslim women.

What Are Muslim Women Doing Online?
Muslim men and women are engaged for the same reasons all other socio-cultural, religious and general citizens are engaged; to connect, communicate and organize. Muslim women have always played a crucial role in the local communities, organizing events and helping other families. This extends very well into social media where they will share stories and support each other. Hyper-local use of social technologies are for organizing functions and get-togethers. Religious and cultural factors do tend to shape their activities, but that reflects the multi-dimensional facets of Muslim women around the world. Few broad statements can be made other than the fact they are active and in a positive way. Muslim women are also using social media channels to discuss religious issues and the roles of gender specific understandings of scripture.

In Summary
Muslim women are a multi-dimensional part of societies all over the world and this is no exception in social media. They enjoy a rich, complex and overall positive presence online. They are very engaged and have adopted social technologies as rapidly as any societal group. The roles of Muslim women in Islamic and Western societies are changing drastically, perhaps more than any other online demographic we have researched to date. With the changes in Egypt, Muslim women there are working to better define their role and emancipation. Similar issues are arising in other Muslim countries as they work for more rights. This is a complex issue far beyond our scope of research, but much of the discussion and debate is taking place online. For Westerners seeking to better understand Muslim society and the vital, perhaps critical, role Muslim women play, the social Web (Cyburbia) is a great place to not only look, but to engage through active and positive dialogue.

But their engagement online is not without its tribulations. Strong anti-Muslim sentiment in some Western nations means some very negative and vitriolic opposition. As well, some Muslim men and religious leaders do not approve of Muslim women being engaged online at all; but these voices are growing weaker.

That Muslim women actively discuss scripture and gender roles is yet another indicator of broader, more global changes of Islamic culture and religion are underway. The use of social technologies means diverse groups of women in different sects and with varying interpretations may play a leading role in changing modern perceptions of women’s roles in Islamic society. Men too are discussing these issues and as both men and women becoming increasingly active, we may see some significant shifts in many societies around the world.

Methodology
We used our proprietary search engine and artificial intelligence engine, mediasphere360 with 350 pre-defined keywords and phrases and defined a suitable sample size between 5,000 and 6,000 profiles around the world. We then ensured a viable sample size in both Muslim and non-Muslim (Western) countries. We did not include Asian countries and we only analysed text in English. Data was collected with a time period from January 1, 2008 to December 31st, 2o10.

Culture & Ethnicity in Social Media

Understanding cultural and ethnic behaviours and uses of Social Media can often play a key role in developing an engagement strategy for Social Media; whether that be for marketing, general communications or other purposes.

In our research, we’ve found that ethnic and cultural groups use tools in similar patterns, no matter the group. What we’ve found is that either a cultural our ethnic group that resides inside a non-indigenous state will use a Social Media tool that can connect them globally across all cultures and also use tools that connect them just within their cultural or ethnic group. Yeah, so what does that mean?

We define Global Social Media Tools as those tools or services that are agnostic to a culture or ethnic group and enable communication in any language (text, audio or image) and have global reach – doesn’t matter what country you’re in, you can access them (for the most part). Examples would be Twitter or Facebook or Buzz.

Then you have what we call Group Specific Social Media Tools. These are tools that are language (usually indicating culture or ethnicity) specific or culture/ethnic group specific. Examples would be Vkontakte which is Russia’s “Facebook” or Sonico.com which is for Latin Americans and Portugese speakers or AbairThusa, a Gaelic speaking Social Network. Ameba is an example of a microblogging service in Japan that is like Twitter but for those speaking Japanese.

In the case of cultural and ethnic groups in countries like Canada, the United States or UK, almost all active people from cultural and ethnic groups also speak English and will have English friends and business connections and so will also use Facebook, Twitter or similar. But the majority of their activity takes place on services that are specific to their culture or ethnic group.

This is important when considering engagement in Social Media. Since you may also want to reach those people and measure activity, within their ethnic or cultural group. This adds a layer of complexity however, since you’ll need to understand their written language.

Think these groups are too small to really be concerned about? Not at all. Societally we all belong to different cultural, ethnic and social groups. Immigrant populations inside a country can be very positively engaged in their new home country. This can offer significant opportunities.

(Author: G. Crouch, MD)

Ethnography in Social Media: Language

From Ebonics to Standard English (SE) to regional dialects, accents and contractions – all are elements of our daily lives in an urban setting.The larger the city you live in, whether it’s the U.S., Canada or Europe, the more ethnic groups we find and the bigger the challenge in Social Media engagement. Executing a Social Media campaign in one language is hard enough, crossing multiple cultures in one urban area is another. Continue reading »

Ethnography & Social Media Marketing Fulfilment

In Western nations as we see the steady increase in immigrants, marketers will have to become increasingly cognizant of ethnographic marketing. Advertising messages will take more research and ads that were easily understood before, may reach less of an audience or cause community anger.

In Social Media, it means deeper considerations when engaging an audience. It’s one thing to provide a Cantonese or Mandarin translation on your static web pages. It’s another to engage a Chinese audience in Social Media. Or Punjabi, Hindu, Ghanaian etc.

We’ve seen the rise of Social Networking sites for Latino Americans already. East Indians in Toronto use the Indian Social Networking site Bigadda more than Facebook in Canada – such knowledge can result in a failed Facebook campaign when your market is using an originating-country social media service. As a recent client of ours found out the hard way.

For longer term engagement, it means retaining staff who speak the language – and ensuring they can adequately communicate issues within the organization. More to the point, ensuring some form of sustainability in Social Media marketing efforts is also critical; these segment markets tend to be very loyal to products they feel value their culture and beliefs.

While a significant amount of acculturation occurs with immigrants, the deeper cultural assimilation and nuanced understanding of the country that have taken up their new lives in doesn’t usually happen until the first generation is born and of an age to be receptive to marketing tactics. So the two considerations we’ve found to be consistent is generation targeted and ensuring inter-organizational support while targeting the right Social Media vehicle.