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Suddenly, it’s everywhere, from TikTok to Snapchat to your group chat: #IYKYK. You just sit there and go, “Huh??” What does this abbreviation mean and how is it used? Read on: We’ve got everything you didn’t know you wanted to know about the #IYKYK hashtag below!
- IYKYK means “If you know, you know.”
- Use #IYKYK in posts and text messages to indicate that you’re talking to a specific group of people, like those who are part of an inside joke or involved in a particular hobby.
- When using #IYKYK, avoid revealing too much about the particular event, experience, or interest you’re mentioning: #IYKYK’s strength lies in its subtlety.
Use #IYKYK on posts that subtly allude to an event or inside joke. Let’s say you stayed up all night singing Lana Del Rey karaoke with your best friends and having the time of your life. Instead of writing everything that happened in a social media post meant for just a few people, you can write something that just hints at what happened, like “LDR with the best people. IYKYK.” Or you can just post a picture of yourself wearing a flower crown with “#IYKYK” above it.
- Part of the point of #IYKYK is not to waste energy explaining an experience or concept to people who won’t understand or engage with it, but part of it is also about maintaining an air of exclusivity and even a bit of mystery to create FOMO. among people who are not “in” the reference.[2]
- So it’s important not to overshare in a #IYKYK post, as it defeats the purpose.
Post #IYKYK on connect with people who share your specific interest. #IYKYK is sometimes used to describe posts that allude to a particular interest or hobby shared by only a small number of people. For example, if you grew up watching Lizzie McGuire, you would understand tweet @drakeporter33 it shows a photo of Lizzie’s sidekick Gord with the caption “King simp #iykyk”.[3]
- Not all #IYKYK posts have to be mysterious; after all, a lot of people know what Lizzie McGuire is even if they’ve never seen her. But #IYKYK is a signifier that you belong to a group of people, connected by love or interest in a certain thing.
Use #IYKYK to reference an experience shared by a specific group. You can use #IYKYK to connect with people who share your specific lifestyle or lived experience. For example, if you were a student during quarantine, you might tweet something like, “Meeting your cohort in person for the first time… at graduation. #IYKYK.” Others in your position will understand not only what your post means, but also what it feels like to have that experience.
Send your IYKYK friends a message to remind them of the special experience you shared. After spending a weekend skiing in Aspen with your best friends, send those friends a direct message or DM with “IYKYK” combined with a photo of the slopes, a video of one of you repeatedly failing to gracefully exit from the chairlift: anything that alludes to your fun time together. The intent of sending an IYKYK message directly to friends already “in” a referral is less to create an impression of exclusivity and more to emphasize that you’ve shared an exclusive experience with them.
- You can also IYKYK to a group chat consisting of a mix of friends who are “in the know” and friends who are not. It will highlight the specialness of your experience for those who shared it, while also making friends who weren’t there wish they were.
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Source: HIS Education