Yesterday I wrote about a phrase I had never heard of before, “dead cat bounce“.
Today I came across another new word/phrase that I was unfamiliar with – “ratioed”.
According to Merriam Webster, the term refers to the negative response that a tweet gets. In particular, it is used in situations where a tweet gets more replies compared to likes or retweets.
It should be noted that ratioed is only used when the replies are overwhelmingly critical of the original tweet; replies that are positive responses, or replies that are long, derivative threads don’t count as ratioing.
The word was first used in March 2017 in reference to the following tweet (as usual I’m a little bit behind on these things):
Full Committee Business Meeting via @gopoversight https://t.co/B8HSn5cU7G
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) March 7, 2017
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
A week later, another Twitter user wrote:
If the Replies:RT ratio is greater than 2:1, you done messed up.
— Brian (@Briligerent) March 15, 2017
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Merriam Webster notes that currently the new word “ratioed” is limited to Twitter interactions.
I first came across the word today while reading a story on Fox News which noted that CNN Politics’ verified Twitter account was ratioed as a result of the following tweet:
Troops bringing President Trump “Make America Great Again” hats to sign may have violated a military rule https://t.co/AfKkrYq7PV pic.twitter.com/gnRoQge82S
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 27, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
If you look at the numbers, there are over 13,000 replies, but there were only slightly more than 2,400 likes (and about 1,100 retweets); much greater than the 2:1 ratio mentioned above as a sign of an unliked tweet.
Personally, I think most people who tweet (myself included) are happy for any type of response, whether it’s a like, a retweet, or a reply and they aren’t overly concerned if the replies tend to be negative.
So feel free to share your thoughts, positive or negative, about my posts at my Twitter account, @jimborden
If I get ratioed, so be it…
*image from dailydot
