Meghan
You might have seen a lot of TBH Posts on the Internet. Internet is now influencing the vocabulary of languages as new terms constantly come out. One Instance was the word “selfie” that came out as the word of the year in the Oxford dictionary. TBH posts are now viral on Instagram too. If you are wondering what that means, it is an acronym that translates to “to be honest”. Now you may be thinking that everyone should be honest in the first place. That is what we were taught in the school and told by parents as children, so what is the need to say this term in the first place? Well, traditionally, it was used to make emphasis on your opinion or about something you were about to comment.
However, as new terms are coined on the internet, one of the popular among those is “TBH”. It first gained popularity among teens mainly on Facebook in early 2010s and its use on social media has taken the meaning of this term to a whole new level. It might not even mean “to be honest” anymore considering in which context it is being used. Like it can be used to try to be frank with someone while discussing something controversial or in an argument.
Everyone wants to know what others think about them so this term has achieved widespread popularity and use. Teenagers are making TBH posts on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms to explore what friends, family and strangers think of them. Some of the contexts in which TBH Posts are used are discussed below in this article.
TBH Evolved!
As the use of acronyms gets popular by the day, saying “To be honest” is too long, time wasting and old school. New acronyms emerge every day. “TBT” which stands for “throw back Thursday” is one example of it. So instead of saying whole long “To be honest”, TBH sounds way cooler and the teens who use this term are techies that cling to their smart devices all day long. They want to make use of every opportunity to get likes, comments and followers so that they can boast it among their friends and age fellows. Apart from the TBH posts on various social media platforms, the term is also widely being used in text messages, chats and even verbally with friends, co-workers or to make attachment to any person you like.
Previously it was used only when the conversation was getting controversial or discussing something uncomfortable. The evolved TBH is just compliments and nice things which opposite to the term “to be honest” is not necessarily the truth.
TBH Posts taking over social media!
The highest number of TBH posts are being used on Instagram than any other social media platform these days. There is also a TBH application for smartphones that can post to various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr.
TBH posts were originally meant for an honest opinion about something or somebody. Like if somebody asked “Do I look good wearing red or blue?” and the reply can something be like: “TBH, you don’t look good in either of these colours, try something else”. That honest opinion could be bitter or nasty but nowadays it is only used to give nice compliments. It is no longer an Insult and can be used in a variety of contexts, which even if you are from the 90s will make you feel old and outdated. The examples can be such as:
“TBH, it’s not even that expensive.”
Now you may be confused what this means. Believe or not, it is just a teenager’s way of convincing themselves and telling others that “I still have money left, although I do not usually have a lot” or convincing oneself that “I did not buy something very expensive”.
Similarly using TBH can make you feel better about yourself. Just say something you would like to get off your mind by making a TBH Post. Just adding TBH as an ingredient in your everyday conversation make it look cool, comfortable and relaxing.
TBH Posts as social media barter trade!
You will see many posts on Instagram saying “Like for a TBH” or “comment for a TBH” and even “TBH for follow”. This trend reflects that the person who posted this would give an honest opinion to the person liking or commenting the post. You can give the honest opinion in personal messages or “TBH” publicly.
But that is not where it stops! One can make TBH posts to get expect a complement from someone and then return a complement about them. A trend called “TBH for a TBH”. This has evolved from the statuses that we used to see on social media mainly on Facebook. People put up statuses like “Comment 5 of my good and 5 of my bad things and I will do the same”. Nowadays, this has gone to a whole next level. The thirst of getting other people’s opinion about yourself is strong that it is never finishes. On Instagram there are millions of TBH Posts that people trade for what other people want. The TBH trade sometimes goes up to personal conversations. But TBH Posts are an excellent idea for guaranteed engagement and is in widespread use on social media and all over the internet.
TBH and rate!
You will also see some TBH posts saying something like “TBH and rate”.
What that means is that you write a TBH comment (an honest opinion, usually complement) and give them a rating on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning the lowest and 10 being the highest. This rating is usually on someone appearance, beauty, fitness and personality. The rating, however, can be on anything such as what people think of the posts you usually make, your photos, the frequency of your posts and even the emojis that you use. You will see someone posting their photo with a hashtag of “TBH and rate”. Since everyone has a different perception of the same thing, nice compliments cannot always be expected. There are bound to be negative comments along with positive comments in such TBH Posts. So do not get disappointment if you plan to post a TBH and rate and find something that you would not want to be there!
Giveaway TBH posts!
One variation of TBH Posts is announcing a TBH giveaway. A person can post a picture on social .You can also do it by setting a fixed deadline and then giving TBH to everybody who liked or commenting on a particular photo or a post.
This is also an excellent way of people doing what you want in return for just an honest opinion of yours about them. You can get people to share what you want, make you win competitions and spread your message across social media and you only have to take out the time to give them “supposedly” honest opinion about them. This can be an exciting experience for teens with confirmed engagement from your social circle. Getting bored won’t be an option!
TBH Rate and Date!
You will see some TBH Posts saying “TBH Rate and Date. You may already have an idea where this leads to, however this does not totally reflects to establishing a romantic and intimate relationship. Such posts means that if someone would like to date the person who made the post then the latter can reply back with an expression of interest if they want. This typically works in three stages, the first one being TBH.
In the first part you can tell someone what you honestly feel about them; or something you have not said to them before or even a confession. The second part is rate usually on a scale of 1 to 10 on anything one would like to know. The third part is an opportunity to establish a relationship if both parties take interest. Yet another idea to find a match! Make it cool with a TBH Post.
TBH Posts; a way to connect to mutual friends and strangers!
Making TBH posts and commenting TBH is also a way to connect and socialize with people; you are not directly friends with but would want to expand your connection with. This includes friends of friends, your crush and even strangers. While this can be a good opportunity to increase the number of mutual friends and to increase your social circle; connecting with strangers is not always a good thing.
Teens are using this phenomenon, which can be very charming, but are vulnerable to bullying by strangers. This is a concern for parents as it is very difficult to watch over the activities of their teenage children; who do not open up to their parents.
The verdict!
TBH posts have no specific context. It means almost everything you want it to mean. The term no longer gets the other one’s attention that you are going to say something serious. Thanks to the teenagers and social media geeks. Now you can use TBH to get an honest opinion or to connect with someone if you want.
