Using Virtual Social Networks to Promote the Hidden Language among Youth (Case Study: Refah University Students)

"Virtual Social Networks" are one of the many services currently provided in the world of information technology. Social networks are one of the most significant culture creation tools in the contemporary world and have an important role in shaping of beliefs, attitudes, motivations and behaviours. These networks aid the users in maintenance of social relationships and finding new friends, and bring about the groundworks for membership, activity, and targeted participation. Secret language is a type of social language which has a record with particular characteristics. Secret language is made up of a set of words which do not have a background in social class, race, religion, etc. and their advent is heavily influenced by the social media.
The research presented here has been conducted with the aim of assessing the place of virtual social networks in promoting secret language in the Refah University students. The population comprised of Refah University students, 16 of whom were interviewed by the researcher. The main questions of the study including: how and how often students utilise social networks, and the prevalence of secret language within the female social network users, were addressed by conducting in-depth interviews with these students. The primary findings suggest the most significant lingual changes have occurred on the word level (e.g. shortening, removal, etc.). Other results include: usage of social network, types of interaction between the users in social networks, the user’s feeling towards new words, visual language, style of writing, the locations where social networks are accessed, application of words, and methods of creating words.