Twitter terminology added to Oxford English Dictionary

Twitter terminology has found its way into the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

OED has updated its entries for the terms 'tweet', 'follow', and 'follower' to reflect their online meanings, breaking its own rules on word admission in the process.

"The noun and verb tweet [in the social-networking sense] has just been added to the OED," said Oxford English Dictionary chief editor John Simpson.

"This breaks at least one OED rule, namely that a new word needs to be current for 10 years before consideration for inclusion. But it seems to be catching on."

OED notes that there was a three-fold increase in the use of the word Twitter between 2006 and 2007, when Twitter was founded, a trend that had grown by 50 times by 2012.

Other technology terms recently added to the dictionary include 'mouseover', 'crowdsourcing' and 'e-reader'.

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