Unless you’ve been soaking up the sun on a remote island in the Pacific, you’ve likely heard the word “67” mentioned more than 67 times by now, writes Lucila Lannes Guerra, strategist at Bread Agency.
If your marketing team is scrambling to Google what that means, you’ve already missed it. By the time you figure out if it’s brand-appropriate, Gen Alpha will have moved on to whatever comes next.
Your audience isn’t waiting for your brand to catch up with how they actually talk. They’re already three linguistic shifts ahead, speaking in references your team doesn’t recognise and using slang that didn’t exist six weeks ago.
For centuries, English changed slowly enough that dictionaries could keep pace. A new word might take years to feel legitimate, decades to make it into print. Today, language behaves more like a livestream. It’s chaotic and memetic. Words shift meaning halfway through a conversation and move from niche slang to mainstream vocabulary in weeks, not years.
The viral “67” blew up on TikTok, became Gen Alpha’s nonsensical catchphrase, got banned in classrooms, and made it into the dictionary—all within months.
And somewhere in that timeline, brands were still debating whether “rizz” was professional enough for their social channels.
The Internet has become the world’s most powerful etymologist. Words are born in Discord servers, group chats, Instagram comments, and TikTok pile-ons. By the time marketing teams have discussed whether a term aligns with brand guidelines, that term is already old news to the people actually using it.
Algorithms are writing the language now
However, this isn’t just natural language evolution accelerated by the Internet. Algorithms are actively shaping which words win.
On TikTok, you can’t say “kill.” So creators say “unalive” instead. That’s algospeak in its most obvious form. But the deeper influence is subtler. Once a word starts trending, creators use it to tap into that trend and increase their ‘viral’ reach. The algorithm pushes it further. More creators pick it up. The word spreads faster than it would through organic cultural adoption.
New mediums have always changed how language works. When everything was oral, we got rhyme and meter, so stories were easier to remember. Paper let us write longer, more complex narratives. The Internet has enabled us to engage in informal written speech in real-time. Now, algorithms are shaping which words survive and spread.
When language becomes strategy
This doesn’t mean brands should awkwardly shoehorn “67” into their LinkedIn posts. It means recognising that new language often fills gaps that formal vocabulary couldn’t.
Research shows that Gen Z uses slang primarily for peer connection and to express identity. When your brand speaks the same language as your audience, something shifts. You stop being a company talking at people and become part of the conversation, building the kind of emotional connection that turns casual followers into a genuine community.
This is why investing in community engagement pays off. The brands that stay close to their communities don’t need three-week approval processes to decide if a term is appropriate. They already know because they’re listening in real time. They can move quickly because they’re part of the conversation, not observing it from outside.
There’s no singular “English”. There are multiple versions. The English you use in a visa interview. The English you text your mum in. The English Gen Alpha uses that makes no grammatical sense but everyone under 15 somehow understands perfectly.
Your brand doesn’t need to speak all of them. But you need to know which one your audience is actually using. And more importantly, you need to understand what they’re really saying when they use it.
What your brand needs now
Your brand voice guidelines still matter, but they can’t be static anymore. Language moves too fast.
In fact, 92 per cent of users check the comments before engaging with content, and a single comment can generate more impressions than the original post. How you sound in those spaces matters as much as what you’re actually saying.
Your social strategy needs someone who can read cultural shifts, not just schedule content. When a Twitch streamer can coin a word that millions adopt, you need to distinguish between genuine linguistic shifts and temporary algorithmic noise.
The solution isn’t chasing every trend. It’s about building systems for active social listening, dedicating resources to genuine community engagement, and understanding the conversations happening in real-time, not three weeks after they’ve moved on.
Dictionary.com’s recognition of “67” came after it had already been through its entire viral lifecycle. They were documenting what had already happened, not discovering something new.
Your brand faces the same challenge. The answer isn’t forcing trending terms into your content. It’s building genuine connections through social listening and community engagement.
Because platforms, algorithms, and trends will continue to change. But the brands that sound like they’re part of the culture, rather than observing it from the outside? Those are the ones people remember.
