Social Media & Content Creation vocabulary · Internet Slang
IRL
Meaning in social media & content creation, with examples
/ˌaɪ ɑːr ˈel/abbreviationCommon term
In social media & content creation, IRL means: Short for 'in real life': in the physical world, as opposed to online.
In Turkish: gerçek hayatta, yüz yüze
How it is used
Used in captions, comments and chats, for example 'meeting my online friends IRL'. Brands use it for real-world events such as pop-up shops. It is informal and said letter by letter.
Example sentences
We've chatted online for years, but we finally met IRL at the creator meetup.
The colors look even better IRL than in the photos.
Common collocations
meet IRL
IRL event
online and IRL
IRL friends
Related terms
FOMOShort for 'fear of missing out': the worried feeling that other people are having fun or getting something good without you.
TL;DRShort for 'too long; didn't read': a quick summary at the start or end of a long text, or a comment saying that a text is too long.
POVShort for 'point of view': a video format that asks viewers to imagine they are in a certain situation or seeing it through someone's eyes.
audienceThe people who watch, read or follow your content, including details such as their ages, locations and interests.
