Anyone who uses Twitter knows what a subtweet is. For those who are uninitiated, it’s when someone tweets about somebody else without directly referencing that person.
Twitter have recently made moves to trademark the word in a filing according to the Verge. The word has been used colloquially since before 2013.
“If no one opposes the trademark, it’s likely to be approved in a matter of months. Twitter will need to use the term in a commercial setting to maintain the trademark rights, but otherwise it will have exclusive rights to authorize commercial use.” (The Verge)
The company will then be free to use the term on future products, branding etc.
A shady subtweet here from Katy Perry, widely rumoured to be about Taylor Swift.
Watch out for the Regina George in sheep’s clothing…
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) September 9, 2014
Here’s Zayn Malik giving Perrie Edwards a sly dig.
You just can’t do enough for some people , I guess
— zayn (@zaynmalik) August 5, 2015
This isn’t the first time that companies have tried to trademark colloquial and slang terms.
