Internet slang is slang which Internet users have coined and made popular. Such terms typically originated with the purpose of saving keystrokes: many use the same abbreviations in text messages.

Slang also defines the users individual identity, aggrandizing author and reader, as they appear to have specialized knowledge of an already-complex medium.

Slang also is a way of encoding content to keep conversations secret from parents and other less Internet savvy authority figures.

Internet slang is also a way of emoting in a text based medium, to highlight author intent.