Learn English – Is “facebook” as a verb different from “google” or “photoshop”

differenceseponymsgrammaticalitymetonymsverbs

I understand that any term, grammatical or not, becomes valid if there is common usage. I'm not concerned about that.

Google and Photoshop are both commonly used as verbs. Given that the terms map fairly well to verbs (web searching and image editing), I can follow the logic of their use.

Does this work for Facebook, though? What verb is it replacing?

Best Answer

Merriam-Webster has a whole list of suggestions:

  • to book engagements via facebook
  • to put something up on facebook
  • to look up someone's personal information using Facebook
  • to look someone up on a social website, to find one's information on a social website
  • To upload a photograph to Facebook so that it may be viewed by others.
  • To create an event entry on facebook
  • To get on a facebook website.
  • 1.to search for another person through the online directory know as facebook 2. to send a message through the online directory know as facebook
  • To add someone to your list of friends on the "facebook.com" website.
  • ...

Judging by the list, you can't predict which verb "to facebook" might or might not end up replacing. Right now, it's just a shorthand for many different things to different people.