Get Up-to-date with the New E-mail Buzzword

Buzzword 'bacn' clogs e-mail arteries
Thursday Aug 23 15:00 AEST
By Shaun DaviesNinemsn

Spam has long been regarded as the primary enemy of e-mail users — but now a new type of meaty menace is clogging up inboxes everywhere.

"Bacn" describes the myriad email alerts that users of social networking websites and other Web 2.0 technologies receive every day.

It is not junk email — bacn includes such items as Facebook notifications, email newsletters, and electronic bill receipts, which are increasingly common as the internet becomes more integrated in people's lives.


And if the internet community's enthusiastic embrace of the term is anything to go by, "I'm reading my bacn" could soon become a ubiquitous office catchphrase.

Reports say bacn was only coined on Sunday, at net culture conference PodCamp Pittsburgh 2. Since then it has spread across blogs at a sizzling rate.

Major technology websites, including Wired and CNET, and respected US broadsheet The Washington Post have flagged bacn's unusual and rapid rise.

Bloggers describe it as "the middle class of email", "e-mail you want, but just not now" and "things you signed up for, but that still feel like clutter in your inbox".

And this may not be the end of the meat-related terms from PodCamp — CNET reports that other terms raised at the conference included "steak" (the email you do want) and FakinBacn (spam posing as bacn).