Bacn (pronounced as "bacon") is Internet slang for email that a user wants to read, but not right away.
Bacn includes:
- Posts from microblogging platforms like Twitter, Pownce or Jaiku.
- Friend updates from a social networking platform like Facebook or MySpace.
- Automatically-generated electronic billing statements from newsletters to which the user has intentially subscribed.
- Changes to a wiki where the user is a collaborator.
The term was coined in August 2007 at Podcamp Pittsburgh, a social media "unconference" attended by bloggers and podcasters. The term "bacn" was chosen because of its similarity to spam. Both are popular pork products and both can fill up your inbox pretty quickly. The term "ham," by way of contrast, is sometimes used to refer to email that a user wants to both receive and read right away.
This was last updated in August 2007
Editorial Director: Margaret Rouse
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