What does it mean to ping someone?

Ever hear someone say, “I’ll ping them.” Wonder what it means? We’ll answer that question and break it down for you here.

To ping someone means to reach out to them in a number of ways: text message, instant message (like Slack), email…

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I’ll even use the term for making a quick phone call. But generally speaking, it’s the use of technology to communicate with someone else.

I use it in everyday speech at work. Here’s an example: “Not sure when the meeting is? Let me ping Laura to ask.”

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According to vocabulary.com ping has a few meanings, two of which are:

to send a message from one computer to another to check whether it is reachable and active and to contact, usually in order to remind of something

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It makes sense when you think of those definitions combined. Now you know what it means to “ping” someone else!