POV

POV means “point of view.” On TikTok and Instagram, a “POV” caption sets up a scene and asks you to imagine you’re in it.

What does POV mean?

POV stands for “point of view.” In film and photography, a POV shot shows a scene through a character’s eyes. Social media borrowed that idea: a video captioned “POV: you’re the new kid at school” is filmed so that you, the viewer, are the new kid, and the creator plays the people around you.

Over time the format has loosened. As Bustle has pointed out, many “POV” videos now simply act out a scenario facing the camera, so “POV:” often just means “imagine this situation.”

How to use POV

• “POV: you told your mom you’d be home by 10 and it’s 10:01.”
• “POV: your friend is explaining a TV show you’ve never seen.”
• “POV: the barista remembers your order.”
• In conversation: “From my POV, the plan makes sense.”

POV outside social media

Outside captions, POV keeps its ordinary meaning, a perspective or opinion: “Try to see it from her POV.” In writing and film, it also refers to whose perspective a story is told from, as in first-person POV.

Where POV comes from

“Point of view” is standard English, and POV has long been used as a filmmaking and writing term. Its use as a caption format grew with short-video apps, especially TikTok, where #pov videos have racked up enormous view counts.

Related terms

• Oomf: one of my followers.
• Iykyk: if you know, you know.
• IRL: in real life.
• Face reveal: showing your face online for the first time.

See more terms like this in our texting abbreviations guide.