Merriam-Webster's Twitter is the political shade queen

Merriam-Webster is way more than a dictionary, it's a social media queen that isn't afraid to say it how it is while taking advantage of the English language in the best way possible.

The dictionary's Twitter account, which has a healthy fan base of 240,000 followers, throws down a substantial amount of shade, usually of the political variety. It does it in such a way that is witty and biting and very politically relevant.

The woman behind the glorious wit is Lauren Naturale, Merriam-Webster's content and social media manager. In an email to Mashable she shared how she has made the dictionary the queen of shade.

The dictionary was particularly on point Monday, when Naturale practically destroyed the new Trump administration with some subtle intellectual throw downs. As the day went on Merriam-Webster went from calling out Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway's use of "alternative facts" to including a ridiculous news development about the audience at one of Trump's campaign events.

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Naturale, 33, who has a master's in English from UC Berkeley, joined the dictionary's team as a social media master and a wordsmith this time last year. She leads a team of writers who, she said, have plenty of opinions that feed into the work. Her team's focus on twitter as part of the dictionary's larger content strategy has seen the account double its followers during the last 12 months.

"Conversations there are a lot livelier than they were this time a year ago," Naturale told Mashable. "It’s really exciting: I’m pretty sure we have the smartest, funniest followers on the internet."

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Naturale said the social media team's Twitter presence is a hit because it's not a generic marketing effort, "it's who we really are."

Instead of just posting links and trending words for site traffic, she said the social team is creating a relationship with followers by speaking to them like actual people. "The goal is to make the dictionary relevant to people’s everyday lives in a way that’s authentic and that reflects the way we talk to each other in real life," Naturale said.

With that in mind, they have been doling out the political burns during the debates, campaign speeches, the election and more recently the inauguration and the first few days of the Trump presidency. It's a study in how to throw intellectual shade of the political variety.

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Like Merriam-Webster, fast-food chain Wendy's popular Twitter account also inserts a strong dash of personality, flavor and relevance to its posts -- although it steers clear of getting involved in politics. Instead, Wendy's account has become known for embracing the sass and competitiveness in the fast food industry and using it to build rapport with online followers -- even if the account is technically a marketing effort of a corporate chain.

Interestingly, instead of feeling targeted, accounts such as Merriam-Webster's and Wendy's make customers feel a personal connection. For this strategy to work, it takes a sincere voice infused with just the right amount of puns and biting humor.

Branding expert Howard A. Lim, president of brand strategy firm How Creative in Southern California, told Mashable in a phone call that he's seeing more companies use social media in a tongue-in-cheek way. "There's a lot more playfulness," he said about brands' social media presence. "That's what people want."

He said dropping political burns and other sarcastic tweets makes the dictionary's brand and online personality more relatable. But it's a fine line between playful and controversial. He advised caution to companies tweeting about potentially divisive topics. But once a Twitter account like Merriam-Webster becomes known as the place for snark and witticisms, he said the followers will come and expect that identity from this social media relationship.

Merriam-Webster identifies as a witty political shade queen and from this point forward we will expect nothing less.