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In recent years we've seen popular words on social networks make their way into the dictionary - from selfie to bitcoin.

But now a new initiative will see Twitter users decide for themselves what modern words they want to see included.

Collins English Dictionary has scoured the microblogging site to find emerging words, and is asking users to vote on which should be added to the next edition of the dictionary.

Twitter users are being asked to vote on new words to enter the October 2014 edition of the Collins English Dictionary. Entries must be tweeted with a hashtag by 28 May and include words such as 'adorkable', which means a person who is 'dorky in an adorable way.' Stock image pictured

Lexicographers at Collins spent months scouring Twitter to uncover the most popular terms being used, and have drawn up a shortlist.

These include words such as 'adorkable', meaning dorky in an adorable way, to 'felfie' – a farmer who has taken a selfie.

The winning word will be announced in June and it will enter the October 2014 edition of the Collins English Dictionary.

To vote on a word, users need to tweet using a hashtag of their favourite word - such as #adorkable - by 28 May.

And, according to the company's website, adorkable is currently in the lead, although there is plenty of time for it to change.

The company said using Twitter to measure a word's popularity is a natural extension of the way the dictionary is compiled.

Words are usually added by analysing their usage across a range of UK and international print and digital media.

These are then collated into Collins' list of definitions, which currently stands at 4.5 billion.

'Twitter offers us an immediate snapshot of how much a word is used,' said Andrew Freeman, Associate Publishing Director at Colllins.

'The tried and tested approach to compiling dictionaries has to adapt to embrace the ways in which language is developing through use on social media, and this is a fun way to get Twitter users involved in defining the English language.'

The company said using Twitter to choose a new word is a natural evolution of the process usually used to select new words. Fracktivist, for example, is a word growing in popularity used to describe someone who protests against fracking. Stock image pictured

Ian Brookes, lexicographer and consultant editor to the Collins English Dictionary, added: 'The words that we are asking Twitter users to vote on have been selected from a group of words that were mostly submitted by the public for inclusion in the Collins English Dictionary via [our website].'

'We then looked at the frequency of their usage by analysing the data held in the Collins corpus, which records word usage around the world in newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and online and is the data source we use to compile the dictionary.

'They are all "bubbling under" words, in that we would not usually put them in the dictionary at this stage as they have not reached the required level of usage.

'However, when we additionally used Twitter data to look at their profile it was clear that there was a definite pattern of use on Twitter and we could see where they originated from, and how their use has grown and spread geographically.

'In this way, we are harnessing Twitter data to detect and track word development at an early stage.'

Brookes added that language has always had to evolve to new developments in society, and this latest initiative is an indication of how important social media has become.