Of course, you wouldn't assume that they would know or use lol. But you also can't assume that what is used in one group or generation is used in another. Here's an example:
The word “laugh” in Japanese is “warau” (笑う). So, at least for one limited "insider" group in Japan, the social media shorthand was a simple “w” rather than the more complicated kanji. But what if something was really funny? Then, of course, it was wwwwwwwwwwwww. And when you look at that, what does it look like? Why blades of grass! So the abbreviation for wwwwwwwwwww became 草 (grass).
I agree, lololololololololololol. The grass is really growing!
