Social
Media Glossary
It
is a collection of all important terms of Social Media. It provides short definition
and use of social media. This is a most important for all social media expert.
General Terms
API – Application Programming Interface: How computer programs “talk” to each other.
It’s what allows us to do things like book a flight online through a travel
website. API is what takes the information we’ve inputted in the travel website
(i.e. dates of travel, number of passengers, baggage etc.), communicates with
all the different airline databases to check for availability based on the
criteria we input, and comes back to us with options from those airlines that
fit our criteria. In the real of social media, API is what allows advertisers
and businesses to interact with social media users through social platforms and
collect data from the social networks.
Algorithm – A sequence of
instructions (formulas) telling a computer what to do. In the social sphere,
algorithms determine things like what content appears in a social media
newsfeed and how often. Facebook is well known for frequently changing it’s
algorithms in an attempt to tailor the content popping up in people’s newsfeeds
and making sure it’s as relevant to the individual as possible. Twitter,
Instagram, and other social media sites also use algorithms to make sure their
users are satisfied with the relevance of the content they see.
Avatar – In a social
media context, an icon or figure representing a particular person/user.
Bio – A self-generated public
description of the social media user, often included next to or underneath the
user’s name and photo, to help introduce themselves to other users.
Blog – Both a verb and a noun: 1)
Noun: A website or page upon which an individual or organization publishes
regularly scheduled content on a particular topic or theme, and can include
articles, photos, and videos, among other things. 2) Verb: The act of adding
new material to a blog.
Blogosphere – Used to
describe the overall or total blogging environment on the Internet, along with
all the conversations and content connected to that environment.
Blogroll – Found on a
blog, a list of hyperlinks to other blogs or websites.
Clickbait – A term to describe
headlines, often sensationalist in nature, whose sole purpose is to encourage
people to engage and click on a link.
Clickthrough – A common
social media metric calculated by looking at the number of people who click a
link in a piece of content divided by the number of people who saw the content.
Comments – Typically,
user-generated feedback on an online news article or blog/social media post
(usually appearing at the foot of the article or post).
Community Manager – An employee
at an organization or company that works to build, grow and manage online
communities and social media engagement around a brand or issue.
Connection – In the context
of a social network, a connection is a link between two users. Depending on the
social networking service, a connection can allow a user to view a connected
user’s profile, view the user’s content, view the user’s other connections,
etc. Each social network has it’s own unique terminology for connections (e.g.
Facebook refers to them as friends, LinkedIn refers to them as connections and
Twitter refers to them as followers).
Content – Any kind of
meaningful information (text, photos, videos, audio, etc.) on the Internet.
Content management system (CMS) – A program
designed to allow a user to manage a website’s content creation, modification,
and removal without having to write HTML markup. Most commonly used to run
websites which require frequent edits, such as blogs or news sites.
Conversation – The
back-and-forth exchange of information between users.
Conversion Rate – The number of
people who completed a specific desired action in a social media post. (A
‘desired action’ can include things such as retweeting, commenting, “Liking”
etc.)
Crowdsource – Using the
collective brainpower, enthusiasm, skills and opinions of large numbers of
people in an online setting to solve problems, build solutions, and to source
ideas and resources.
Embed – To integrate data into the body
of a file or document, in the form of a code. Can be used to share multimedia,
sounds, fonts, and (unfortunately) viruses.
Engage – Attracting
users’ attention and actively involving them in a conversation.
Engagement Rate – A social
media metric to describe the number of interactions users have had with a piece
of content (Liking, retweeting, commenting etc.)
Facebook – Social media
platform founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. Connects friends, family, and
acquaintances on a platform that allows them to post and share content (text,
photos, videos), status updates (text descriptions of how people are feeling,
what they are doing, or a thought they’d like to highlight), and more.
Currently the most globally popular social media platform, with
Feed – A news feed of updates and
content posted by other social media users, including individuals and
businesses. Can include content from other users and businesses/organizations
you have chosen to connect with, as well as content and advertisements from
those who have paid the social media network to have it appear in your feed.
Most social media algorithms use the data they collect on their users to ensure
the content appearing in newsfeeds, whether paid or not, is as tailored and
relevant to the individual as possible.
Follow – Subscribing to
the updates of fellow users. Typically applies to Twitter and Instagram.
Follower – A subscriber
of another user’s feed. Typically applies to Twitter and Instagram.
Following – Users whose
feeds you subscribe to. Typically applies to Twitter and Instagram.
Forums – Typically, an
online message board on a particular niche topic or subject that features an
active user base, but does not include most of the advanced social features of
most mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.
GIF – A digital image that moves
like a very short animation. Acronym for Graphics Interchange Format,
Google+ – Google’s social
network. Like Facebook, Google+ connects friends, family, and acquaintances and
allows them to share content.
Handle – Unique name
applied to each user. Handles are typically prepended with the “@” symbol.
Typically applies to Twitter and Instagram users.
Hashtag – A mechanism
used to group posts under the same topic, by including a specific word preceded
by the # symbol (a word, or tag, denoted with a hash: hashtag). Hashtags are
used commonly on social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Impressions – Otherwise
known as “views”. Refers to the point that a piece of content has been viewed
once by a user. Often used as a metric by advertisers when looking at the
performance of a digital advertisement.
Influencer – An individual
user who has a significant following on a social media network based on their
knowledge, expertise, or opinions in a particular topic or field. Influencers
typically have the power to affect the opinions and purchasing decisions of
their followers.
Instagram – A
photo-sharing social media platform, targeted towards mobile users, which
allows users to take photos, alter them with filters and other effects, and
post them to be viewed publicly (available to all Instagram users), or
privately (available only to a user’s followers).
Instant Messaging – Form of
digital real-time, direct, text-based messaging between two or more people.
Klout: Is an online and mobile
application that ranks users according to their social influence.
LinkedIn –
Business-focused social media platform which allows users to network and share
professional skills and experience, relevant business content, and professional
updates and musings.
Listening – Monitoring how
a specific company, brand, product, or person is being discussed and/or
perceived on the Internet. Also referred to as social media monitoring.
Live-blogging – To blog about
a particular event as it is happening, in real-time.
Live-Streaming – Delivering
video content over the internet in real-time. Many social media platforms allow
for live-streaming or live-streaming mechanisms and apps.
Lurker – A user of a social media site
or message board who consumes information readily but does not regularly or
actively contribute via posts, conversations or other means.
Meme – Typically an image with text
overlay to describe a thought, joke, idea, or concept.
Microblogging – Refers to
blogs that focus on smaller updates. Often facilitated by a social network
platform, examples including Twitter and Tumblr. Some focus on video or picture
updates, while others restrict posts to a certain number of characters.
Newsjacking – Capitalizing on a news story to increase
engagement with a piece of content, brand, or product. Often a strategy
employed by marketers to increase sales and brand awareness.
Outlink – A link found
on your website pointing to another website.
Pinterest – Photo sharing
social media platform where users can upload, save, and categorize posts (known
as “pins”) in themed collections (known as “boards”). Users can search other
people’s pins and boards in order to explore content and add to their own
boards.
Reddit – A social news
aggregation website where users can upload, rate, comment and discuss content.
Content (including comments) that have better ratings are more visible to other
users. Content is organized into forums (reddits) and sub-forums (subreddits)
based on topic.
RSS – Really Simple Syndication.
Allows users to access regularly published content from a single location
(other than the website the content is originally published on). RSS feeds
publish content that is frequently updated (blogs, videos, podcasts etc.) in a
standardized format.
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Sentiment – The attitude
or opinion of the writer and their work.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization is
used to increase the amount and quality of traffic to a website from search
engines (such as Google or Yahoo!).
Share – A one-click way of sharing a
status, link, or image with other users.
Snapchat – Social media
mobile app that allows users to send and receive photos and videos that are
visible for a pre-determined amount of time. Once the allotted time-frame ends,
the receiver can no longer see the video or photo.
Thread – An individual
conversational trail within a social media platform, forum or bulletin board,
typically beginning with an original post and continuing with comments and
conversation attached to that original post.
Trending – The most
popular topics and hashtags on a social media site. These often become
clickable links that users can select to view or join the larger conversation.
Troll – A user who is known for
purposely posting inflammatory content with the intent of creating controversy on a social media
platform.
Tumblr– A micro-blogging platform that
allows users to post multi-media content to their blog. Users can also follow
other Tumblr blogs.
Twitter – A
micro-blogging platform where users can post thoughts, links, photos, and
updates, in 280 characters or less. Users can also engage with other user’s
posts and content.
User-Generated Content – Content that
is created by consumers/customers.
Viral – Used to describe content that
has attained significant, wide-spread attention online.
Vlogging – Content that
uses video as it’s main medium to convey thoughts, updates, and experiences of
the user.
Webinar – A live seminar
hosted over the internet. Allows interaction between the presenter and the
audience.
Wiki – A website combining the ongoing
work of many authors, allowing users to modify the content of previous authors.
YouTube – A video
sharing website where users can upload, comment, and share videos with other
users and across other social media networks.
Facebook
Apps
– Mini-programs, such as games, made by third-parties to run within the
Facebook system.
Cover Photo – The large,
horizontal photo at the top of a Facebook profile.
Fan – A user who follows and receives
updates from a particular Facebook page. The user must “like” the page in order
to become a fan of it.
Fan/company/brand/group page – A bounded
collection of individuals sharing something in common, be it fandom of a particular
band, musician or brand, interests, hobbies, values or other identifiable
differentiator. Some groups are private, but most are public and can be joined
by any users on the site. Individuals can also be invited to these pages by
current members.
Friend – A member of
your Facebook contact list.
Friend/unfriend – To add or remove someone from your Facebook
contact list.
Like – A one-click option allowing
people to denote their enjoyment of a post.
Organic Reach – The number of
people who saw your post without paying to promote it.
Paid Reach – The number of
people who saw your post due to paid promotion.
Places – Geographic locations a user
has visited, based on geolocation/geotagging.
Poke – A one-click option sending a
notification to a friend or friend of a friend that they’ve been “poked”.
Post – A post made in the social
networking site, Facebook.
Privacy Settings – Settings
allowing a user to decide what content other users are able to view, and who is
able to contact them.
Profile – A user’s
personal, custom page.
Reach – The total number of people who
saw your post (includes organic and paid reach).
Recommended Pages – A list of
pages a user may be interested in, based on previous page views, check-ins,
likes, and friends. Generated by Facebook’s algorithms.
Sponsored/Boosted Content – Paid
advertisements targeted towards specific audiences, based on demographics
chosen by the advertisers.
Status Update – Users can say
what’s on their mind, check-in, tag who they’re with, and/or upload photos. The
status update will appear on the newsfeed of their friends.
Tag – A link to a user’s profile.
Users can be “tagged” in photos or status updates.
Wall – The space on a profile or fan
page where users can share posts, photos and links.
Twitter
Direct Message (DM) – An instant,
direct and private message from one Twitter user to another that appears in a
user’s “messages” box. Not to be confused with a tweet, which appears on users’
timelines and is usually public.
Header Image – The large,
horizontal photo at the top of a Twitter profile.
Lists – A grouping mechanism where
users can group other users into identifiable batches based on pre-defined
criteria (for example: Journalist/media lists, PR practitioner lists, analyst
lists, etc.).
Live-Tweeting – The same as
“live blogging”, but using tweets to tell the story in real-time instead of
blog posts.
Mention – Whenever a
Twitter user includes another user’s handle (@username) in their post in order
to draw the attention of that person to content and or start a conversation.
Promoted – Paid
advertisements targeted towards specific audiences, based on demographics
chosen by the advertisers.
Protected tweets – When a
Twitter user restricts viewing of their tweets only to followers they have
personally approved.
Retweet (RT) – When other
Twitter users re-post a post made by another user.
Timeline – Similar to
Facebook, a news feed of updates posted or retweeted by those a user follows.
Tweet – A post on popular
micro-blogging site Twitter.
Google Plus
+1 Button – Allows users
to appreciate your content, much like a Facebook like. If a user +1’s your
content, it also makes it more relevant in Google searches and improves your
content’s SEO.
Circles – These are
categories that you can create to organize your followers and who you follow.
You can name them whatever you like, and when sharing content you can choose to
share with people in specific circles, with people in your extended circles, or
publicly.
Communities – A forum
created by brands or individuals to discuss certain topics, services, or to
share information in general.
Extended Circles – When sharing
with your extended circles, you’re sharing with not only the people you’ve
chosen to include in your circles, but the people they’ve chosen to include in
their own circles as well. This exponentially increases the number of people
who can see your content, many of whom the user may not know.
Google+ Streams – Like a
Newsfeed on Facebook, a Google+ stream shows content that has either been
posted publicly, or by people in your circles.
Hangout – A video chat.
A Google Hangout can host up to 10 participants.
Hangout on Air (HOA) – A broadcasted
Google Hangout and can be watched live from a user’s Google Plus page. After
the Hangout has finished, it can be found both on the user’s Google Plus page
or their YouTube page.
Local – This allows for you company’s
contact information to be found in search engines when searched.
Page – A Google+ profile for a brand
or business.
Profile – This page
displays your information, profile picture, and the content that you’ve shared
on Google Plus. It’s similar to a Facebook profile.
Tag – Similar to Facebook, you can
tag someone in a Google+ post by typing “+” and finding their name from the
dropdown menu. This sends the user a notification letting them know you’ve
mentioned them.
YouTube
Channel – A user’s
custom homepage for their account. Includes account information, subscribers,
and shared videos.
Like – A one-click option allowing
people to denote their enjoyment of a video.
Views – The number of times a YouTube
video has been watched.
LinkedIn
1st degree contact – You are
connected to this person directly.
2nd degree contact – This person
knows one of your 1st degree contacts (two degrees of separation).
3rd degree contact – This person
knows one of your 2nd degree contacts (three degrees of separation).
Banner Image – The large,
horizontal photo at the top of a LinkedIn profile.
Companies – Pages
providing information on a company, what they do, job opportunities, and
present and past employees.
Connections – A list of contacts
who have been added to your personal network.
Endorsements – A list of
skills fellow users have suggested you possess.
Groups – A place for users to connect
with others in related fields or with similar interests.
Recommendations – A written
reference by a LinkedIn member, usually recognizing a colleague, student, or
manager.
SlideShare –
LinkedIn-hosted social network meant for sharing presentations and documents.
Pinterest
Board – A category that you create in order
to organize your pins. For example, a board titled, “my dream wedding” could
host pins related to weddings.
Pin – Any image, website, or piece of
content included on a Pinterest Board.
Pinner – The technical
term for someone who is pinning content to a board.
Repin – Like a Retweet, Repinning is
the act of sharing something that someone else has already pinned.
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