Are you often confused by some of the terms that didn’t exist a few short years ago?
Social media has created it’s own language. In this article and handy infographic I have tried to remove the mystery out of some of the common social media language.
In this article you will find a complete social media dictionary. There may be some missing so please feel free to add any additional ones in the comment section so we can update it again in the near future.
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Feel free to share this graphic anywhere you like as long as it is not modified.
The Social Media Dictionary: The Meaning of Popular Web Terms
Algorithm – What Is An Algorithm?
A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.
API – What Is An API?
Stands for “Application Programming Interface”. It acts as a medium for different software applications to communicate with one another.
Avatar – What Is An Avatar?
A picture that represents you in an online environment such as forums or social networks.
Blog – What Is A Blog?
A type of website where the posts (aka “web pages”) are arranged in chronological order with the most recently created pages showing up at the top. Topics and content can vary (and are endless) but generally range from opinions, helpful information and personal thoughts.
Cloud – What Does “The Cloud” Mean?
An expression used to describe data that is exclusively stored and accessed online.
Content Curation – What Is Content Curation?
The process of finding, collecting and organizing content relevant to a specific topic done by a human for distribution usually on social networks.
Crowd Funding – What Is Crowd Funding?
Sourcing capital for an idea, movement, project or business through a large group of people, generally an online community, rather than a few specific investors. Made popular by services such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.
Crowd Sourcing – What Is Crowd Sourcing?
The act of outsourcing tasks to a large group of people, usually an online community, rather than traditional employees or suppliers.
Embedded Posts – What Are Embedded Posts?
An easy way to put public posts from social networks into the content of your web site or web page.
EdgeRank – What Is EdgeRank?
An algorithm that Facebook uses to determine what posts should be displayed in a user’s News Feed.
Embedding – What Is Embedding?
The ability to embed different forms of media into a web page or blog. Commonly done with videos, slideshow presentations, media players and more.
Followers – What Are Followers?
People who have chosen to receive your social media posts.
Follow – What Does It Mean To Follow Someone Online?
The action required to begin receiving a particular user’s posts usually on Twitter.
Friends – What Are Friends On Social Media?
People that you have connected with and chosen to see their social media posts usually on Facebook.
Geotagging – What Is Geotagging?
Attaching location-based data to social media posts such as photos, videos, text posts and more. Made popular by services such as Foursquare.
Hashtag – What Is A Hashtag?
A simple way to track topics and keywords used on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+. Any word that has the “#” symbol at the beginning of it will be turned into clickable hyperlink that shows all other recent posts with that same term. For example: #NYC or #business.
Klout – What Is Klout?
A website and mobile app that uses social media analytics to rank its users according to online social influence via the “Klout Score”, a numerical value between 1 and 100.
Link Preview – What Is A Link Preview?
An automatic feature that displays how links will appear once pasted into a post on Facebook and other social networks.
Micro Blogging – What Is Micro Blogging?
Short social media posts that are under 140 characters. This term is generally reserved to describe Twitter but the concept can be considered universal.
Meme – What Is A Meme?
Rapidly shared photos or videos embracing a relevant cultural symbol or social idea, generally meant to mimic or mock.
Mention – What Is A Mention On Social Media?
Any social media post that has mentioned you specifically by username.
Negative Feedback – What Is Negative Feedback On Facebook?
Refers to a metric that measures the amount of people on Facebook that hide your post, choose to no longer receive your posts or unlike your page through a Facebook post. This is helpful for determining content that does not appeal to your Facebook audience.
News Feed – What Is A News Feed?
The post-login homepage for Facebook users that displays status updates from people and pages they are connected to.
Podcast – What Is A Podcast?
An audio file made available for streaming or download to your computer or portable media player. Originated from a marriage of the two words “broadcasting” and “iPod”.
Reach – What Is Reach On Facebook?
Reach measures the number of people who received impressions of a Page post inside Facebook Insights.
SEO – What Is SEO?
Stands for “Search Engine Optimization” and refers to the process of optimizing web content so it can be indexed and found in popular search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.
Social Media Monitoring – What Is Social Media Monitoring?
A routine observation of specific topics, conversations and social media posts that are relevant to a business, person or organization’s interests.
Subscribe – What Does It Mean When You Subscribe To Someone?
The action required to receive a particular user’s status updates on a personal Facebook profile. Also used to describe the act of following specific RSS feeds and YouTube channels.
Social Bookmarking – What Is Social Bookmarking?
A method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. A form of content curation.
Tagging – What Is Tagging?
A special type of link that is commonly used to identify users in a photo and connects directly to their profile.
Tag Cloud – What Is A Tag Cloud?
A visual depiction of the word content of a Web site or user-generated tags attached to online content. Typically displayed with more commonly used words appearing larger and less common words shown smaller.
Troll – What Is A Troll Online?
Somebody who instigates negative activity on social media through their comments with the specific intention of provoking a reaction. Trolls should not be fed!
Unfollow – What Does It Mean To Unfollow Someone Online?
The act of ceasing to receive any further social media updates or posts from a specific user.
Viral – What Does Viral Mean?
Used to describe photos, videos or any other form of content that is circulated rapidly on the Internet.
Vlog – What Is A Vlog?
A blog post in video form. Made popular by YouTube.
Webinar – What Is A Webinar?
An interactive web-based slideshow presentation with audio and the ability for guests to connect in large groups.
Widget – What Is A Widget?
Small applications that perform one specific task or set of tasks.
Commonly Abbreviated Terms
IDK – What does IDK mean?
I don’t know
IMO (or IMHO) – What does IMO mean?
“In my opinion” or “In my humble opinion”
B2B – What does B2B mean?
Business to business
B2C – What does B2C mean?
Business to consumer
IM – What does IM mean?
PM – What does PM mean?
DM – What does DM mean?
Direct message (on Twitter)
BTW – What does BTW mean?
By the way
ISO – What does ISO mean?
In search of
OT – What does OT mean?
TMI – What does TMI mean?
Too much information
IRL – What does IRL mean?
In real life
TTYL – What does TTYL mean?
Talk to you later
OP – What does OP mean online?
SEO – What does SEO mean?
Search engine optimization
PPC – What does PPC mean?
Pay per click
SMM – What does SMM mean?
Social media marketing
SEM – What does SEM mean?
Search engine marketing
SM – What does SM mean?
#FF – What does #FF mean?
Follow Friday (on Twitter)
What Would You Add To The Social Media Dictionary?
Obviously this list could easily be 10 times longer but I thought it would be easier to release it and then ask you what YOU think should be included. Let me know in the comments below the additional terms you would like added to this social media dictionary. This will be a constant work-in-progress so I would love to have you be a part of it!
What terms would you add to the social media dictionary? Let us know in the comments below.