Social Media Glossary

What  is social bookmarking? Who are influencers? And what is a hashtag? For professionals who are just starting to form a social media monitoring or online engagement strategy, the terms can be confusing. After all, most of us are old enough that we never had to spell hashtag on a vocab test.

Check out this glossary of basic social media terms:

Blogroll: A list of blogs recommended by a blog author. Often the blogs pertain to similar topics or are blogs the author enjoys reading.

Hashtag: In the Twitterverse (see definition below), the hashtag is the # symbol followed by a phrase. It’s a way for people to send and recognize messages about a specific topic. For instance, a message that contains #ipad will be related to the tablet computer.

Influencer: A person recognized as an expert in a specific area and who has the ability to sway opinion and thought.

Podcasting: A digital media file posted on the web. It can be replayed on the viewer’s computer or on a portable media device.

Sentiment: Assessment of the tone of online content, such as an article or review. The content is placed into categories, such as negative, positive, or neutral.

Social Bookmarking: A method for online users to share web content, such as blogs, articles, photos, or video with others who might be interested. Delicious is a popular social bookmarking site.

Streaming Media: Audio or video that viewers can watch or listen to without downloading the file directly onto their computer. Think YouTube or webcasting.

Troll: A person who posts inflammatory, abusive, or irrelevant messages with the intent of provoking others or generating a specific response. Read more about trolls.

Twitterverse: Collective name for Twitter users. Also called the Twittersphere.

Web 2.0: The idea that the Web has transformed into a place where ordinary people—with no special training—can create and publish content. Sites like YouTube and Flickr feature this user-generated content.

Wiki: A collaborative website, such as Wikipedia, that allows users to add, edit, or modify content.

If you’re just diving into social media monitoring and online engagement, defining the terms is just the beginning. To start learning more about building the strategy and implementing the tactics that connect you to your target audience, contact the team at Social Strategy1.