Below is a list of commonly used Internet and Social Media terms:
Blog - an online journal where entries (called posts) are listed in reverse chronological order with the most recent entry on top. Content can be text as well as pictures or videos. Blogs can be of a personal nature but are effectively used by businesses to provide regularly updated information on topics of interest to their clients and customers.
Browser – a tool that lets you look at websites. Commonly used browsers include Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox.
Content Management System (CMS) – is a web application that makes it easy for individuals without a technology background to edit and manage a website. Content managements systems are considered user-friendly and their structure helps make your web content searchable.
Domain Name – a unique name that identifies a computer or site on the internet
Facebook – a social website that helps people communicate and share information, pictures, videos and more with their friends, family and coworkers.
Flickr – an online photo management and photo sharing site
Friend – a person that you intentionally connect with on a social media site such as Facebook. ‘Friending’ someone means that you’re giving them access to your profile as well as other information you share on the site.
Host – a web host is a company that ‘rents’ web space and bandwidth so a website can be published and visible on the internet
Keywords - the specific terms used by your customers to search for your products or services on the internet
LinkedIn – a business oriented social networking site
Links – text or images you click on that take you to another area of a website or on internet or to a file that can be downloaded
Podcast – an audio program that can be listened to online or downloaded into an MP3 player
Post – a message entered into a site; example: updated content added to a blog
Profile – information about a user that’s posted on a social media or website
RSS – ‘real simple syndication’ is a way for someone to share or collect (aggregate information) from the internet
Search Engine - a site that organizes content on the internet; a database of numerous web pages. Google is considered to be the #1 search engine
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – a form of internet marketing used to increase your brand’s visibility in search engine results. It includes SEO (see below) as well as paid search.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – the process of selecting & placing the right keywords on a website so it will be found by search engines and have prominent placement in search engine results (serps)
Social Bookmarking – saving and sharing your favorite content (bookmarks, websites, articles) with others on a social bookmarking website
Social Media - the use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service (via wikipedia). Common social media sites include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.
Social Networking - groups of people who interact with each other on various websites; used by business to increase their contacts by networking online
Tags - words used to describe and organize images or content on a website; code used when programming a website
Threads – a series of messages or emails based on one topic
Twitter – a social networking site where messages are a maximum of 140 characters in length; often called a micro-blogging site
Url – stands for Uniform Resource Locator. It is the technical term for a web address.
Web Analytics – the measurement of website traffic used to determine the site’s effectiveness
Wiki - a website where many people can contribute content/information. The most well-known example is wikipedia.
YouTube - the most popular online video community. It is currently considered the #2 search engine (google is #1)
