Social Media Glossary

Social media marketing has become a popular internet marketing component. There are many new terms and keywords that describe social media. Below is a list of common social media terms defined.

Bookmark In the web world, a bookmark is the virtual process of saving a website or webpage to your computer for later use. Social bookmarking is involves creating a publicly available account and saving your favorite web links to your online profile. Other web users can then view your bookmarked content and visit them. Highly bookmarked content has high influence in the search engines. Social bookmarking sites include Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon.

Facebook This is one of the leading social networks in the United States. Facebook allows users to create profiles, add photos and create a virtual extension of your identity. You can add friends as well as comment on others’ profiles. Many applications can be added to Facebook such as Flickr and Twitter integration, Games, Quizzes and other interactive applications.

Flickr Flickr is a popular photo sharing website. Comments and dialogue are enabled for this social network.

Hashtag These are like tags, but for Twitter. These are keywords associated to your Twitter update, or tweet. This helps others find your Tweets easily.

LinkedIn LinkedIn is a social media profile service that targets business professionals. The service serves as a “virtual resume” where professionals can post career information, past employers, references and skills. Companies can create profiles as well. Job postings, forums and status updates are features of LinkedIn.

Podcasts Audio recordings made online about any topic. Podcasts are made available via the Internet on iTunes and other podcast providers. Podcasts can be downloaded and are often free. Many podcasters have weekly podcasts.

RSS Feed Really Simple Syndication; a system that aggregates content from your favorite sources. Subscribing to an RSS feed of a blog or content service allows your homepage to automatically update when your content provider updates.

SEO Standing for Search Engine Optimization, SEO is a method for modifying a website for greater search engine visibility. Websites which have been optimized for search engines have a better likelihood of appearing as results for search queries. Examples of search engine optimization techniques include link building, content development and meta data enhancement.

SMO SMO stands for Social Media Optimization. SMO is the utilization of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to increase traffic and overall web exposure for a website. SMO is a relatively new and evolving website optimization technique.

Tags Keywords used to classify a blog post or other content such as articles. Tags help to summarize and group the content for better search visibility. Tags often appear at the bottom of a blog post or content selection and are separated by commas.

Twitter A micro-blogging community social network where status updates or posts can be no longer than 140 characters. Updates can include links to other sources. Twitter users can “follow” other users.

Tweet – The post/entry made on Twitter

Twitter Search A search engine that searches information from Twitter so you can see the most recent updates related to any topic.

Web 2.0 Web 2.0 describes a new web generation, or the second internet movement. Characteristics of Web 2.0 include user-generated content, content sharing, social networks and collaboration. Blogs and social networks like Facebook are main components of the Web 2.0 movement. Web designs with blog-like layouts result from the Web 2.0 trend.

Webinar This term is for seminars that are conducted online. Webinars are often recorded live, as attendees watch and listen via their computers and the webinar host presents information in slides.

Widget A widget is an “add in” or a “plugin” or a component that can be added to websites and blogs to enhance functioning. Examples of widgets are Twitter integrations, interactive calendars and Flickr photo integration.

Wiki A wiki is a website which uses software that enables the website to be edited and modified by multiple users. Wiki websites rely upon collaboration and submission of content by many parties. Content submitted to wikis is monitored by other wiki participants.

YouTube A popular video sharing website that allows videos to be added from users. Users can create profiles, upload their videos, and comment on others’ videos. It is a free website.YouTube video content ranges from personal videos of pets to clips from important political speeches.