Social Lingo – the vocabulary of social media
With its enormous popularity, Social Media has created its own vocabulary of terms that have special meaning in the virtual world. You should be familiar with this Social Lingo and their everyday use.
Post
A piece of writing, image, or other item of content published online, typically on a blog or social media website or application. A user is able to share content on social networks, first they go through the process of getting the content; that could be typing it or uploading a video or finding a link. Once the content is prepared you want to share/publish it with the world the action of doing this is called a post
Viral
Anything (videos, memes, photographs, gifs, statuses, posts, absolutely anything) shared across social networks that gets passed along and shared rapidly is described as “Gone Viral”.
Memes
A means of taking viral concepts and making them everyday lingo.
Share
Sharing is the means by which content is disseminated to other users in your network, and is one of the most valuable activities in social media. It allows users to spread their message, products, brand awareness, thoughts, and opinions with other users
Tag
In general, tags allow users to label web content with descriptive names. However tagging in social media lets users link a photo or image to someone’s user profile.
#Hashtag
A word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within a message to identify a keyword or topic of interest and allow users to search for it.
Whenever a user adds a hashtag to their post, it becomes searchable/discoverable by other users. Once someone clicks on that hashtag, they’ll be brought to a page that pulls together all of the posts with the same hashtags, in real-time.
Once a hashtag picks up enough momentum from enough users, it becomes “a trending topic”
Trending
This is the most talked about topics and hashtags on social media. But each user’s trending topics are unique, based on their location, social connections and interests. For instance, a dancehall fan in Jamaica would not necessarily see the same trending topics as a country music fan in Kentucky even though they are on the same platform.
Handle
In the online world, a handle is another word for a username. It can refer to the name you use in chat rooms, web forums, and social media services like Twitter. Twitter usernames are often called “Twitter handles.”
Followers
On Instagram, Twitter, blogs, and other social media sites, a follower is someone who subscribes to receive your updates. But unlike a friend request where both persons can view each others profile if accepted by the receiver, a follower can only see updates or posts of the person they are following. The person they are following cannot see the follower
Feed
A format for publishing content that provides users with frequently updated content.
Troll
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
Blog
A blog (short for weblog) is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption.Blogs generally represent the personality and personal opinions of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog.
