Glossary

A technique for increasing interactivity, speed, and usability of websites; Asynchronous JavaScript and XML⁺.

Automatic updates on user-selected topics sent as soon as new posts appear; notification.

Messages independent of time or place, such as email lists and forums, where users may respond at their leisure.

A way to format syndicated content for automatic broadcast to subscribers; an alternative to RSS⁺.

An image used to represent a user; usually a photo or "mugshot", but may also be an icon or picture of interest.

An image which signifies a users contribution to a site or accomplishments in an event, contest, or social movement.

Preventing an abusive user from posting content to a webpage or profile⁺ under your control.

An online journal for sharing current thoughts, images, video and news; presented in reverse chronological order.

A journal entry uploaded to a website (chronologically). May be composed of text, audio, video and images.

The community of all bloggers; commonly the mood or prevailing sentiment of the most vocal bloggers.

A list of the blogs that the website creator or author finds interesting and uses as a source of inspiration.

A website or computer program to read many discussion forums or message boards at once.

A link that, when selected, performs a task using the users current webpage; ex: send the page I am viewing to a friend.

The amount of "chatter" or social discussion measured by frequency of expressed interest or mentions of a subject.

U.S. law to make sending unwanted emails illegal; Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing.

Contact Management Software; allows web site administrators to organize and display information with ease.

Discussions, corrections, questions and suggestions contributed by website readers and appended to each post.

A business term used to describe content created by the users, rather than the creators of a website.

A "robot” that searches for new and updated webpages and places them in a central database for faster searches.

A copyright license that spells out how content can be shared, reused or altered; may encourage contribution.

Posting the same message to more than one forum⁺ topic or mailing list; generally regarded as a nuisance.

Harnessing the skills, enthusiasm and wisdom of the masses to evaluate or create content or to solve a problem.

Punctuation meant to represent a facial expression; used to convey meaning, like voice tone. ex: :-) smile, ;-) = wink

The largest social network⁺; helps you connect and share with the people in your life; business-friendly.

The means by which you can read, view or listen to items from blogs, podcasts and other RSS⁺-enabled sites.

A deliberately hostile and insulting message; often intended to start a lengthy (unproductive) debate.

Friend Of A Friend; A data file format used to store personal profile⁺ information and one’s relationships to others.

A collaborative way to categorize the web where users assign freely chosen keywords (called tags⁺) to pages.

A website organized by conversation for topics of interest, or for support and assistance.

A markup language used to layout and organize web pages.

Information hidden in an MP3 (audio file) that lists the title, performer, category and cover art.

A specialized expert and highly recognized person in an online community who can sway the thoughts of others.

Enticing other websites to link to your own by offering great content, online tools or free
downloads.

A way of combining two or more web-based tools to create an entirely new service.

A meme⁺ is a contagious idea that can replicate and evolve; ex: slogans, catch phrases and fashion trends.

A type of blog⁺ limited to the length of a cell phone text message to encourage more frequent posts.

A "mobile blog⁺" dedicated to content from camera-phones.

MySpace⁺ is a social networking website with an interactive network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos primarily for teenagers and young adults internationally.

Proper behavior to use online and the "hidden" meaning of terms in online context (ex: poke).

A website or computer program to read many blogs or RSS⁺ feeds at once.

Collaboratively developed software (source code) that users can study, change, improve and share freely.

A permanent link to a blog post⁺ in the archive; useful for finding an entry once it's removed from the home page.

An automatic notification sent when a blog⁺ has been updated; Packet INternet Grouper.

Audio or visual recordings that, when broadcasted, download automatically to portable media players (ex: iPod).

Personal or professional information about a user of a social network⁺; biography.

Really Simple Syndication; a means to deliver frequently updated information to subscribers such as blog posts.

Search Engine Marketing; a set of strategies to move a web page to the #1 search result (may involve paid placement).

Search Engine Optimization; using keywords and asking for links to make your site the #1 search result (no advertising).

Allows users to share links they find interesting with others; related items are grouped by tags⁺.

The collective value of all who you know and the amount of "karma" you have earned in a community.

Content posted the internet that originates from the public at large, or is created through reader or viewer reactions (comments⁺, video replies, blog posts). Think: "By the people for the people".

A type of web site that incorporates tools to connect people to one another.

Unsolicited bulk e-mails or posting any advertising in a discussion forum⁺ that does not allow advertising.

A keyword or term added to an item of content to make it content easier to organize and find.

A system to reference or ping⁺ the author of a post that you are writing a reaction to; expedites discussion.

A person who intentionally posts messages that create controversy or anger, without adding any value to the discussion.

Twitter⁺ is a social networking and micro-blogging⁺ service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. It is primarily used by professional working adults.

Terminology created by users of Twitter⁺.com by combining a normal english word with "Twitter" or "Tweet".

New visitors to a web site from Twitter⁺; often a sudden rush of website traffic.

Twittering while waiting; killing time on Twitter instead of reading

Spending your entire Saturday and Sunday reading and posting via Twitter⁺; addiction;

Feeling sheepish or regretful about something you tweeted; Twitter⁺ remorse.

Twitter⁺ people; people who use, and generally do recommend using and can easily give reason to use Twitter.

A really good Twitter⁺ thing

Word-of-mouth advertising through friends, family, and colleagues; each receiver transmits the message to at least one person.

A term used to describe websites that use social media⁺ or that offer services similar to a desktop application.

A way to embed a portion of your website into an online social profile⁺, another website, or desktop application.

A website that gives all users access to edit, update or add to its content. Used for rapid collaborative content creation.

A text markup language used for interchange of structured data; used to create RSS⁺ feeds.

Yahoo! Groups operate as both electronic mailing lists and Internet forums. Group messages can be posted and read by e-mail or on the Group homepage, like a web forum. Some Groups are simply announcement lists, to which only the Group moderators can post, while others are discussion lists. Yahoo groups is one of the more extensive and accessible services of this type and therefore is used the world over by many groups.