Say what? Making sense of the Social Media Jargon

Every industry if full of jargon.  Speaking as a "techie" who didn't even know what a hard drive was when I started providing technical support for a HUGE computer manufacturer in the '90s, I know how frustrating it is when you don't "know the language". Because I'm here to serve those of you who are brand new to Social Media, I want to provide you with a list of terms you may have heard but have no idea what they mean.

Social Media Marketing Terms to Know

Blog - Blog comes from “web log”. What you are reading right now is a blog. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual "blogger" with regular, informative or opinion posts, descriptions and pictures of events or videos. Posts  are usually in reverse-chronological order (the newest stuff come first ). "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add stuff to a blog.  So, as I write, I am a blogger blogging on my blog! Say that 3 times real fast!  I use Blogger, but a lot of people like WordPress.

Delicious - Delicious is a free online bookmarking service that lets you store your bookmarks (aka Favorites) online.  You can also share them with friends and see what others are bookmarking.

Digg - Digg is a social news website that allows people to submit and vote for articles. Articles with the most votes appear on the homepage of the site and get seen by the largest portion of the site’s membership as well as other visitors.

Facebook - Facebook is the largest social network in the world with more than 750 million users. It connects people with friends, family and others who work, study and live around them or around the world. Its giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Facebook is probably my favorite!  Connect with me there - www.facebook.com/savvybfly.

LinkedIn - LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 120 million members in over 200 countries and territories. More than half of LinkedIn members are currently located outside of the United States. I'm there too: www.linkedin.com/in/amypolk

MySpace - MySpace was the most popular social networking site in the United States in June 2006 but Facebook really took it over in popularity in April 2008. I haven't logged into my MySpace account since January. 

Search Engine - A search engine is what you use to search with, whether its Yahoo, Bing or Google. You type in what you're looking for and you get a list of links about your topic.

Search Engine Optimization - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the content on your site or blog so that is shows up in that list of links I mentioned above.

SlideShare - SlideShare is an online social network where you can upload slide show presentations. You (and others on the site)  can mark them as favorites, embed them into your blog or website as well as share them on other social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. I like SlideShare and have used it, but have not taken the time to upload many presentations yet.

Skype - Skype is a free program that allows for text, audio and video chats between users.It's great for long-distance communications.

Social Media - Social media is simply people having conversations and sharing ideas online through any number of social media platforms (ie Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogs, Delicious, etc.).

StumbleUpon - With StumbleUpon, you tell them what you like and they give you videos that others who like the same things have shared or liked using the StumbleUpon button you ad to your web browser. About the cutest thing I've ever StumbledUpon is this video.

Twitter - Twitter is considered by many to be kind of like mini- or micro- posting.  You only get  140 characters to share your message. Other people can “follow” you to see your messages. Additionally, you can use the @username command to direct a message towards another Twitter user. Follow me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/amympolk

Vimeo - Vimeo is a popular video sharing service in which users can upload videos to be hosted online and shared and watched by others. Vimeo differs from YouTube in that the videos are often more "artistic" and the service does not allow commercial video content.

Webinar - A webinar is used to conduct live meetings, training, or presentations via the Internet. I'll be offering some great webinars soon, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter over on the right-hand side of the blog to get notified first!

YouTube - YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. YouTube is the largest video sharing site in the world. People love videos, many say they'd rather watch a video about something than read about it. I am on YouTube and will be building our channel more and more in the next few weeks. www.youtube.com/amympolk

Now, if none of that really makes sense, it's okay.  There is hope.  Here's a funny story to prove it:

As I mentioned before, I once worked for a HUGE computer manufacturer providing technical support. It was in a call center where we took calls from customers who had technical issues with their computers.  I was in my mid 20s but the smartest "technicians" were these young guys straight out of high-school.  I was always asking them for help.  One night a guy called in having trouble with his modem.  I didn't really even know what a modem was.  I asked my co-worker who tricked me into telling the man it sounded like the flux-capacitor on his modem was bad so we'd send him a new modem.  Now, if this sounds completely reasonable to you, it did to me too.  What I wasn't quite nerdy enough to know was that the flux capacitor is the core component of the DeLorean time machine in Back to the Future.

True story, I promise! So, if you're still confused about social media, there's hope, just hang on and stay tuned.  


Remember, I'm here to help and glad to do it! Post your questions below or contact me privately for help.