Aggregator
A web application or program that retrieves news feeds from other sources and combines them, potentially sorting them by date, title, author or topic.

API
Abbreviation for application programming interface.

Avatar
A version of yourself that you put forward in an online or video game setting. Sometimes bears a strong resemblance to the user; at other times, it is used to act out fantasies of a wished-for identity.

Badge
An image, usually squared and displayed on a blog, which signifies the blogger’s participation in an event, contest or social movement.

Blog
A website where individual(s) provide entries of any type of content from video and podcasts to traditional text and photos in order to inform or create discussions; presented in reverse chronological order.

Blog Post/Entry
Content published on a blog. Entries may include pictures or embedded videos and links URLs for online sources used.

Blogger
An individual who provide entries of any type of content to a blog website to inform or create discussions; presented in reverse chronological order.

Bluetooth
A standard for short-range wireless transmissions, such as in headsets, that enable hands-free use of cell phones.

Click-throughs
A way of measuring how many people click a link online to see its destination site. Click-throughs are often used to set advertising rates.

Comments
Replies or opinions in reference to the topic at hand; usually left on blog posts.

Crowdsourcing
The practice of asking a large collection of individuals online to help gather information or produce ideas.

Curate
The practice of selecting, packaging and presenting content to the public online in a more personal and hand-picked way, as opposed to automated news feeds. Often used in conjunction with social media.

E-book
The electronic, nonpaper version of a book or publication, sold digitally and commonly consumed on an e-book reader or e-reader, such as Amazon’s Kindle.

Emoji
A typographical cartoon or symbol generally used to indicate mood or appearance.

E-reader
Or e-book reader.

Fan, Follow, Friend
Actions by which users connect to other users on social networks. Friend and fan are typically used on Facebook, while Twitter users follow and have followers. Acceptable as both nouns and verbs.

Google, Googling, Googled
A trademark for a web search engine; the act of searching topics using Google.

Handle
A self-selected, public-facing username on a social network, particularly Twitter.

Hyper-local Community
A group of people from a specific location who interact in online communities and use social media tools.

IM
Abbreviation for instant message; sometimes used as a verb IM’ing, IM’ed. Acceptable on second reference for instant messaging.

Influencer
A person specialized in a specific subject matter and highly recognized in an online community that has the ability to sway others’ thoughts; key influencers are seen as references or for assistance on specific subject matters.

Keywords
Terms used to define an online search or embed in a file so that it becomes searchable.

Liveblog
Snippets of information about a particular event that are posted online in real time, usually in reverse chronological order, with the newest entry first. Can be used as a noun or verb.

Mashup
A combination of two or more pieces of content or media to create something new. For example, a video that blends audio from a song with footage from several movies to build a new storyline.

Message Boards/Forums
An online discussion site; people looking to discuss particular issues or needing support post threads (a message) on the forum or message board in hopes to gain more information or start a conversation.

Microblogging
A form of blogging where the entries/posts are limited to a certain amount of characters or words. Example: Twitter.

Microsite
A tightly focused group of web pages typically dedicated to a single topic, product or service.

Multimedia
Media and content in different forms such as videos, pictures, etc.

Online Community
A group of people using social media tools and sites on the internet.

Platform
The framework or system within which tools work – may be as broad as mobile telephony, or as narrow as a piece of software that has different modules like blogs, forums and wikis in a suite of tools.

Podcasts
Online audio or visual recordings syndicated on the Internet and available to download to portable media players such as an iPod.

RSS Feed
Really Simple Syndication; a system that generates frequently updated information from a site (i.e. blog posts, online articles).
Reader
Aggregates information from RSS feed into one site.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
A form of internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs). Methods include: search engine optimization (SEO), paid placement, contextual advertising and paid inclusion.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.

Sentiment
A level of assessment that determines the tone of an article, blog post, a company, etc.; usually described as positive, negative or neutral.

Social Media
A term used to describe tools and platforms people use to produce, publish and share online content and to interact with one another. Social media tools include blogs, podcasts, videos, microblogs, wikis, etc. Examples include:

Tags
A keyword or term associated and assigned to an item of content (i.e. blog post, video, photo, etc.). Usually added to an item of content to enhance search engine optimization and make content easier to organize and find.

Trending
Used to indicate that a particular topic is getting a lot of attention on a social network, typically Twitter.

Unfriend
To remove someone from a list of friends, usually on Facebook. Also defriend, an acceptable but less common usage.

VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol. A method of transmitting sound as data over the Internet, allowing for inexpensive phone conversations. VoIP is acceptable on second reference.

Webinar
An online seminar.

Widget
A small module with a specific purpose that appears on a website, desktop or other interface and allows access to content or functions.

Wiki
Web page(s) used to collect content about a topic. Anyone with access to the page(s) can edit or modify the information.

Wikipedia
An online encyclopedia whose entries are created and edited by its users, regardless of a person’s expertise. May contain useful links, but should not be used as a primary source of information.