Glossary of Twitter Terms

Direct Message (DM):  A Direct Message, also known as a DM or just simply a ‘message’, are Tweets that are private between the sender and recipient.

Follow:  When you ‘follow’ someone on Twitter you subscribe to their Tweets or updates on Twitter.

Following: Your ‘following’ is the number of Twitter users who follow your Tweets.

Hashtag: Placing the hashtag # in front of a word or phrase is a way of categorising the content into themes. It enables searches to be done on similar themed tweets and conversations to be held, which can become trending topics, when enough people join in.

Modified Tweet (MT): A Modified Tweet or MT is a retweet, which has been modified, for example shortening a message before tweeting.

Profile: A Twitter page displaying information about a user, as well as all the Tweets they have posted from their account.

Retweet (RT): To retweet is to forward someone else’s tweet or to receive a tweet that has been forwarded by someone other than the author of the tweet, as a way of sharing information or spreading news.

Tweet: (v.) The act of posting a message or tweet on Twitter. (n.) A message posted on Twitter of 140 characters or less.

Twitterer: An account holder on Twitter who posts and reads tweets. Also known as ‘Twitter’ user.

Unfollow: To cease following another Twitter user’s tweets.

Now that your familiar with this platform’s terminology you can apply it when using our Getting Started with Twitter tutorial.

Glossary of Facebook Terms

Comment: People can ‘comment’ on posts. Just write in the box underneath the post and it will turn into a comment.

Friend: You can add other people on Facebook to your friends list. This means you’ll be kept up-to-date with everything they’re doing. You can send a friend request to someone you want to be friends with. When you see someone’s profile, it will show if you have any mutual friends.

Like: ‘Likes’ are a way of displaying things you like on Facebook. You can like an organisation’s Facebook page, a cause, someone’s photo, or a status update they made. If you like a page, it allows you to comment on it and updates your news feed with their posts.

Messages: You can send private messages to people through Facebook. It’s like email: you’re the only person who can see it. You’ll receive a notification when you receive a new message.

News feed: A news feed is displayed on your Facebook home page. It’s a constantly updated compilation of what your friends are doing. It’ll show what they’re posting, commenting on, liking and interacting with. Your actions will also show up in the news feeds of your friends.

Notifications: You’ll be notified if someone makes a post on your wall, likes one of your posts, comments on a post you’ve commented on or liked, tags you in a photo or tags you in a status update.

Page: Facebook Pages are made by organisations, companies, non-profits, political causes, sports clubs, and virtually anything. If you ‘like’ the page, you’ll get their updates in your news feed and you can post on their page.

Post:  A post is something that’s been shared on a Facebook profile. Anything that you or another person puts on a Facebook wall is a post. You can comment or like these.

Share: This is the way Facebook refers to posting. ‘Sharing’ something means you post it, and you can sometimes choose who in your friends list can see that post.

Status update: Simply a post on your own wall about what you’re up to currently. One of the easier and most common ways of getting active on Facebook.

Tag: You can be tagged in photos and posts. When you are tagged, you are given a notification as to whether you want to be tagged or not. You can remove yourself from photo tags by going to the photo and removing the tag.

Timeline: The newest format for Facebook profiles. It organises all your activity in chronological order and lets you have a high-resolution cover photo.

Wall: The area that people post in on profiles.

Now that your familiar with this platform’s terminology you can apply it when using our Getting Started with Facebook tutorial.

Glossary of WordPress Terms

Blog: Some people become concerned when they hear their WordPress site described as a “blog”, thinking it unprofessional. Remember that WordPress is a very diverse service with a variety of functions. Whilst it can be used for blogging, it is also possible to create a very professional-looking site using WordPress.com.

Post: Each blog entry you make is called a “post”.These in turn can be sorted into categories.

Category: Categories appear in the menu on the homepage and are a way of organising your posts.

Dashboard: The dashboard is the back room of your site, where you can create new posts and customise your site as you wish. Only you can see it and access it.

Theme: A “theme” is basically a design template that you can apply to your site. WordPress.com has loads of them, and they vary from each other not just visually but also in their functionality.

Now that your familiar with this platform’s terminology you can apply it when using our Getting Started with WordPress tutorial.

Glossary of LinkedIn Terms

Connections: Connections are the people you are connected to in LinkedIn. You can initiate a connection by inviting someone to connect with you, or you can accept an invitation to connect.

Second-degree connections: Second-degree connections are the connections of your connections. For example, I’m connected to my friend Jane. Jane’s boss is George, therefore George is my second-degree connection.

Third-degree connections: Third-degree connections are the connections of my second-degree connections. So from the example above, George’s connections are my third-degree connections.

Introductions: Introductions are when a third party introduces people who weren’t previously connected. For example, my work colleague Sarah has a work problem that I think my friend Andrea could solve. I introduce Sarah and Andrea through LinkedIn to work on the problem together.

Profile page: Your profile page is the personal page on LinkedIn, where you list your work history, your education, your skills and expertise, groups and associations you are involved with and the opportunities you would like to be contacted about. You can set your profile to allow anyone on the internet to view it, or you can limit access to your profile to other LinkedIn users, or just to your connections.

Recommendations: Your connections can write recommendations for you and you can also write recommendations for them. Recommendations are like job references or testimonials and they add weight to your professional profile, because they can support and demonstrate your skills and expertise.

Now that your familiar with this platform’s terminology you can apply it when using our Getting Started with LinkedIn tutorial.

Glossary of Pinterest Terms

Pin (pinned or pinning): Simply means to post or publish an image.

Repin: To repost or republish an image someone else has already pinned. Repinning an image means you want to republish the image on your own Pinterest account, under your chosen board.

Like: Different to repinning as the image will not be republished on your Pinterest account, instead it will be archived under your Likes list and belong to none of your boards.

Comment: By leaving a comment, the pinned image will neither be repinned onto your Pinterest account or be archived under your Likes list.

Board(s): A virtual pin board where you can archive and organise your pinned images according to their category.

Follow: Pinterest does not have a vetted friending system, instead you can follow any user you like.

Now that you know this platform’s site-specific lingo you can apply it when using our Getting Started with Pinterest tutorial.