The team at
media update reveal 10 social media terms you need to add to your vocabulary — if you haven’t already.
The world of social media practically has its own language. How can you ‘action’ these words if you don’t even know what they mean? Below are a list of 10 terms and their definitions to help you become more familiar with the lingo:
1. Engagement‘Engagement’ refers to any action taken by a social media user on your page. This can be in the form of ‘Likes’, ‘Reactions’, ‘Shares’ or ‘Comments’.
For example, if a user on your Facebook page has ‘reacted’ to your post by choosing to ‘Like’ it, they have
engaged with that particular post. And those engagements can add up very quickly.
2. Ephemeral content'Ephemeral' refers to content on social media platforms that disappear after a set period of time. This type of content is seen most frequently on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
For example, Instagram Stories (and Facebook Stories) are limited to a lifespan of 24 hours. On Snapchat, messages to friends disappear as soon as the user has left the app — after having opened the message.
3. Filter'Filters' are used on certain social media platforms as a way for users to edit their photos. Each filter offers an overlayed effect that can be placed onto images. This feature is most popularly used on Instagram (#NoFilter — not).
4. HandleA ‘handle’ refers to a user’s account name on Twitter, but it can be in reference to other social platforms, too. Each ‘handle’ is unique and can be used to find or mention other users on the platform.
A user’s handle is the ‘@’ symbol, followed by their account name.
5. HashtagA 'hashtag' on social media refers to any word or phrase that is following the ‘#’, or hashtag, symbol.
Hashtags are used on social media as a way to find content about a specific topic, or as a way to make a user’s content more discoverable to other users.
For example, if a user posted on social media using ‘#mediaupdate’, they could find other users’ content about that topic by clicking on the hashtag.
On Twitter, popular topics, or hashtags, can be found in the ‘Trending topics’ section of the page.
6. Lens
Not to be confused with a ‘Filter’, a 'Lens' is an
animated overlay effect that is used while users are taking a photo of themselves, also known as a ‘selfie’. The lens can animate the user’s image while in camera mode to appear as anything — from a dog sticking its tongue out to a cat with glasses (yes, we’re serious).
7. Impression
‘Impressions’ are the number of times your posts have been seen by users on social media. For example, if five people have seen your post on Facebook, that means you have five impressions for that post.
The maximum number of ‘impressions’ your post can have is the number of people you are connected to on Facebook — but remember, if someone else shares your post, you can gain impressions from all of
their Facebook friends too.
8. Share
‘Shares’ refer to the number of times any user’s piece of content has been re-posted on social media. The ‘Share’ feature on social media is a clickable button that allows you to repost other users’ content to your own timeline (that’s your own personal newsfeed).
For example, if a user clicks on the ‘Share’ button on Facebook, they’ll have the option of sharing that post either with another friend, on their News Feed or via Facebook Messenger.
9. Story
A 'Story' — either on Instagram or on Facebook — is a collection of photos or videos compiled into one album that can be shared with other users on the platform.
These Stories are only visible for 24 hours, making them
ephemeral.
10. TwitteratiThe ‘Twitterati’ are users on Twitter who have an incredibly large number of followers and who post regularly. Think celebrities, social influencers, etc.
If the Twitterati are posting about a particular topic or sharing a certain hashtag, you can expect it to start trending among other Twitter users.
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*Image courtesy of Vecteezy