Struggling to understand the vast array of confusing terms used both on our web site and around the web? Here’s a short list of some words we think you need to know!
Aggregation – The process of software or a web application which aggregates syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and video logs in a single location for easy viewing.
Archive – The collection of content organized in some fashion. Blog entries are usually sorted by date. Another popular way to sort content is through “tags” added to each item specifying important terms found in the item.
Back-end – The code that runs behind the scenes on a website or piece of software, which the average user will never see.
Blogs – A type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Browser – A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. The major web browsers are Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera.
Categories – The process of organizing web content into sections for easy browsing or searching. Another common term for this is taxonomy.
Comments – A service that enables other users to leave comments for the author in regards to the specified content.
Communities – Groups of people communicating, socialising and collaborating. They may simply have a shared common interest to talk about, or have come together for some purpose such as to learn from each other or find solutions to a problem. While communities do emerge organically, some community-building is necessary if there are specific goals to achieve. Online communities may use email lists, forums, blogs, social networking groups or other services where content is centralised.
Content – Internet based material like text, pictures, video, etc.
Embedding – A tool to display content that is stored elsewhere on the Internet (like videos on YouTube or pictures on Flickr) but can displayed on your website or blog without hosting the files yourself.
Feeds – A method of reading, viewing or listening to items from blogs and other feed-enabled web sites without visiting the site, by using an “aggregator” or “feed reader”.
Forums – Discussion areas that are managed and facilitated on web sites where user can post messages or reply to existing messages.
Search Engine Optimisation – The process of refining the content and technology of your web site to increase its visibility and ranking in search engines.
Servers – Special computers which host websites.
Social bookmarking – Social bookmarking is an activity that allows users to save and categorize a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. Users may also take bookmarks saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as to subscribe to the lists of others.
Social media – A term for the tools and platforms people use to publish, converse and share content online. The tools include blogs, wikis, podcasts, and sites to share photos and bookmarks.
Social networking – Online places where users can create a profile for themselves and socialise with others using a range of social media tools including blogs, video, images, tagging, lists of friends, forums and messaging.
Threads – Strands of conversation. A term typically used in Forums or Comment discussions.
Tweet – The term for a post on Twitter. Each tweet is 140 characters or less.
Viral marketing – A technique aiming at reproducing “word of mouth”, usually on the internet or by e-mail, for marketing purposes.
Web 2.0 – A term that refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services. These usually include tools that let people collaborate and share information online, such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies.
Web analytics – Web analytics is the study of web site performance metrics to understand whether business objectives are being met.
Web-based tools – Term for the free or low-cost tools including email, calendars, word processing, and spreadsheets that can be used on the web rather than your desktop.
Web conferencing – A live, synchronous conversation online, where participants are invited to a virtual meeting. Skype is a popular software program which enables such events.
