Glossary of Social Media terms according United Nations Office Drugs and Crimes (UNODC)

A blog is a website where a user writes entries (or shares pictures). It is usually written like a journal, although the posts can also be structured similar to articles. A vlog is a video-blog.

Many social networking sites have the option of sending a message to one other user without everyone on the site being able to view it.

Small icons to display what users are thinking. These range from faces expressing emotions, to icons of food or locations.

• A networking site where users post information and pictures of themselves, communicate with each other, create events, and can create pages for their businesses. • Users communicate with each other by posting on each other’s “walls,” commenting on each other’s photographs or posts, and sending private messages. • Privacy settings: Users can select what type of users (friends, friends of friends, public) can view individual items on their profiles. Users become connected when they accept invitations from each other to connect.

A photo sharing site, where users create albums of their photographs.

• Social media sites often have the option of connecting with users (LinkedIn, Facebook) by adding them as “friends” or “connections.” Friends can often see more of the content you post and can message you directly. • Sites that are more content-focused (such as Twitter or Instagram) have the option to “follow” other users to see the content that they post.

• Social media sites often have the option of connecting with users (LinkedIn, Facebook) by adding them as “friends” or “connections.” Friends can often see more of the content you post and can message you directly. • Sites that are more content-focused (such as Twitter or Instagram) have the option to “follow” other users to see the content that they post.

A short, animated video of a few seconds that often repeats itself.

The username of a user on social media. (For instance, @dohadeclaration is the Doha Declaration’s Twitter handle.)

A word or phrase (without space) preceded by the pound symbol “#” makes that word or phrase searchable in many social media sites. For instance, if a user has tagged a post as #unitednations then other users will see that content when they search for #unitednations.

• A photo sharing site, where photos are shared individually as posts, often with artistic filters and hashtags. Instagram photographs are often linked to specific geographic locations. • Users can interact with each other by “liking” each other’s posts (by clicking a heart icon), and can send each other private messages. • Privacy settings: Instagram accounts that are set to “public” may be viewed by anyone who has the web address. “Private” accounts may only be viewed by Instagram accounts that have been approved by the user.

Many social networking sites have a button that users can click when they like the content of another user. On Instagram, for instance, this is a heart icon and on Facebook it is a thumbs-up. Facebook now offers other options, such as sad faces.

• A social networking site targeted at professionals. Users typically upload the information from their resumes and include a professional photograph. • Users are added to the same network when they “connect” with each other (send and accept an invitation to be added as a connection). Users can interact with each other by private messages. • Privacy settings: LinkedIn accounts may be viewed by all other LinkedIn users and a summary of information is typically available to non-users unless altered in the privacy settings. By default, other users also receive a notification that you have viewed their profile.

Many social media sites have the option of sending videos that are being recorded directly to the website as they are being recorded.

A list of all of the items recently posted by other users with whom the user is connected.

Inappropriate content.

• A hobby-related online pinboard. Users save pictures from the Internet, often of inspirational topics related to fashion, cooking, or home-decorating and save them to “boards.” • Users can share each other’s pictures, as well as comment. • Privacy settings: boards are public, unless the user specifies otherwise.

Many social networking sites have the option of sending a message to one other user without everyone on the site being able to view it.

Typically a series of episodes (in the form of short audio clips) on a specific topic which users ncan download. Podcasts can be produced by official institutions, or recorded by individual users.

• A site which hosts discussion forums. Some discussion forums have been criticized for having inappropriate content. • After registering, users can comment on each other’s posts, as well as rate each other’s posts, so that they appear at the top of the newsfeed. Receiving ratings on your comments helps users to accumulate points to unlock special features. • Privacy settings: Although posts are public, users’ identities are largely anonymous.

A photograph taken of oneself.

• A site that allows users to video chat with each other from their accounts • Privacy settings: users have to add each other to send/receive calls

• A messaging application for smartphones. The messages are often pictures or videos and disappear after a selected amount of time. • Users may send each other messages directly after connecting. The user sending the message selects how many seconds the message will stay on the receiver’s screen before disappearing.

Many social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) have the option to post photos or videos that are viewable by all of that user’s connections for a limited amount of time.

By using the @ symbol, users can connect other users to a post or photograph. On some sites this content then appears on the tagged user’s profile.

• A hosting site for blogs, including photo-blogs, or blogs that consists of GIFs. • Users can follow other users’ blogs and comment on individual posts.

On Twitter, users’ posts are referred to as “tweets.” When users share other user’s tweets they are known as “retweets.”

• A social networking site where users share posts of up to 140 characters and/or photographs. • Users can tag each other in their posts, or send each other private messages (direct message). • Privacy settings: accounts (and therefore posts) are public by default, although users can change their accounts to be private.

When a post on social media reaches many viewers and spreads rapidly.

Each Facebook user has a “wall” – a page which has all of their posts, as well as posts sent to them by other users.

An online seminar, often a video conference, that users can watch remotely.

• A messaging application for smartphones. • Users can message each other once they have added other users’ numbers into the application. Groups of users can also be created.