10 SOCIAL MEDIA TERMS FOR NON-

DIGITAL NATIVES

Tips, suggestions, and inspiration from GennGlobal

INTRODUCTION

The term “non-digital native” is often used to

describe someone who was brought up before

the widespread use of digital technology, and

therefore has a more difficult time understanding it

than someone who grew up with the Internet.

For those non-digital natives, many aspects of

social media can be confusing, especially social

media jargon. The following slides contain

definitions for several social media terms that you

might not be familiar with.

SOCIAL MEDIA TERMINOLOGY

Big Data: Big data is an admittedly elusive term.

Basically, big data is a term that represents all of the

data about your social media usage on the Internet. Big

data is studied by ad companies and those who design

social media content.

Deflection Rate: When someone makes a negative

comment or complaint on one of your social media

websites, the first thing you’ll want to do is “deflect” the

message to a safer space. Continuing that conversation

in a private forum (such as an email or a telephone call)

is commonly referred to as deflection.

SOCIAL MEDIA TERMINOLOGY

Earned media: This is basically any form of message or

promotional post about your brand or product that you

did not know about and/or pay for. Think of it as “free

press.” Regardless of whether this message is praise or

criticism, it is considered earned media.

Hashtag: Oh, the iconic hashtag. A hashtag is a

mechanism used to refine a search or connect with

others on a social media site. If you search for a

hashtag + search term (example: #entrepreneurs) you

will find relevant content. You might also know the

hashtag symbol (#) by a different name; it is also called

the pound symbol or number sign.

SOCIAL MEDIA TERMINOLOGY

Handle: A handle is very similar to a hashtag in function, except that the information organized is a user’s profile name instead of content or ideas. On Twitter, handles begin with an @ symbol (example: @GennGlobal).

Impression: If someone likes, +1s, favorites, comments on, or shares a piece of your social media content, you can say that you made an impression on them because they interacted with your post.

(Internet) Meme: Pronounced “meem,” memes are messages communicated through a specific image/text trope. These messages are passed from person to person. If you have ever seen “Grumpy Cat” or “I can has cheezburger?” then you have seen a meme!

SOCIAL MEDIA TERMINOLOGY

Mention: Someone can mention you on social media

websites by inserting your handle in a social media

post. If you are mentioned in a post, you will typically

receive a notification about it.

Reach: Reach is the amount of people that can

potentially see your social media content. For example,

if you have 200 Facebook friends, your reach on

Facebook is 200.

Amplification: This term essentially refers to “getting

the word out” about your social media profile and

content. Anything that would increase the reach of a

post would qualify as amplification. Sharing posts on

social media is one way to achieve amplification.