Introduction to Social Media Investigation: A Hands-on Approach, 1st Edition (2015)

Glossary

Algorithm The process or series of steps that a computer program follows to achieve its goal. In this book, we look at algorithms that read in social media information and output analysis of that data.

Blog Originally an abbreviation of “web log,” a blog is a type of online diary. This technology was one of the early steps in the rise of social media on the web.

Centrality A measure of how important a person is in a social network.

Check-in When a user logs their presence at a location, it is called a check-in.

Facebook The most popular social networking website, with over 1.4 billion users. The site allows people to connect to friends, send messages, and share content.

Following Creating a one-way social connection on a social media website, generally so the follower can see content posted by the person they follow.

Forum A website that supports discussions, where people usually post questions or start topics and others respond.

Foursquare A social media site where users log their location, generally at restaurants, stores, and other venues.

Friending Creating a mutually recognized relationship with another person in a social media site.

Friendster An early social networking website. While it is still active, it has shifted to be more of a gaming website and is not a popular social network today.

Geotagging Adding location information, like GPS coordinates or a place name, to a post.

Google + Google's social networking website, which allows people to connect with friends, organize them in groups called “circles,” share content, and chat.

Graph Another term for a network (see Social network).

Hashtag A keyword or phrase (with no spaces), prefixed with a # character. They can be considered a specific type of tag. Examples of hashtags are #dogs or #socialmedia. These are used to label posts, often so other people interested in the topic can find them.

HTML (hypertext markup language) The computer language used to create web pages.

Instagram A photo-sharing platform that runs on mobile devices and supports sharing pictures, often altered with artistic filters.

IP address Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is a numeric code in the form of 192.168.0.0, that uniquely identifies each computer on the Internet. While IP addresses may change, a person connecting from a fixed computer, like a desktop or laptop that remains connected in the same location, is likely to have a relatively consistent IP address that can be used to track them.

LinkedIn A professional social networking website, dedicated to helping people maintain and create business relationships.

Metadata Data about a person, update, or other data online. This can include things like the date and time of the update, the location where it was posted, and the platform or tool used to post it.

Microblog A type of social media website where users post short updates. In contrast with a traditional blog that allows longer posts, it is often essay-length.

Myspace One of the leading social networking websites in the early-to-mid 2000s, Myspace's popularity was usurped by Facebook. It is still popular, usually ranking among the top 15 most visited social media sites.

Pinterest A social media site designed around sharing photos, organized on “boards” that have a consistent theme.

Post A message, photo, or other pieces of content that a person puts on social media.

Screen name See Username.

Script Computer code that runs on a server or in a browser, allowing for websites to be personalized or interactive.

Server A computer that contains the code for a website, including the HTML code for pages and any scripts used to run services.

Social network A social network describes a collection of people and their connections with one another.

Social networking website A social media site where a major focus is on allowing people to create profiles and connect with friends or acquaintances.

Status update A short post, which could also contain links, photos, or videos, that a user posts on a social media site. It often is about what the user is doing or thinking or something interesting they have seen.

Tag A label added to a post or photo on social media. The tags can make the post easier to find, since people can search for the tags.

Tumblr A microblogging website, frequently used to share gifs and other images.

Tweet An update posted to Twitter.

Twitter A microblogging website where people post short updates limited to 140 characters.

Username The name a person uses on a website or service, often the name they use to log in.

Visualization A picture of a social network, where people are often represented as small circles and their relationships to others are shown as lines connecting them.

YouTube The most popular online video-sharing website, where users can view, comment on, and upload video.