|
|
A Few Social Networking Technical Terms Used in Reference to a Custom Online Community
Posted by:
Walter Roark on
March 26, 2009 at
6:25PM AFT
Perhaps you were too shy to ask or just didn’t give social media  definitions
much thought. Either way, the evolution of social media terminology is
a fascinating subject. And new, (often bewildering) technical phrases
are coming into the spotlight at a prodigious rate. I mean, just a few
years ago, no one had ever heard social networking. Now, Social
Networking rules the net.
Aggregator
In computing, a feed aggregator, also known as a feed reader, news
reader or simply aggregator, is client software or a Web application
which aggregates syndicated web content (RSS feeds) in the form of news
headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy
viewing.
API
Application Programming Interface is programming code exposed to
the outside world to give other developers outside your application or
organization the ability to more easily interact with your software.
Language-independent APIs are written in a way that means they can be
called from several programming languages. This is a desired feature
for a service-style API which is not bound to a particular process or
system and is available as a remote procedure call. For example, online
social communities utilize APIs to support features such as Remote
Commenting and Single Sign-On.
Dynamic Content
Dynamic Content is
at the core of the social media experience on the web. Clickable,
easily-accessible content modules give members many engaging ways to
express an opinion, share information, connect with other members,
create a community group. post an event, upload photos and videos and
much more.
OAuth
OAuth is an open
protocol that allows secure API Authorization in a simple and standard method
for desktop, mobile and web applications. For consumer developers, OAuth is a
method to publish and interact with protected data. For service provider
developers, OAuth gives users access to their data while protecting their
account credentials. In other words, OAuth allows a user to grant access to
their information on one site (the Service Provider), to another site (called
Consumer), without sharing all of his or her identity.
Profiling
Members of online communities can create
individual user profiles, including vanity pages and URLs, to establish
their presence within the community. Members can also personalize, edit
and manage their profiles. Profiles are the core element of the online
community , setting the stage for interaction and friending.
In a Profile, members can share as much (or as little) information as
they wish. Along with a brief biography, a member can reveal his or her
birthday, marital status, education, occupation, geography, hobbies,
preferences in music/film, plus a virtually unlimited list of
additional topics.
Profiling links make it easy for people to discover, connect and engage with other members.
SaaS
Software as a Service (SaaS, typically pronounced 'sass') is a model of
software deployment where an application is hosted as a service
provided to customers across the Internet. By eliminating the need to
install and run the application on the customer's own servers, SaaS
alleviates the customer's burden of software maintenance, ongoing
operation, and support.
As a term, SaaS is generally associated with business software and is
typically thought of as a low-cost way for businesses to obtain the
same benefits of commercially licensed, internally operated software
without the associated complexity and high initial cost.
Social Networking
Social Networking is the assembly, or coming together of individuals in
specific groups or communities. Although social networking is possible
in person, especially in schools or in the workplace, it is most
popular online. This is because the Internet is filled with millions of
individuals who are looking to meet other internet users to develop
friendships and business relationships.
Depending on the website in question, many of these online community
members share a common interest such as hobbies, religion, or politics.
So, members make like-minded friends, and easily share ideas, information and visual content.
SSO
Single Sign-On is a method of access control that enables a user to log
in once and gain access to multiple Internet sites without  being prompted to log in again. A community developer who offers SSO uses centralized authentication
for authentication purposes, and combines this with techniques to
ensure that users do not actively have to enter their credentials more
than once.
SSO helps eliminate user “password fatigue,” saving visitors the time
and bother of re-entering passwords for the same identity.
UGC
User Generated Content (UGC), refers to various kinds of media content,
publicly available, that are produced by end-users. In a community
infused with social media tools, members have the opportunity to create
a compelling profile, contribute to blogs, comment on a blog or
article, upload photos and videos, establish a Group, post an Event,
and more. These positive activities encourage collaboration,
skill-building and discovery.
Often UGC is partially or totally monitored by website administrators
to avoid offensive content or language, copyright infringement issues,
or simply to determine if the content posted is relevant to the site's
general theme.
We welcome your comments if you have thoughts about social media terminology or trends.
|
|
