Social Media Slang You Should Know : Facebook

Social media sites like MySpace and Facebook might have started out as a hangout for college kids, but that’s definitely not the case anymore. You’d be surprised to know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook right now is women 55 years and over. Corporations are scrambling to set up a presence on the site so they can put their products and services in front of their 200 million members. If you’re been caught off guard by the sudden rise of this internet darlings, here’s a short list of basic definitions to get you started.

Facebook

Friending – the act of inviting someone to be one of your contacts. Gives you access to all their information, photos and updates (or at least what they allow you to see).

Tagging – entering your name or someone else’s in a picture. Wish they hadn’t tagged you in that high school graduation picture? You might consider changing your privacy settings where it says “photos tagged of you”.

Apps – applications that let you send cute little things to your friends. Does your BFF have a Louis Vuitton obsession? Send her a virtual Birkin Bag. Or create a birthday cake for your colleague at work. You name it, there’s an app for it.

Fan page – A page for businesses to post news, events and engage with their product’s “fans”. Tiffany & Co. answers questions on diamonds on their page, and there’s one just for chocolate chip cookies with 1.2 mil members.

Newsfeed – instead of breaking news from around the world, this feed shows the latest updates from your friends. Warning: checking your page for updates can become addictive!