I’m a businessman in a world of Techies. I am constantly surrounded by terms, acronyms, phrases, and jokes that have absolutely no meaning to me. Given my line of work, and the amount of time I spend online, I am always learning new words and phrases, and eventually incorporating them into everyday communication.

Obviously, each industry or business has its own set of terminology or lingo, but the online world differs in that its user-base is made up of all people. The problem then is that many of those who spend most of their time online forget that a large portion of their readers are not familiar with what they consider common language.

Therefore, I thought it would be valuable to provide you with a list of “common” internet terms or phrases that you may not fully understand, but probably should.

RSS Feed

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is typically represented by the orange icon at the top of this page, or some variation there of. Instead of constantly revisiting the same blog, news source, or website, if you subscribe to the RSS Feed, any new posts or updates will be sent directly to a central “hub”, called a feed aggregator or feed reader. A feed aggregator is a website or client software used to house all RSS feeds you subscribe to. Most web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox have a feed reader built in. Subscribing to RSS Feeds and using an aggregator is a great way to improve your online efficiency and productivity.

Wiki

A wiki, Hawaiian for “quick”, is a website that allows multiple users to add, edit, delete and link content. The most well-known wiki is wikipedia.org, an enormous online encyclopedia created by thousands of people submitting their own content. Once submitted, content can be edited by other wiki users, creating a self-policing system where the user base decides what’s accurate. Wiki’s are also used in many businesses as a way to promote collaboration and share information. You could set up a wiki at your business to post policies and procedures, documentation, online brain-storming sessions, training materials, and much more.

Phishing

Not at all associated with the band, phishing is a method by which criminals try to fraudulently obtain personal information, usually in attempt to steal ones identity. It’s usually initiated via email and often requests that the recipient visit a particular URL to verify or add information such as birthdays, passwords, or identification numbers. The problem is that the websites are designed to look nearly identical to the organization being falsely represented. One common phishing scheme sends users to a fake PayPall website and asks them to update their information. Here is some additional information on how to recognize and avoid phishing schemes.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing sounds as bad as spam or phishing, but it’s actually a good thing, especially in the world of marketers. Viral marketing is simply the use of existing networks of people to promote a brand or product by creating something that quickly spreads from person to person. Viral marketing can take the form of games, video clips, images, text messages, or even interactive commercials. The goal is to create something that users will want to pass on to their friends, family, coworkers, or online networks. The rise of “Web 2.0″ has boosted viral marketing to new levels.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 simply refers to a more interactive internet experience. Web 1.0 focused on simple, brochure-wear websites where the primary purpose was to push info to the user in order to tell them about your brand, product, service, or cause. Web 2.0 takes the online world a step further by allowing the user to create content. Some of the most well known Web 2.0 sites are Facebook, MySpace, and Youtube. Each of these sites essentially contain only the content that is created and submitted by their users.

Are there other internet terms you would like explained?