AdWords: Google’s paid advertising product, which offers pay-per-click and targeted advertising for text and banner ads (works in conjunction with Google’s AdSense program).

Avatar: Drawing or cartoon figure that is used in place of a picture to identify a user on blogs, message boards or other online venues.

Block: Technical measure that prevents access to certain resources and information on the Internet.

Blog: Short for Web log, an online journal or place for news updates, opinion statements and other commentary, with the most recent entries appearing first.

Blogroll: List of other blogs the author recommends, usually displayed down the side of a page.

Bookmarking: Saving the address (URL) of a specific site or page for easier referencing.

Bulletin board: Online location – usually part of a larger site – where people can read or post messages.

Chat: Online interaction between two or more people that usually takes place in “real time.”

Forums: Synonym for online bulletin boards.

Friend: Someone who appears on your contact list who may or may not actually be a real-life friend. Can also be used as a verb: “He tried to ‘friend’ me on MySpace, but I put him on my ‘blocked’ list.”

Metadata: Also known as metainformation, is information that characterizes data, sometimes referred to as “data about data.”

Microblogging: Form of blogging which involves small updates or other chunks of text, often distributed via a text message. Twitter is an example of a site that uses this tactic.

Podcast: Digital media files distributed over the Internet via syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers.

RSS: Really Simple Syndication system that is a family of Web feed formats which allow you to publish blogs or other online source of information and have updates sent to you.

Social bookmarking: Saving and sharing a site address, news article or other item of interest via a site such as del.icio.us.

Social media: Sites and online tools that enable communication and data sharing for the purposes of networking, socializing and collaboration.

Social networking: Connecting with other people who have a common trait, such as shared interests, connections or business affiliations, often conducted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

Tag: Keyword or term (metadata) attached to an assigned piece of information, like a photo, blog entry or video clip, to allow for easier searching.

User-Generated Content: (UGC) refers to various types and kinds of media content, available to the public, that is produced by end-users.

Web 2.0: Web technology trend that refers to the Internet as a platform for information sharing and collaboration among users, usually through Web-based communities like social networking sites and services such as blogs, wikis and related tools.

Widget: Small software application that users interact with on computer monitors.

Wiki: Software that allows users to collaborate on creating, editing, linking, and organizing a website’s content, usually for reference material.