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Social Media Glossary: 60 Terms Explained Simply

Updated October 27, 2026 · Multi Post Social guide

This social media glossary explains the 60 words you meet when you run social accounts for a brand, from algorithm and alt text to UTM and watch time. Each entry is one to three plain sentences, with a note on where the idea shows up in Multi Post Social when it does. Use the letters to jump, or read the groups table first if you want the terms in a sensible order.

How to use this glossary

Most terms in social media are simple ideas with confusing names, and a few networks use different names for the same thing. The entries here use the most common name and mention the others where it helps. The “In Multi Post Social” notes are there so you can find the matching screen; they are not required reading. If a term you need is missing, the FAQ and the customer care guide cover the product-specific ones.

Echo the owl perched on an open dictionary with alphabet tabs

Terms by group

Related terms, grouped by what you are doing
When you are…	Terms to know	Guide
Planning posts	Content calendar, content pillar, posting schedule, slot, queue, draft, evergreen content	Content calendar
Writing a post	Caption, alt text, hashtag, hashtag group, first comment, carousel, thread, Reel, Shorts, Stories	Scheduler
Publishing	Auto-publish, notification publishing, token, permissions, cross-posting, bulk upload	Channels
Reading results	Reach, impressions, engagement rate, saves, CTR, watch time, follower growth rate, heat map, report, A/B test	Metrics that matter
Talking to people	Inbox, DM, mention, label, saved reply, sentiment	Inbox
Listening	Listening, stream, sentiment, mention	Listening
Working as a team	Workspace, role, approval workflow, channel, two-factor authentication	Collaboration

All 60 terms, A to Z

A

A/B test: Publishing two versions of a post that differ in one detail, such as the hook, to see which earns more of a chosen metric.In Multi Post Social: Duplicate a post, change one thing, tag both, compare in analytics.
Algorithm: The ranking system a network uses to decide which posts each person sees and in what order. Every network has its own and changes it often.
Alt text: A short written description of an image for people who cannot see it and for screen readers.In Multi Post Social: The composer flags images without alt text before you schedule.
API: Application programming interface: the official way software talks to a network or to Multi Post Social to read data and publish posts.In Multi Post Social: See the API docs for endpoints and limits.
Approval workflow: A rule that some people’s posts must be reviewed and approved before they publish.In Multi Post Social: Available on Team and Agency plans; posts wait in Needs approval.
Auto-publish: Publishing a scheduled post directly to the network at the set time with no action from you.In Multi Post Social: The default for most networks and formats.

B

Best time to post: The posting windows when your own audience is most likely to see and engage with a post, usually shown as a weekly heat map.In Multi Post Social: Calculated from your history and offered as posting slots.
Bio: The short profile text under your name on a network, often the only place a link is allowed.
Bulk upload: Adding many posts at once from a spreadsheet file instead of one at a time.In Multi Post Social: CSV upload on Team plans and above.

C

Caption: The text that accompanies an image or video post.
Carousel: A post with several images or slides that people swipe through, common on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Channel: One connected social account, such as a specific Instagram profile or Facebook Page.In Multi Post Social: Plans are priced per channel, not per user.
Click-through rate (CTR): Link clicks divided by impressions, shown as a percentage. The measure of whether a post made people act.
Content calendar: A plan of what will be posted, where and when, usually organized by week.In Multi Post Social: The calendar view with week, month and list modes.
Content pillar: A recurring topic you return to every week so the calendar never starts from zero.In Multi Post Social: Represented by tags.
Cross-posting: Sending the identical post to several networks at once. Usually weaker than adapting the post per network.

D

Dark post: A paid post shown to a target audience that does not appear on the account’s own profile.
Direct message (DM): A private message between accounts on a network.In Multi Post Social: Collected in the inbox alongside comments and mentions.
Draft: A saved post that is not yet scheduled or queued.

E

Engagement: Actions people take on a post: reactions, comments, shares, saves and clicks.
Engagement rate: Engagement divided by reach or impressions, shown as a percentage, so posts with different audiences can be compared.
Evergreen content: Posts that stay useful for months and can be queued again later.

F

Feed: The main stream of posts a person sees when opening a network.
First comment: A comment published by the author right after the post, often used on Instagram to hold hashtags.In Multi Post Social: A field in the composer on paid plans.
Follower growth rate: The change in followers over a period divided by the starting number, as a percentage.

H

Hashtag: A word or phrase after a # sign that groups posts by topic and helps people find them.
Hashtag group: A saved set of hashtags you insert with one click.In Multi Post Social: Saved in the composer sidebar on paid plans.
Heat map: A grid of days and hours colored by how well posts performed at each time.

I

Impressions: The total number of times a post was shown, counting repeat views by the same person.
Inbox: One list of comments, messages, mentions and reviews from every connected channel.In Multi Post Social: The Engage module.

L

Label: A tag applied to an inbox item, such as Question or Support, to filter and route it.
Link in bio: A single page linked from your profile that holds several links, since most networks allow only one.In Multi Post Social: The Start Page builder.
Listening: Tracking what people say about a keyword, brand or competitor across networks, including posts that do not tag you.In Multi Post Social: The Listen module with streams and alerts.

M

Mention: A post or comment that names your account with an @ handle.

N

Notification publishing: For formats a network does not allow tools to post, a reminder on your phone at the scheduled time with the content ready to paste.In Multi Post Social: Shown as a Reminder badge in the composer.

O

Organic: Reach and engagement you earn without paying for promotion.

P

Paid partnership: A post made in exchange for payment or products, which networks and regulators require you to label.
Permissions: What a connected app is allowed to do with your account, granted when you connect a channel.
Pinned post: A post fixed to the top of a profile so visitors see it first.
Posting schedule: The recurring weekday and time slots a channel publishes on.In Multi Post Social: Set per channel in its own time zone; the queue fills the slots.

Q

Queue: The ordered list of posts waiting to publish, each taking the next free slot in the posting schedule.

R

Reach: The number of different accounts that saw a post at least once.
Reel: Instagram’s short vertical video format.
Repurposing: Reshaping one piece of content into the native format of each network.In Multi Post Social: The AI assistant drafts the versions; per-network tabs hold them.
Report: A summary of metrics for a date range and set of channels, often exported as a PDF for a client or manager.
Role: What a team member is allowed to do, from viewer to admin.In Multi Post Social: Owner, admin, editor, contributor, viewer and client roles.

S

Saved reply: A stored answer to a common question, inserted into a reply with one click.
Saves: The number of people who bookmarked a post to see it again, a strong signal of useful content.
Sentiment: Whether a mention or comment reads as positive, neutral or negative, estimated automatically.
Shorts: YouTube’s short vertical video format.
Slot: One scheduled weekday and time in a posting schedule that a queued post can take.
Stories: Short image or video frames that disappear after 24 hours on Instagram and Facebook.
Stream: A saved listening search for a keyword, hashtag, handle or competitor.

T

Thread: A series of connected posts published in order as replies to each other, on X, Threads, Bluesky or Mastodon.
Time zone: The local time a channel’s posting schedule follows, which may differ from yours.
Token: The credential a network gives a tool when you connect a channel. Tokens expire and then need a reconnect.
Two-factor authentication (2FA): A second check at login, usually a code from an app, that protects an account if the password leaks.In Multi Post Social: Available on every plan in Settings.

U

UTM parameters: Tags added to a link so web analytics can tell which post and campaign sent a visitor.In Multi Post Social: Added automatically when link tracking is on.

W

Watch time: How long people actually watched a video, a better measure than view count.
Workspace: A separate set of channels, posts, inbox and reports, usually one per brand or client.In Multi Post Social: Agencies get a workspace per client.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do networks use different names for the same metric?

Each network built its analytics on its own. “Reach” on one is close to “unique viewers” on another, and “engagements” may or may not include clicks. This glossary uses the most common name and the product normalizes the rest so channels can be compared.

Can I suggest a term?

Yes. Email the support address with the word and where you met it. Terms that come up often are added and announced in the changelog.

Is this glossary enough to start managing a brand account?

It covers the vocabulary. For the methods, read the content calendar guide, the cadence guide and the metrics guide on the blog, in that order.

See the social media glossary terms in action

Create a free account and every term above appears as a real screen: queue, slots, inbox, heat map and reports.

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