RDF
RDF is a web content syndication format. Acronym which stands for Resource Description Framework

RSS
1. RSS is a web content syndication format. Acronym which stands for (variously) RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary.
2. Acronym for Really Simple Syndication. It is a family of web feed formats used to deliver information from websites and pages that get updated regularly. Once you subscribe to a particular RSS feed, you will automatically receive updates from the website that publishes the feed, whenever they release new content.

RSS Aggregator
Software or service that automatically check a series of RSS feeds for new items on an ongoing basis, making it possible to keep track of changes to multiple Web in real time through one application.

RSS Feed
The file that contains the latest updates to an RSS-equipped page.

RTWT
abbrev. Read The Whole Thing. Common acronym found on blogs that are heavy on links and light on commentary. (Coined by C. D. Harris)

Radio Userland
proprietary. A blog publishing software package. Radio Userland is more popular with tech bloggers. radio.userland.com

Reciprocal Link
If you blogroll (qv) link to our blog, we will blogroll to your blog. Also: Linky Love

Repost
To post a comment or post that had already been posted, either within a thread or on another blog. Generally frowned upon in the blogosphere, especially when the content is from another blogger’s site.

Scribosphere
The collection of blogs that are maintained by screenwriters.

SEO
Acronym for search engine optimization. It includes several activities that are aimed to improve the rankings of a website inside the results page of search engines. (For a short, 60 Second Marketer video on this topic, click What are the Most Common Search Engine Marketing Mistakes?)

Shocklog
A blog that intentionally provokes discussion by posting content aimed at shocking readers.

Sidebar
One or more columns generally found on the side of most blogs, usually containing a profile of the blogger, blogroll, advertising, Flickr feeds or other plug-ins.

Sideblog
A smaller blog usually placed in the sidebar of a blog. A blog within a blog. Sideblog.com provides this service .See also: link blog.

Simultaneous Blogasm
What happens when two bloggers post the same thought at the same time.

Skins
One of a set of pre-designed templates for a blog, giving it a customized set of images, fonts and layouts.

Skypecasting
The practice of using Skype, the VoIP telephony service, to create podcasts, vidcasts and blog entries. (Coined by Stuart Henshall of Skype Journal)

Slashdotted
1. When a Web site receives a huge amount of temporary traffic due to a link being posted on slashdot.org. The phenomenon can slow Web servers or even take sites temporarily offline by exceeding the allotted bandwidth for the site. The term can be used as shorthand for traffic surges due to posts on other extremely popular blogs, including Instapundit, BoingBoing, The Huffington Post or DailyKos. See also: “Instalanche.”
2. To have your blog mentioned on Slashdot.org.

Social media
A broad term used to define website and web applications where you have social interactions and interactive dialogue around a media form (text, images, audio, video, or any combination of them). I’ve written a book on this topic called How to Make Money with Social Media. You might also be interested in my 60 Second Marketer blog post called How to Launch a Social Media Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide.

Spambot
1. Online code which automatically generates larg numbers of unwanted messages and directs them at members of the public. Within the context of blogging, it is code which enters unsolicited comment spam.
2. A program designed to collect, or harvest, e-mail addresses from the Internet in order to build mailing lists for sending unsolicited e-mail, also known as spam .
A spambot can enter dozens or even hundreds of unwanted spams in a matter of minutes into the comments of an unprotected blog

Sping
A ping sent from a splog to make recipients think content of interest has been updated although that may not be the case.

Splog
1. Spam blog. A blog created purely as a payload target for spam. The spam itself is delivered via trackbacks, comment spamming or e-mail and the ‘splog’ is where you end up if you click the spam link (which is something you will not do, of course)
2. A blog that is used to publish spam material. The purpose is to increase the PageRank or artificially inflate paid ad impressions from visitors.

Spomment
See comment spam.

Stripblog
A cartoon/comic related weblog, either pertaining to cartoons/comics or featuring graphics of that nature.

Subscribers
Visitors that either grabbed the feed of a website or that subscribed to receive updates via email.

Tag
1. A keyword or term assigned to a piece of information that allows it to be found again via browsing or searching
2. A generic term for a language element descriptor, often used in blogs to identify the type or types of content that makes up a particular post.

Tag cloud
Visual representations of tags or keywords used in a blog. Tag clouds may be used to organize content and can be presented in boldface to distinguish them from other text.

Take down
Similar to ‘Fisk’ (qv). A point by point refutation.

Tech blog
A blog (qv) focused on a technical subject. A high proportion of tech blogs are also groupblogs (qv). Also: Techblog.
Tech blogs form one of the three primary distinct (and largely separate) cultural groups within the blogging world, the other two being Journal blogs and Pundit blogs.

Technorati
Internet Search Engine for searching blogs

Template
A template is a file that is pre-formatted in some way and serves as a starting point for a blog post.

Theme
1. A template designed specifically for use to enhance the visual appearance and usability of a blog. Many blogging software providers offer a selection of themes for bloggers to choose from for their blogs. Alternatively, predesigned blog themes can be found through a variety of websites, and many web designers create custom themes for blogs.
2. A theme refers to the design of the web page. It’s a way to coordinate all the elements that go into making the web page so that they complement one another and reinforce the site’s subject matter.

Thread
A series of remarks posted by people in a public comment section of a blog that follow a conversational and topic related sequence.
Whilst used on blogs to describe related comments under a single blog article, this term is more specifically and accurately associated with on-line forums, many of which use a ‘threaded’ format that indents related digressions from the main ‘conversation’ in a branching manner, making it more clear to which previous comment a person it replying. Although some blog-forum hybrids also use this ‘threaded’ format within their public comments section, the term is more commonly associated with forums rather than blogs.

Thread drift
The phenomenon of off-topic posts in a thread that is devoted to a specific topic.

Trackback
1. A system by which a ping (qv) is sent to another trackback-aware website (usually another blog) to notify that site that a link to them has been made (usually within an article being posted). The objective is to notify the subject of an article that they have been mentioned in another article elsewhere.
2. To follow a trackback ping from the target weblog to the source weblog.
3. If another blogger links to your article you can set up notifications via special comments called trackbacks. This enables the author to keep track of who is linking to or referring to their articles.

Trackback ping
A ping that signals a blog’s server that a post on that blog has been commented upon.

Trackback spam
Sping sent by means of the Trackback system. Many blogs stopped using Trackback after the system became flooded with this type of spam. See also “comment spam.”

Tranzi
Derived from ‘Transnational Progressive’, a term popularised by John Fonte. Transnational Socialists. Not a term of endearment. (coined by David Carr)

Troll
1.To troll for hits is to post a provocative article purely in order to generate an angry response (usually followed by sending a mass e-mail shot to the target audience) and commensurate increase in hit rate.
2. A contributor to an online discussion whose purpose in posting is primarily is to generate intense debate, often with intentionally inflammatory rhetoric. Troll literally “troll,” a form of fishing, for reaction from contributors to the forum with the intention of stimulating a flamewar.

Turing test
technical A Turing Test is a test which determines if the party on the other end of a remote communication is a human or a computer program (also known as a ‘Captcha’ (qv)).
This is germane to blogging because many comment sections on blogs use non-machine readable systems prevent spambots from entering comment spam.

Twitter
A microblogging service including text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on a user’s profile page.

Uniques
The number of unique visitors or humans that have visited a website within a given time frame.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
Specifies where an identified resource is and the avenue for retrieving it. The most common example if the addresses for web pages on the Internet.

Viral Content
Content that spreads very quickly on the Internet.

Vlog
A vlog (or video blog) is a blog that contains video content. The small, but growing, segment of the blogosphere devoted to vlogs is sometimes referred to as the vlogosphere.

Vlogger
One who maintains a vlog.

Vlogging
Blogging using video instead of text. The 60 Second Marketer is not a Vlog, although the 60 Second Marketer YouTube channel has over 50 short, 60-second marketing videos.

Vorage
To search for video online and share it with others. (video + forage)

Warblog
1. One of a large number of blogs (qv) which sprung up after September 11th 2001 (mostly in or after November 2001). Most at least initially were created to provide anti-idiotarian (qv) commentary in the aftermath of Al Qaeda’s attack upon the United States. Warblogs are essentially a subset of pundit blogs (qv). Someone who runs a Warblog is a Warblogger.
2. Any blog largely or primarily dedicated to coverage of terrorism, the war or terrorism, and conflict in the Middle East, regardless of when it was started.
3. Any blog that take an editorial position generally in favor of military intervention by the United States in one or more Middle Eastern or Central Asian nations linked to terrorism.
(probably coined by Matt Welch)

Weblog
Longer, alternative form of blog. (Coined by Jorn Barger)

Webwaffle
An article posted on a blog. (coined by Tony Millard)

Wiki
A type of collaborative on-line software that allows readers to add content on a subject, which can also be edited by others. For example: Wikipedia.
The major difference between a blog and a wiki is that a blog is more directly under the control of the owner(s) and the primary objective of a blog is for the owner(s) to express themselves to their target audience. A wiki on the other hand is about collaboration (in a general sense) rather than expressing views.

Whoring (for hits)
Posting things on a blog purely to generate an increase in visitors. The term is often intended humourously, but not always.

Word Banning
Allows a blogger to ban specific words, in addition to IP addresses, into a comment spam filter.

WordPress
The most popular blogging software on the Internet, create by a company called Automattic. You’re reading a WordPress blog right now!

WordPress Plugin
Plugins are pieces of code created with the purpose of expanding the functionalities and solving a wide range of problems and needs of WordPress.

WordPress Themes
Blog presentation designs offered by WordPress

XML
Web language used for (amongst other things) syndication formats used on blogs. Acronym for eXtensible Markup Language

Other blogging terms at
Blogging Glossary – A to E
Blogging Glossary – F to P