We define some concepts related to social networks to improve your experience with these platforms
Digitalisation and anglicisms have facilitated the introduction of new words commonly used when talking about the Internet. The five terms in this article are an example of this, ranging from elements present in everyday life on a social network to new employee profiles: bio, feed, tuit, viral and copy. Are there any of them that you don't know? Do they all sound familiar, but you don't know what they mean? Do you use them without knowing exactly what they refer to? If you answered yes to any of these questions, read on.
what is a bio?
"Bio" is short for "biography". When you create an account on social networks, they ask you to write a short description of yourself or your company, which works like a biography. The aim is to give users who access a profile a first idea of a person or a brand. In these short texts, which have a limited number of characters, it is important to use keywords that generally define the content that you will publish on your social networks.
The image above shows our Twitter profile, where you can read a biography that uses keywords: "Occam Digital Agency specialises in Inbound Marketing, audiovisual production, software development and mobile applications". Other options would be to use the main slogan of the company or highlight a work success. On the other hand, for personal profiles it is recommended to include a description of your professional side, but also of your tastes or hobbies. There are a thousand ways to write a biography, but try to be original: remember that it will be the first thing your potential followers will read.
what is a feed?
According to the definition provided by Google AdSense Help, "a feed is a scrollable flow of content. The content appears in similar blocks that are repeated one after the other". This definition is aimed at its use on websites, where you can find feeds of news, text, a list of products... In this sense, the RAE establishes several words to refer to this concept in Spanish: "flujo", "fuente", "canal", "suministro" or "distribución" de contenido.
In the field of social networks, this term appears when talking about Instagram and refers to the gallery of images and videos published by a user. Thus, when you enter a profile on this platform, you are referred to its feed, which appears in the form of a grid and ordered in chronological order according to the date of publication (although Instagram recently incorporated the option to set a maximum of three posts at the beginning of the feed).
The aim of many Instagram users (including business profiles or influencers) is to establish an attractive design in the feed. In other words, they seek unity between posts in the graphic aspect, with special care in the use of colours, filters or other photo editing elements. In this sense, the feed offers several opportunities to present your profile in an original way. For example, the strategy of publishing cropped images so that a complete image can be seen from the profile is well known (an example can be found in the image above). In order to facilitate the care of the feed, there are applications (such as Preview) that allow you to preview how the images would be ordered before publishing them.
what is a tweet?
"Tuit" is the Spanish adaptation of "tweet". Unlike "feed", the RAE includes this term in its dictionary and defines it as follows: "Digital message sent through the Twitter social network that cannot exceed a limited number of characters". During the first years of the platform, this limit was 140 characters, but years ago it was extended and now it is 280 characters. Therefore, tweets are the basic content and pillar of Twitter, the social network that is mainly based on text.
The tweet above is an example of the different elements that these publications can incorporate: text, emoticons, hashtags, links, images... And not only that: also videos, polls or GIFs.
what is viral?
In this case, the RAE also establishes a definition for this concept: "Said of a message or content: that it spreads very quickly on social networks via the Internet". Therefore, we are dealing with an adjective in line with publications on social platforms that manage to reach thousands of users and generate many interactions. And how many are many? The truth is that there is no standard figure to consider something viral. In fact, establishing one could be counterproductive, as the number of likes or retweets is not the only thing that defines that a content is viral. Therefore, other variables must be taken into account: has its popularity surpassed the barrier of social networks and is it talked about outside? Is it impossible to calculate its reach with exactitude?
Let's look at a case of virality: Mapi, the RTVE programme. The channel decided to announce its premiere on a new Twitter profile with a video of its protagonist, a girl generated by CGI (Computer Generated Image). Its impact spread rapidly among the network's users, generating thousands and thousands of comments. On 18 October, the tweet had 10,700 retweets and citations, 5,500 likes, 3,200 replies and 2,700,000 video reproductions. Of course, it became a trending topic.
what is a copy?
New technologies have led to the creation of new professional profiles, and this concept is related to one of them. A copy is a textual content written by the copywriter, who is also often called a copy. These pieces of text, which require large doses of originality, have commercial and advertising purposes as part of a communication strategy. An example of a copy could be a description of a post on Instagram, as well as the script of a YouTube video, a voice-over, a slogan, etc.
Therefore, it is important not to confuse this figure with the community manager. The copywriter can write texts for the brand's social networks, but his function is not to manage these profiles: this task corresponds to the community manager. Moreover, the copywriter 's field of action goes beyond the company's social accounts. Similarly, he cannot be considered part of the writing team, as his work is closer to that of the art director.
