Glossary
Affiliate Marketing - Affiliate marketing is an advertising model where a company pays compensation to third party publishers to generate traffic or leads to the company’s products and services. The third party publishers are referred to as affiliates and the commission fee incentivizes them to find ways to promote the company. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/affiliate-marketing.asp
Clickbait - (on the Internet) Content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page. Oxford American College Dictionary.
Disinformation - False information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth. Merriam Webster Dictionary.
Echo Chamber (media) - A metaphorical description of a situation in which information, ideas, or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a defined system. Inside a figurative echo chamber, official sources often go unquestioned and different or competing views are censored, disallowed, or otherwise underrepresented. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_chamber_(media)
Engagement (social media) - Engagement measures how much and how often others interact with you and your content in social media. When someone takes the time to like, favorite or comment on something you’ve posted, they’re actively engaging with your content. https://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-engagement/
Fake News - False information or propaganda published, especially online, under the guise of being authentic news. http://webopedia.com/TERM/F/fake-news.html
Filter Bubble - The intellectual isolation that can occur when websites make use of algorithms to selectively assume the information a user would want to see, and then give information to the user according to this assumption. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28556/filterbubble
Fourth Estate - The public press. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Information Literacy - The skill required to recognize when information is needed and being able to efficiently locate, accurately evaluate, effectively use, and clearly communicate information in various formats. http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/infoforyou/infolitdefined.html
Intellectual Freedom - Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. – American Library Association
Internet Bot - An Internet bot, in its most generic sense, is software that performs an automated task over the Internet. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24063/internet-bot
Internet Meme - A concept or idea that spreads "virally" from one person to another via the Internet. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/internet_meme.html
Misinformation - Incorrect or misleading information. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Native Advertising - Material in an online publication which resembles the publication's editorial content but is paid for by an advertiser and intended to promote the advertiser's product. Oxford American College Dictionary.
Net Neutrality - a network design paradigm that argues for broadband network providers to be completely detached from what information is sent over their networks. In essence, it argues that no bit of information should be prioritized over another. https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~raylin/whatisnetneutrality.htm
Partisan - a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person; especially: one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Satire - The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Oxford American College Dictionary.
Social Media - Forms of electronic communication (as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos). Merriam Webster Dictionary.
Social Networking Site - Any website that allows users to create public profiles within that site and form relationships with other users who access their profile. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/social_networking_site.html
Viral - An image, video, advertisement, etc., that is circulated rapidly on the Internet. Oxford American College Dictionary.
Viral Marketing - In Internet and online advertising viral marketing is a type of marketing technique that relies on and encourages people to pass along a marketing message by word-of-mouth (or word-of-e-mail) marketing. Viral marketing online uses blog and social networks to produce positive word-of-mouth brand awareness.