Blogging, vlogging, snapping and more: what is it?

Young people often talk about blogging. That means writing an online article. A so-called blog always appears somewhere on the internet. Many bloggers publish the online article on a personal website. Such a website is then called a weblog. If someone keeps the weblog daily with personal stories, it is in fact a public diary.

When someone microblogging, they publish short text messages on the Internet. These messages are usually about current topics. Many people use Twitter for this. The short messages that appear on this internet service are called tweets. As soon as you publish a message on Twitter, it is also referred to as tweeting.

Vlogs of famous Dutch people are regularly featured on television programs such as RTL Boulevard and SBS Shownieuws. A vlog is an abbreviation of ‘video weblog’. The protagonist records himself with the selfie camera of a smartphone. When someone starts vlogging, they usually explain or report something. For example, viewers get an impression of what someone does in daily life. Vloggers and vlogsters (women) often use social media to publish the video. Think of Facebook or Instagram. Many vlogs also end up on YouTube. With over two million followers on YouTube, Enzo Knol is a popular vlogger among young people.

A podcast is a recorded audio fragment in which one or more people tell something. This audio broadcast can be about anything. A podcast is always on the internet. Interested parties decide for themselves when they listen to the fragment. Well-known media such as NPO Radio 1, De Telegraaf, Algemeen Dagblad and Nu.nl offer podcasts. In addition, there are also countless podcasts about specific hobbies. People can record their own podcast with an app on a smartphone.

The youngest generation uses their smartphone to ‘snap’ (pronounced snap). That is posting a photo or video on the Snapchat app. Like Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat is a social network. Young people from all over the world are massively sharing videos and photos. They can decorate these images with texts and animations. These so-called snaps are temporarily visible to the recipients. The text messages and footage will disappear from Snapchat within 24 hours.

Influencers are influential people who sometimes have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. In short, an influencer is a trendsetter. Many young people allow themselves to be influenced in their buying behavior by influencers they admire. A successful influencer often gets money to promote certain products. The topics are, for example, fashion, healthy food and make-up. Influencers are mainly active on Instagram and YouTube. In the Netherlands, Anna Nooshin, Monica Geuze and Nikkie de Jager are popular influencers.

Users indicate with a ‘like’ on social media when they like something. For example, users can like a photo on Instagram by tapping the heart. Facebook offers several options to rate a post, photo or video. For example, choose a thumb, heart or smiley.

Social media users often ‘hashtag’ a message (speak out like hesj-tek). This is basically a label that people put a pound sign (#) on. On Twitter, for example, the hashtag #dwdd stands for De Wereld Draait Door. When users search for this hashtag, they will see posts about this television program. Also at popular events and current events people often place a hashtag with messages.

A popular topic of conversation on social media is referred to as a ‘trending topic’. Twitter, for example, knows exactly what is going on among its users. By default, this internet service shows the ten most popular topics per country. A major news event is almost always a direct trending topic on social media.

As soon as someone publishes a (photo) message on Facebook or Twitter, they can ‘tag’ other people (pronounced teh-gun). To tag means to name someone. For example, a Facebook user tags all visible people in the photo. A tag has an at sign in front of the name, for example @Maikel Dijkhuizen. Tagged people always get a notification.

Talk shows nowadays regularly show striking internet videos that are said to go ‘viral’. By going viral, they mean that internet users massively share the video with each other. These videos are often viewed millions of times on YouTube alone.

An evening of ‘bingewatching’ is the most normal thing in the world for subscribers of video services such as Netflix, Videoland and Disney+. This term means watching a series marathon. For example, a binge watcher watches three, four or maybe even five episodes in a row, so that he or she sits in front of the television for hours. Binge watching is also known as coma watching.