Social Media Vocabulary: Eye Rest and Linkbait

This week for social media vocabulary, we have 5 more strange words. Who knew astroturfing had anything to do with social media? As always, let us know if there are words you hear and would like an explanation on!

1. Akismet: Akismet is our friend. It is a little bot application that filters spam comments from your site. With Akismet we don’t have to sort through all those fake comments, its kind of like the spam folder in your email account. Akismet is very popular on WordPress blogs.
2. AstroTurfing: AstroTurfing, at least in the social media world is a tactic used by some to create a fake grassroots movement or buzz, hence the turf reference. Usually the authors are paid or otherwise incentivised to write positive reviews or content that mentions whatever product marketers are trying to get buzz for. The key is that it is not organic, Astroturf might be great for football, but fake grass has no roots!
3. Blook: This one you might have been able to guess. A blook is a book or ebook that was created mostly from past blog content. Posts are collected and put together in one package and offered in a more traditional format. It usually goes the other way, but there are some popular blooks out there.
4. Eye Rest: Well, these numbers and bold type are an example of eye rest. Eye rest is a technique used in blogs to make the post easily readable andor offer more to the reader. Other examples are hyperlinks, bullets, images, and lists.
5. Linkbait: Linkbait is anything the author of a blog may put into a post in terms of content to try and promote and encourage other sites to link back to it. This could be an infographic, list, video, poll, or anything that is readily shareable and intriguing. Usually the content is meant to be controversial, sensational, or otherwise attention grabbing. Links drive SEO so linkbait is a popular practice and isn’t necessarily a negative practice, though some abuse it and leave it with a bit of a negative connotation.