Blog – a shortened form of ‘web log’, a blog is a webpage where people record observations and commentary on a variety of subjects. For example, you can read NMC Review editor Jane Salvage’s blog online.

Chatroom - forms of online conversation that can range from text-based discussion forums and instant messaging to audio and video communications.

Internet – a series of tens of thousands of interconnected networks that form a global network. The world wide web is the means for accessing information using that network.

New media - a broad term describing various digital technologies, such as websites, applications and multimedia, that enable users to create, publish and collaborate on content.

Post – the act of creating content – ‘to post a status update’; or the content itself – ‘a new post on my blog’.

Social networking - communicating with people and building networks via online communities. They enable users to share ideas, events and media. Different networks have different focuses: LinkedIn is more professional, while Facebook is more social.

Status update – a feature on most social networking sites where you can write a short message about whatever is on your mind.

Twitter - an online social networking service that enables users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 words, known as tweets. You can converse with other users by putting ‘@’ in front of their username – this is an @-reply. Retweets are broadcasts of another user’s tweet to your followers. The hashtag is the # symbol used to mark noteworthy subjects in a tweet, acting as keywords for Twitter users to group and search for content on topics or events.

Webinar – a web seminar that makes it possible for people to ‘attend’ virtually, wherever they are. Presentations can be in the form of live video or slideshows, and may incorporate collaborative elements such as questions or polls.