User-Generated Content — and, as a job title, someone paid to make brand content that looks user-made.

The idea that most online content and activity is now generated by bots rather than people.

A screenshot of a public apology written in a phone's notes app.

Someone who replies to a specific account's every post, usually unprompted and usually a man.

Having your message seen and not replied to, with the read receipt proving it.

A batch of loosely related photos posted together with minimal editing or captioning.

A restricted audience for stories, marked by a green ring — and a social hierarchy in itself.

A second, private Instagram account for close friends, with lower-effort and more honest posts.

A phrase pointing followers to the single clickable link on a profile.

Telling your audience what not to buy — a reaction against constant product recommendation.

Sponsored content — a post paid for by a brand, usually with a disclosure tag.

Someone whose online following gives them commercial power over what their audience buys.

A video format where a creator narrates a personal anecdote, usually a dramatic one.

Point Of View — a video format that puts the viewer inside a scenario.

Outfit Of The Day — a post showing what you're wearing.

Get Ready With Me — a video format where a creator talks while getting dressed or doing makeup.

A photo posted specifically to attract admiring attention, framed as if it were about something else.

Posting content designed purely to trigger replies, likes and shares rather than to say anything.

Having your content quietly suppressed without being told, so you post into a void.

Coded language invented to avoid automated content moderation.

For You Page — TikTok's algorithmic main feed, and shorthand for going viral on it.

The recommendation system that decides what you see — spoken about as if it were a person with intentions.

Treating ordinary daily moments as beautiful and cinematic on purpose.

A meal assembled from snacks and leftovers rather than cooked.