Last week I started building a glossary of acronyms essential to understanding the modern internet.  Links to that article are interspersed amid five new acronyms to help you master the web.

Yet More Acronyms to Rule the Web

API - Application Programming Interface

An API is a set of standards used by one program so that it can interact with another without having to reveal what goes on inside. It’s sort of like a postal address for computer programs. So long as you properly format the address on the envelope, your letter will reach the desired destination, even if you do not know the specific route it will take to get there.

CMS - Content Management System

CGM - Consumer Generated Media

With the broad acceptance of social media and the Web 2.0 frame of mind, consumers now produce information (photos, reviews, links, &c.) as well as consume it. By connecting potential clients to CGM they will get a more authentic view of the impact you product has on the people who use it.

CGM is therefore seen as an essential element of SMM (see below).

CSS - Cascading Style Sheets

FTP - File Transfer Protocol

FTP is one of the oldest ways of using the Internet. Instead of displaying web pages and using hyperlinks to facilitate navigation, FTP allows direct access to the file structure of a site. It is useful for quickly uploading and downloading large numbers of files, and remains an integral skill for a web developer, but with the advent of CMS (see above) it is no longer necessary that website managers know how to use FTP.

HTML - Hypertext Markup Language

HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol

These four letters have become so pervasive; we hardly even notice them anymore. Contrary to what you might think, this is not actually a part of the web address. What you’re actually doing when you type “http,” is telling your web browser that you’re looking for a (unsecure) website. There is a common variant, https, which is used to tell a browser program that a site should be secure.

RT - Re-Tweet

SMM - Social Media Marketing

SMM is the newest weapon in the integrated marketing arsenal. It is used to describe any marketing use of web 2.0 sites like Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. A typical SMM campaign will introduce content meant to attract attention, generate online attention, and encourage viewers to share either the original material or its surrounding commentary with their friends and online social networks.

The process of measuring and improving SMM campaigns is known as SMO. Next week I will define it and four other acronyms to rule the web.

XML - Extensible Markup Language

What Would You Add to an Acronym Dictionary?

If there’s an acronym you’d like us to define as part of this series, please leave us a comment!