Social Media Growth Glossary
The words you meet on this site and on the platforms, in plain sentences: from algorithm to YouTube Partner Program.
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A
- Algorithm
- The ranking system a platform uses to decide which posts and videos each person sees, and in what order. It weighs signals such as watch time, likes, comments, saves, shares and how quickly a post earns them after publishing.
- Analytics
- The numbers a platform shows the account owner: reach, impressions, views, follows and unfollows, audience age and location. Instagram calls them Insights, TikTok and YouTube call them Analytics. Engagement rate calculator →
- Auto likes
- Likes that arrive on each new post by themselves, for a set period, without placing a new order every time. On Boost, Instagram auto likes are a one-time payment for 30 days, not a renewing subscription. Instagram auto likes →
B
- Bio
- The short text on a profile under the name: who the account is, what it posts, and usually one link. The first thing a visitor reads when deciding whether to follow.
- Boosted post
- A regular post that the owner pays the platform to show to more people, through the platform's own ads system. The reach is paid and stops when the budget ends.
- Bot
- An automated account run by software rather than a person. Platforms remove bot accounts in sweeps, which is why followers from bots disappear and why a refill guarantee matters.
C
- Caption
- The text under a post or video. Captions carry the hashtags and the call to action, and are read by the ranking system for context. Instagram character counter →
- Carousel post
- An Instagram post with several photos or videos that the viewer swipes through. Carousels often earn more saves and time spent than a single image.
- Collab post
- An Instagram post published on two accounts at once, with the likes, comments and views counted together on both profiles.
- Comment
- A public reply under a post or video. Comments weigh more than likes in most ranking systems because they take effort, and they invite other people to join in. Custom comments →
- Community Guidelines
- The rules every platform publishes about what accounts may and may not do. They forbid spam, fake engagement and bought interactions, and they are the basis on which a platform removes content or restricts an account. Is it safe to buy followers? →
- Conversion
- The moment a visitor does what the account wanted: follows, clicks the link in the bio, signs up or buys. Conversion is measured as a share of the people who saw the post or visited the profile.
- CPM
- Cost per thousand impressions, the usual price unit of paid advertising. A $5 CPM means $5 for every 1,000 times the ad was shown.
- Creator Rewards Program
- TikTok's payment program for creators. At the time of writing it asks for at least 10,000 followers, 100,000 video views in the last 30 days, the minimum age TikTok sets and an eligible country, and it pays for original videos longer than one minute. TikTok money calculator →
- Crypto payment
- Paying with a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or USDT through a payment page that converts the amount at checkout. On Boost a crypto payment takes 10% off the order.
- Custom comments
- Comments whose text the customer writes, one line per comment, posted on the chosen post by different accounts. The opposite of random comments, which are generic. Custom comments →
- Custom quantity
- An amount typed by the customer instead of one of the fixed packages, priced per unit at the rate of the nearest package. Every service on Boost takes a custom quantity.
D
- Delivery
- In social media growth services, the arrival of the ordered followers, likes or views on the account or post. Delivery has a start time (when the first ones arrive) and a pace (how fast the rest follow).
- Drip-feed
- Delivery spread over hours or days instead of all at once, so the growth looks like normal activity. Also called paced or gradual delivery. On Boost you can spread likes, views, saves and reposts over the hours you choose.
- Drop
- The loss of part of the delivered followers or likes after delivery, when the platform removes accounts or people unfollow. Some drop is normal; a refill guarantee covers it for a stated period. Refund and refill policy →
- Duet
- A TikTok video that plays side by side with another creator's video, a common way to react, answer or collaborate.
E
- Engagement
- Every interaction with a post: likes, comments, saves, shares, replies, poll votes. Platforms rank posts by engagement relative to reach, not by the raw count alone.
- Engagement rate
- Interactions as a share of the audience. The common formula is likes plus comments (and often saves and shares) divided by followers, times 100; a stricter one divides by reach. Rates between 1% and 5% are typical for established accounts, higher for small ones. Engagement rate calculator →
- Explore page
- Instagram's discovery feed of posts from accounts a person does not follow, chosen by the ranking system. Reaching Explore brings views from outside your audience.
F
- Fake followers
- Followers that are bots or empty accounts with no activity. They raise the follower count and lower the engagement rate, and platforms remove them in sweeps. Instagram account audit →
- Follower
- An account that chose to see your posts in its feed. The follower count is the most visible number on a profile and the first signal visitors use to judge an account. Instagram followers →
- Following
- The accounts a profile follows. A following count far above the follower count reads as a follow-for-follow account; a balanced ratio reads as an audience that chose to be there.
- For You page
- TikTok's main feed (FYP), filled by the ranking system with videos from any account, not only the ones a person follows. Most TikTok views come from it.
- Free trial
- A small amount of a service given free so you can see the delivery on your own account before paying. On Boost: one free service every 24 hours, no payment details. Free trials →
G
- Ghost followers
- Followers that never like, comment or watch: inactive people or dormant accounts. They count as followers but add nothing to engagement.
- Growth service
- A company that delivers followers, likes, views or other interactions to an account for a fee. Also called an SMM service. What separates them is how delivery works, what they ask for, and what happens when something drops. How to choose a site to buy followers →
H
- Handle
- The username with the @ sign, unique on each platform: @yourname. Services are ordered by handle or profile link, never with a password. Username checker →
- Hashtag
- A word or phrase after the # sign that files a post under a topic, so it appears in searches and topic feeds. A few relevant hashtags do more than thirty generic ones.
- High-retention views
- Video views where the viewer watches a large share of the video rather than a few seconds. Retention is a strong ranking signal on YouTube and TikTok.
- Highlights
- Instagram Stories saved on the profile under a cover, so they stay visible after the 24 hours. Highlights act as the profile's permanent chapters.
I
- Impressions
- How many times a post was shown on a screen, counting repeats. One person who sees a post three times is three impressions and one reach. Instagram impressions →
- Influencer
- A person whose posts reach an audience that trusts their recommendations, and who is paid by brands for that reach. Tiers by follower count: nano (under 10,000), micro (10,000 to 100,000), macro (100,000 to 1 million), mega (above). Instagram money calculator →
- Insights
- Instagram's name for the analytics of a professional account: reach, impressions, profile visits, follows, and the age, gender and location of the audience.
K
- KPI
- Key performance indicator: the one or two numbers an account is actually judged by, such as follower growth per month, engagement rate or clicks to a website.
L
- Like
- The one-tap approval under a post or video. Likes are the fastest form of social proof: a post with likes is read as worth a look before anyone reads it. Instagram likes →
- Link in bio
- The one clickable link a profile may carry, in the bio. Posts cannot carry links on Instagram and TikTok, so "link in bio" became the standard call to action.
- LIVE
- A real-time broadcast on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or Facebook. TikTok requires at least 1,000 followers and the minimum age it sets (18 in most countries) before an account can go LIVE, at the time of writing. TikTok followers →
- Live views
- Viewers counted during a live broadcast. A live with viewers in the room ranks higher in the LIVE feed and keeps new arrivals watching longer. TikTok LIVE views →
M
- Mention
- Writing another account's handle in a post, caption or comment, which notifies that account and links to it.
- Money-back guarantee
- A written promise to refund an order under stated conditions and within a stated time. On Boost: 30 days, written on the refund policy page, not only in the FAQ. Refund policy →
- Monthly listeners
- Spotify's public count of different people who played an artist in the last 28 days. It moves with releases and playlist placements and is the number labels and promoters look at first. Spotify monthly listeners →
- Monthly plan
- On Boost, an Instagram followers package delivered as a fixed number per day for 30 days, paid once. It is not a subscription and does not renew. Instagram followers plans →
N
- Niche
- The specific topic an account is known for (one sport, one cuisine, one city). A clear niche gives the ranking system a steady audience to match the account with.
O
- Order tracking
- A page where a customer sees the state of an order, the start counts and the delivered amount, and asks for a refill. On Boost it needs the order number and the email used, no login. Track your order →
- Organic growth
- Followers and engagement gained from the content itself and the platform's distribution, without paying for reach or interactions. Organic TikTok followers →
- Organic reach
- The number of people who saw a post without any paid promotion. On most platforms organic reach is a small share of the follower count, which is why engagement on the first hour matters.
P
- Paced delivery
- See drip-feed: delivery spread over time instead of in one burst, so a day's growth stays in proportion to the account.
- Package
- A fixed amount of a service at a fixed price: 500 followers, 1,000 likes. Larger packages cost less per unit; the price per 100 or per 1,000 is the honest way to compare them.
- Page likes
- On Facebook, the count of people who liked a Page (as opposed to a post). Page likes and Page followers are two separate numbers. Facebook Page likes →
- Pinned post
- A post fixed to the top of a profile so visitors see it first. Instagram allows three pinned posts, TikTok three pinned videos.
- Plays
- Spotify's count of streams of a track. A stream counts after 30 seconds of listening; plays feed the popularity score that decides playlist and radio placements. Spotify plays →
- Poll votes
- Votes on a poll attached to a post, on X or in an Instagram Story. Poll results are public, so the vote count is a visible form of engagement. X poll votes →
- Private account
- An account whose posts only approved followers can see. Followers, likes and views cannot be delivered to a private account, which is why services ask you to keep the account public until delivery completes.
- Profile visits
- How many times people opened the profile page in a period. Profile visits sit between reach and follows in the funnel from a post to a new follower.
- Public account
- An account anyone can view without following. All growth services need the account or the post to be public during delivery.
R
- Reach
- The number of different people who saw a post at least once. Reach is the honest audience size of a post; impressions count the repeats.
- Reels
- Instagram's short vertical videos, shown to followers and to new people through the Reels feed and Explore. Reels are the format Instagram distributes furthest beyond an account's followers. Reels views →
- Refill
- Topping an order back up when part of the delivered amount drops within the guarantee period. On Boost you ask for it from the order tracking page; the refill period is written on each service page. Request a refill →
- Refill guarantee
- The promise, for a stated number of days, to replace followers or likes that drop after delivery. Read the days and the exclusions, not only the badge: 30 days is common; Boost includes 90 days on Instagram followers, with a 365-day option at checkout.
- Refill protection
- On Boost, the optional upgrade at checkout that extends the refill guarantee of an order to 365 days.
- Reposts
- Sharing someone's post to your own followers: a repost on Instagram and TikTok, a repost (formerly retweet) on X. Reposts carry a post into new feeds. Instagram reposts →
- Retention
- How much of a video people watch before leaving, shown as a curve in analytics. Retention in the first seconds decides whether a platform keeps distributing a video.
- Retweet
- The old name of a repost on X: sharing a post to your followers with one tap, with or without a comment. X retweets →
S
- Saves
- Bookmarking a post to find it again. Saves are a quiet but heavy ranking signal on Instagram and TikTok, because a save means the content was useful. Instagram saves →
- Shadowban
- An unofficial word for a platform limiting an account's reach without telling the owner: posts stop appearing in hashtag feeds, Explore or the For You page. Platforms do not use the word, but they do limit distribution after rule breaches. Shadowban checker →
- Shorts
- YouTube's short vertical videos, up to three minutes, with their own feed and their own view count. YouTube Shorts views →
- SMM
- Social media marketing: everything done to grow and use an audience on social platforms, from posting and ads to growth services.
- SMM panel
- A website that sells followers, likes and views in bulk from many suppliers through one order form, usually to resellers. Prices are low and support and refills are thin; consumer sites buy from panels and add the guarantees.
- Social proof
- The effect that people trust what others already chose: a profile with followers and posts with likes are read as worth attention before anyone judges the content.
- Split delivery
- On Boost, dividing one likes, views or comments order between several posts of the same account, chosen in the order step. Instagram likes →
- Start count
- The number on the profile, post or video when delivery started, recorded by the service so the delivered amount and any drop can be measured against it. Boost emails it in "We started your order".
- Start time
- How long after payment the first followers, likes or views arrive. Read it as the start, not the finish; a service page should state it before you pay.
- Story
- A photo or video that disappears after 24 hours, shown in the row at the top of Instagram and Facebook. Stories are where accounts talk to the followers they already have. Story views →
- Story views
- The number of accounts that watched a Story, shown only to the owner. A Story with views moves earlier in followers' Story rows.
- Subscriber
- YouTube's word for a follower. Subscribers get new uploads in their feed, and the subscriber count is one of the thresholds of the YouTube Partner Program. YouTube subscribers →
T
- Targeted followers
- Followers from one country or language, delivered at a higher price than worldwide followers. On Boost, YouTube views can be targeted by country. Country-targeted YouTube views →
- Thumbnail
- The still image shown for a video before it plays. On YouTube the thumbnail and title decide the click-through rate more than anything in the video.
- Two-factor authentication
- A second step at login (a code from an app or SMS) that protects an account even when the password leaks. Turn it on; no growth service ever needs it or your password.
U
- UGC
- User-generated content: photos, videos and reviews made by customers or fans rather than the brand, often reposted by the brand with permission.
- Username
- The unique name of an account on a platform, written after @. It is all a growth service needs to deliver followers; a post or video link is all it needs for likes and views. TikTok username checker →
V
- Verification badge
- The check mark next to a name. On Instagram, Facebook and X it is now mostly a paid subscription (Meta Verified, X Premium) with identity checks; TikTok and YouTube still grant it to notable or large accounts. No growth service can supply it.
- Video views
- How many times a video was played, counted by each platform's own rule: TikTok and Instagram count a play as it starts, YouTube counts a view only after an intentional watch of some length and filters repeats. TikTok views →
- Viral
- A post that the platform keeps distributing far beyond the account's followers because of strong early engagement and retention. Virality is a distribution event, not a follower count.
W
- Watch hours
- YouTube's total of public watch time on a channel over the last 12 months. At the time of writing, 4,000 public watch hours (or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days) with 1,000 subscribers open ad revenue in the YouTube Partner Program. Bought watch hours break YouTube's rules, and Boost does not sell them.
- Watch time
- The total minutes people spent watching a video or channel. Together with retention it is the main ranking signal on YouTube.
X
- X
- The platform formerly called Twitter. Posts (formerly tweets) earn likes, reposts, replies, bookmarks, poll votes and impressions, all public on the post. X services →
Y
- YouTube Partner Program
- The program that lets a channel earn from ads and memberships. At the time of writing the ad tier asks for 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days, plus YouTube's rules on original content. YouTube subscribers →
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