The Digiday Dictionary: What It Really Means

There are a lot of terms, jargon, acronyms and phrases that get thrown around in this industry. Sometimes it’s hard to understand what people are actually saying. Our copy editor, for one, has groused about this tendency. To help our collective comprehension, we put together the Digiday Dictionary. Unlike other industry glossaries that tell you what the terms mean on the surface, we tell you what they really mean. If you have any industry words or phrases that you would like to be defined/translated, or if you have definitions you would like to submit, please email me at the address below. We will keep this updated regularly with new, honest definitions and will tweet them out from @Digiday.

The Digiday Dictionary

accountability: clicks
ad exchange: shitty media
ad network: shitty media
agency partners: vendors
authentic: fake
Bcc: asshole
Cannes: Spring Break with business cards
choiceful: scared of screwing up
clean, well-lit environment: expensive
content: ads
cross-device: works on iPhone
curation: stealing
data visualization: fancy bar chart
digital strategy: Mashable
DSP: ad network
earned media: press release
ecosystem: expensive (via @OH_DigitalMedia)
efficiency buy: shitty media
email blast: spam (via @OH_DigitalMedia)
engagement: clicks
evangelist: conference ho
exploit: use (via @OH_DigitalMedia)
freemium: we had to make money somehow (via @teddy)
FYI: I hate you
Gamification: manipulation
Google+: ghost town
guru: asshole
harness: use (via @OH_DigitalMedia)
high-impact creative: flash banners
HTML5: it’s the year of mobile, right?
in-stream: interruption
incremental: rounding error
Internet advertising: banners
Klout score: bullshit
KPI: clicks
lean-back medium: worth watching
lean-forward medium: our CPMs are high
leverage: use
long tail: porn
mid tail: porn
mobile site: kind of works on your iPhone
monetization: equivalent to spamming consumers
niche: too small to matter
ninja: asshole
non-premium: shitty media
ongoing conversation: got rejected repeatedly (via @delray)
optimization: hasn’t worked yet
organic: fake
owned media: website
paid media: banners
partnership: free access to your audience (via @AnneWeiskopf)
paywall: we’re going broke
performance: clicks (via @razzmuzzen)
phablet: I’ve given up self-respect
phygital: the end is nigh
pitch: free ideas
platform: website
post-roll: invisible
pre-roll: roadblock
premium video: Hulu (via @ckronengold)
private exchange: we’re not getting ripped off
privacy: migraine
privacy advocate: asshole
procurement: cheap asshole
programmatic buying: servers are cheaper than people
PR: people who stalk the media
relationship building: Jeans Night
retargeting: stalking consumers on the Web
rockstar: asshole
ROI: clicks
RFP: bargain hunting
RTB: remnant
SMS: it’s called a text, grandpa
social graph: Facebook?
social strategy: give it to the intern
SoLoMo: MoBullShit
solution: bullshit, over-priced ad technology
stack: tech plumbing
strategy: PowerPoint
synergy: whose idea was this anyway?
transmedia: confusing and unpopular
transparency: somebody’s getting ripped off
verification: porn screenshot
viewable impressions: uh-oh
viral: upload it to YouTube
win-win: somebody’s getting ripped off