# Looking for a better term **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502 "2017-04-01T15:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/1 "2017-04-01T15:26:00Z")
Looking for a Better Term I have been working on a novel about social media collaborations. Is social media the best term here? I don’t know of any others. The book is about a group creating a web site that would be open to everyone for the purpose of collaborating on anything and everything. Is social media the best way to describe it? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/2 "2017-04-01T15:38:06Z")
You should set it slightly in the future and invent your own term for it (then trademark it, quick, royalties await). ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/3 "2017-04-01T15:55:45Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > You should set it slightly in the future and invent your own term for it (then trademark it, quick, royalties await). I have a whole bunch of new terms I am trying to coin. I would rather coin as few as possible. Right now I just name something and try to find the right term later. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/4 "2017-04-01T15:59:49Z")
Call your protagonists Benjamin Gookle and Virginia Dox, and the website Gookle-Dox. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/5 "2017-04-01T16:07:35Z")
A Wiki maybe? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/6 "2017-04-01T16:12:56Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > A Wiki maybe? I had to look that term up. I was surprised at the definition. I am actually hoping there is some common term that is eluding me for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/7 "2017-04-01T16:22:00Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I had to look that term up. I was surprised at the definition. I am actually hoping there is some common term that is eluding me for some reason. Perhaps if you define what you are talking about in plain English? You said “social media collaborations”. What do _you_ mean by that? Social media are one thing. Online collaboration tools are a different thing, see here for example: > **[The Best Online Collaboration Software for 2024](https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-online-collaboration-software)** > > We test the leading software that helps teams work together. These are the top online collaboration tools we recommend. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/8 "2017-04-01T16:24:39Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I had to look that term up. I was surprised at the definition. I am actually hoping there is some common term that is eluding me for some reason. Surprised how? Wiki is the first term that came to mind for me, too, depending on how you mean it. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/9 "2017-04-01T16:38:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Surprised how? Wiki is the first term that came to mind for me, too, depending on how you mean it. I wasn’t aware that anyone could go in and add or subtract content. I have never heard of that before. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/10 "2017-04-01T16:50:16Z")
MS SharePoint calls it Team Sites, or more recently, Groups. Jive calls them Communities. “Ideation” is another common term for a platform/process that is used to develop and promote ideas. Voting and peer reviews are used to move an idea through various stages. A good catch all is, Knowledge Management Platform (KM). ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/11 "2017-04-01T17:22:37Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > MS SharePoint calls it Team Sites, or more recently, Groups. > > Jive calls them Communities. > > “Ideation” is another common term for a platform/process that is used to develop and promote ideas. Voting and peer reviews are used to move an idea through various stages. > > A good catch all is, Knowledge Management Platform (KM). I like that knowledge management platform, it seems to fit to describe the site and Ideation gives off better vibes for what is going on. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-better-term/783502/12 "2017-04-01T17:26:18Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I wasn’t aware that anyone could go in and add or subtract content. I have never heard of that before. What did you think Wikipedia is, then? I mean, their banner says “Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit”… Literally anyone can create a page. Here’s [one of mine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freak*on*ica). You can even create a category by editing pages’ tags, like I did [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ghost_narrator).