English Vocabulary in Use Upper-intermediate » Unit 36: Social media

Word List
  • account
  • comment
  • create an account
  • default
  • direct message
  • follow
  • friend request
  • like
  • link
  • notification
  • photo
  • post
  • privacy settings
  • private
  • profile
  • profile picture
  • public
  • rate
  • send
  • share
  • Skype
  • status
  • subscribe
  • tag
  • timeline
  • update n, v
  • upload
  • view
Exercises

36.1 ‣ Fill in the gaps with the words below.

  1. follow
  2. request
  3. post
  4. share
  5. subscribe
  6. status
  1. If you liked this video, please it with your friends.
  2. I hate it when people _____ hundreds of photos from their holiday.
  3. Do you know Monica Coto? She’s just sent me a friend _____ on Facebook.
  4. I just updated my _____ to tell people we’ve arrived safely at the hotel.
  5. You can _____ to our channel, and we’ll email you when a new video comes out.
  6. Mo likes to _____ chefs and food writers on Twitter.

36.2 ‣ Circle the correct word.

  1. I’ve just uploaded _____ of Saturday’s football match to the team Facebook page.
    • comments
    • photos
  2. YiLing _____ a lot of updates about her training for the 10k run.
    • posts
    • views
  3. Jo posted a really interesting article about Formula 1 racing, but it didn’t get any _____.
    • likes
    • rates
  4. To enter the competition, _____ this picture on your timeline before 8pm on Friday.
    • share
    • view
  5. Did you _____ that restaurant we went to? I’d give it one star!
    • rate
    • upload
  6. Elena made a video for the animal charity she works for and it got 3,000 _____.
    • views
    • uploads
  7. An old friend _____ on one of my photos, asking where I was living now.
    • commented
    • viewed

36.3 ‣ What do we call…?

  1. The page with information about the user of social media:
  2. The photo of the user: _____
  3. The page where a person’s photos and posts appear: _____
  4. The message a person receives when something new happens: _____
  5. Part of a private conversation: _____

36.4 ‣ Fill the gaps with words from C opposite.

  1. I’m a teacher, so I make sure everything in my profile is p. I don’t want my students to see it.
  2. To find your p_____ settings, click on the ‘lock’ icon at the top of the screen.
  3. If you want everyone to be able to see that post, make sure that it’s p_____.
  4. Please don’t t_____ me in any of those photos - I look terrible!
  5. If you want to buy the skirt, please send me a d_____ message.
  6. To create an a_____ , you have to give your email address and apassword.
  7. The d_____ setting for new posts on this site is Friends Only, but it’s easy to change if you want to share something publicly.

36.5 ‣

Over to you

Answer these questions about yourself.

  1. What was the last thing you posted on social media?
    _____
  2. How many views and/or likes did it get?
    _____
  3. How often do you comment on other people’s posts?
    _____
  4. Have you checked your privacy settings recently? Is your profile public or private?
    _____
Answer Key
A ‣ Social media verbs

My friend posted a video of her baby and it was shared over a thousand times!

Send me a friend request, and then you can see the pictures I took.

I probably update my status about twice a week. I like telling people what I’m doing.

Over 100,000 people subscribe to his video channel and follow him on Twitter.

B ‣ A social media app

Here’s our round-up of the latest apps. This month we loved CatNapp, a new social media app that allows users to share information about their favourite pets.

We found it very easy to use. You create a profile of your cat, upload a favourite photo and include some basic information about it (age, colour, favourite food). You can then post updates about what your cat has been doing, share links1 to things you find interesting or comment on other cats’ profiles. You can rate videos of other cats’ adventures (from one to five stars) or see how many views2 or likes3 your post got. The most popular post each month wins a prize!

We found it a little annoying that you can’t turn off notifications4 when a friend writes something new, but overall cat lovers will adore it. Highly recommended.

1 connections to other websites
2 times people have watched it
3 times people have clicked ‘like’
4 messages to tell you when something has happened

Language help

Many of the words in this unit are used as both nouns and verbs. For example:

24 people liked my post.
My post got 24 likes.
I commented on her status.
I wrote a comment on her status.

C ‣ Online privacy

Top tips for staying safe online

On social media, it’s important to think about who can see your personal information:

  1. If you have to give personal information (e.g. date of birth, address) when you create an account, make sure that it’s kept private. It’s better not to give this information if you don’t have to.
  2. Always check your privacy settings [choices on your account about what people see on your profile] regularly and make sure you understand who can see what you post. For example, often your profile picture is public, but you can usually make posts on your timeline [collection of photos and other posts on your profile] private.
  3. Remember that if you are tagged [your name and a link to your profile is added] in someone else’s post, it might be seen by a lot of people you don’t know. You can ask people to remove the tag if necessary.
  4. Use direct messages [messages that only the people in the conversation can see] for private conversations, especially if you discuss where you live, paying for things, etc.
  5. Delete old accounts on sites that you are not using anymore. You might forget what information they contain, or the default [what happens automatically if you don’t change it] privacy settings might change.

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