Instagram & X glossary

Alt text is a written description of an image, used by screen readers and by search engines.

Auto-publishing is when a scheduler posts to Instagram or X at a scheduled time without human intervention.

A carousel is a multi-card Instagram feed post — up to 10 images or videos swiped left-to-right.

A content pillar is one of 3–5 recurring themes that every post on an account should map to.

A feed post is an image, carousel or video that lives permanently in the Instagram profile grid.

A hashtag is a keyword prefixed with # that groups posts by topic and (historically) helps discovery.

The hook is the first line, first frame or first card — the part that decides whether someone stops scrolling.

OAuth is the standard flow that lets a third-party app publish to your Instagram or X account without knowing your password.

A Reel is a short vertical video on Instagram distributed broadly through the For You feed.

A shadowban is when a platform quietly reduces the reach of your posts without notifying you.

A Story is a 9:16 image or video on Instagram that disappears from your profile after 24 hours.

A thread is a sequence of connected X posts by the same author, each replying to the previous one.