Welcome to my series of blog posts on the ABC's of Social Media, a tool that you can use to make you more "hip" in the world of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (just to name a few).  Today's letter is "I".  There aren't too many "I" words aside from Instant Messaging and the Internet. But I did come across one fairly unknown one and that's my pic.  Ever had your site taken down with an instant avalanche of page views?  We'll you've experienced an Instalanche.

"I" is for Instalanche

Instalanche

Pronounced: In-stuh-lanch

The origin of the word Instalanche comes from the website instapundit.com and it's uncanny ability to take down a website or blog when a link is posted on it.  For a popular link, a hugh amount of traffic can be driven to your site causing it to exceed capacity and thus become unresponsive.  Instalanche has now moved beyond just instapundit.com and into a more general term for a single site driving large amount of referral traffic to your site. 

Also, known as the Slashdot Effect, a Instalanche is the bloggers equivalent of "Manna from Heaven".  If you've been craving a little more traffic on your site, here's is a article on wizbang highlighting How To Get An Instalanche.