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What do you call a person who shares a lot of information or files such as: pictures, videos, music, fun things, and so on?

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  • Related : english.stackexchange.com/questions/2975/…
    – BiscuitBoy
    Dec 12, 2015 at 2:18
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    Note that in English call takes a nominal complement ("We call him NOM), and that must be reflected in the interrogative you employ: What do you call a person ... ?
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Dec 12, 2015 at 2:28
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    A Facebooker
    – Jim
    Dec 12, 2015 at 4:32
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    I believe the OP is looking for an expression for those people who share everything online. I wouldn't term it information as such, which denotes knowledge. Instead these files tend to be light-hearted, frivolous and "fun" in nature. I added "music" to the list, but if the OP disagrees they can edit the question, which I would strongly suggest, and clarify the context. Please give an example of how the word would fit in a sentence.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Dec 12, 2015 at 7:08
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    If I've interpreted the OP's question correctly, the example sentence could be something like: "Oh, yet another lolcat from Anne, she's such a _______ "
    – Mari-Lou A
    Dec 12, 2015 at 7:11

9 Answers 9

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If a person excessively shares pictures, videos, music, etc. using the social media (as is typically the case), consider these possibilities:

  1. social media addict
  2. facebooker (suggested by Jim in comments)
  3. share junkie (there's a Facebook community that shares viral news that goes by the name)
  4. social media junkie
  5. social networking junkie
  6. according to UD, there's also socialneck, but it doesn't appear to be in wide use (I've never heard it either.)

12 Signs of a Social Media Junkie
1. YOU can't get beyond the main course in a restaurant before you get out your phone and instagram the duck confit. Because, frankly, a romantic meal for two isn't a romantic meal for two unless you have shared it with all your followers.

I think "addict" is more negative, while "junkie" is a more light-hearted word:

junkie: often humorous used about someone who likes doing something very much and who does it a lot

(Macmillan Dictionary)

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  • The first link from UD only has one vote in favour, this strongly suggests the expression is not well-known. I wouldn't make that the top of your list. :/ The others are better supported though.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Dec 12, 2015 at 8:24
  • @Mari-LouA Good point, thanks. I've never heard the term socialneck myself and now that you mention it I find that I can't google too many good hits for it either. Moved it to the bottom of the list.
    – A.P.
    Dec 12, 2015 at 8:41
  • I should have written socialneck in my comment, it now looks I've taken umbrage with social media addict, which even a Matusalem/Methuselah like me has heard :)
    – Mari-Lou A
    Dec 12, 2015 at 8:47
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    Well, we can always delete our comments to avoid confusing future readers :) If you will, I will. Or we can leave it like this as your last comment clarifies things.
    – A.P.
    Dec 12, 2015 at 8:54
  • This is by far the best answer. The first word (or rather phrase) that popped into my head was "social media savvy". But I like "junkie" since it gives a bit of negative connotation.
    – mhp
    Jun 30, 2016 at 14:37
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Knowledgeable is one word that I'd use.

Knowledgeable

having information, understanding, or skill that comes from experience or education : having knowledge

[Merriam-Webster]

However, you may consider a person knowledgeable only if they share information that you find useful and enlightening. If they keep sharing a lot of information / pictures / videos about LOLCats, may be they are social media addicts who love cats and memes!

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Depending on how formal or informal you want to be, and where you would like the accent or nuance to lie, there are quite a few words that could be used, some of them admittedly not single words, or at least not entirely descriptive of your request when used as a single word. Do you like any of the following:

  • pundit - "another post from our resident social pundit" might refer to a contribution from someone who often seems to have the right sort of social information. Has tones of authority but also involved, not reticent. It is more formal than informal but not too high-brow.
  • arbiter - "a video from the arbiter of useful stuff" would be a slightly tongue-in-cheek way of mixing formal (arbiter) and informal (stuff) and implying that the contributor was someone, either self-appointed or recognised as being able to decide what was useful or not.
  • aficionado - this is perhaps my top pick for your request. "Dave, a social media aficionado, could be relied upon to give us more than just the usual fare of retweets and copy-pastes". Although not your everyday conversation word, it implies enthusiasm as well as positive authority. connoisseur seems to me a more considered, slightly less enthusiastic alternative.
  • enthusiast - "social media enthusiast Robin Sparks gave us this", is an unpretentious and useful way of implying activity and interest.
  • cognescente - "contributions from the social cognoscente" is a bit of an aloof authority so perhaps not quite what you are looking for. This is also fairly formal.
  • fount - "This link provided by Melinda, a fount of useful information". Some people also say font. This implies quantity, but the word useful keeps it positive. ("fount of useless information" is also very descriptive ;) )

More informally, but I note all containing a positive sense of "knowing what they are talking about", you could try these for taste:

  • whiz, boffin, pro, ace - as in "Joe is a real boffin when it comes to interesting links"

From the word 'fun' I assume you mean it in a positive sense. So 'over-sharer' is probably not what you are looking for. There will another interesting list of words with pejorative tones too!

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  • 1
    Do any of these suggestions mean a person who shares files, YouTube links, or any type of ‘information’? But I think you're closer than anybody has been so far. Maybe you could whittle the list down to three? Four?
    – Mari-Lou A
    Dec 12, 2015 at 8:13
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You could call such a person

A virtual compendium of information, pictures, videos, and fun things to do.

A compendium (plural: compendia) is a concise, yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. The word virtual serves to indicate that the word compendium is not being used literally but figuratively. In other words, the person spoken of is full of information, pictures, videos, etc., but not a walking book!

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A person who shares a lot of information about themself is often called a "narcissist." This is a negative term, and doesn't mean they are sharing fun things.

There are many more positive terms such as "renaissance man," or "that person is a veritable 'encyclopedia' of interesting facts." However, these last terms are more general and do not really mean they "share pictures."

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  • I think "narcissist" captures (at least in part) the nature of a lot of social media sharing (think status updates and such). But yes, it's strongly negative, which may not be what OP wants.
    – A.P.
    Dec 12, 2015 at 8:25
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In the age of social media this is simply being

Outgoing

  1. Friendly and socially confident. "she's an extremely affable, jovial, outgoing type of person" synonyms: extrovert, uninhibited, unreserved, demonstrative, affectionate, warm, friendly, genial, cordial, affable, easygoing, sociable, convivial, lively, gregarious;

google

As opposed to being shy or privacy conscious.

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Not sure one word can do it, but a walking encyclopedia is what you are after if you mean in person. If you mean on-line as in someone who posts a lot of different things I don't think it is as apt, because walking encyclopedia implies the knowledge is in their head. You will probably need an idiom, since you are asking for something that means a person but also describes actions.

walking-encyclopedia. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Retrieved December 11, 2015 from Dictionary.com website http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/walking-encyclopedia

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Depending on context, consider attention whore.

Label given to any person who craves attention to such an extent that they will do anything to receive it. The type of attention (negative or positive) does not matter. Urban Dictionary

16 Attention Whore Signs To Watch Out For Love Panky

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Sophophilic

used to describe a person who loves to gather knowledge with higher emphasis on wisdom. Wisledge

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