What is Social Media?

What is Social Media?

Social Media is one new catch phrase being tossed around these days in the news, marketing, and in simple IT talk. But what exactly is “Social Media“?

For me, the key terms here are ‘sharing‘ and ‘interaction.’

Looking around the internet, I love how Wikipedia defined what Social Media is:

“Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques,” which uses  web-based technologies  such as Web 2.0 to make it interactive.

Interaction

Allow me to highlight “interaction” in the definition above. It is this concept which makes social media, well, social. It is the essence of exchanging dialogues, thoughts, and points of view on the article which makes the concept unique, open, fair, and possibly balanced.

Share

The second point I want to highlight is ‘sharing.’ If ‘interaction‘ is its essence, then ‘sharing‘ is its prerequisite. It is the ability to easily spread the data or information which gives wings to your ideas.

It is the sharing aspect which makes it viral and effective.

More on Social Media

In contrast to traditional media (television, radio, print), social media allows anyone a fast and inexpensive way of accessing and publishing information through a public network called the Internet.

Two major examples of these are blogs and social networking sites (SNS).

So basically, if you have a blog or an account in Facebook, Friendster, Multiply, et.al., and the likes of microblogging sites Twitter, Plurk, and Tumbler, you have been using social media.

Check out this Social Media video from YouTube

I guess the bigger question now is how effective are you in managing your social media? If you are a brand, how can you maximize your use of social media? Or are you even utilizing it? Share your insights in the comment section below! Engage the online, social you!