What is Social Media?
May 10, 2010
For those who have been in the internet marketing world for a while, this may be a big “yawn” question. But there are a lot of local business owners out there who hear this buzz word and don’t really know what on earth this means.
I talk to such owners frequently and when I ask about social media, the typical answer is typically something along the lines of “you mean Facebook?”. It’s impossible to leverage a tool when you don’t really understand it.
So, let’s answer the question. What is social media? There are a million definitions out there, but all the definitions have a few things in common. When you’re talking about social media, you’re talking about an internet or mobile application that involves user-generated content or feedback intended for public consumption. So, if there is a way for you, as the website visitor, to interact directly with the content of the page and others can see that interaction, it’s probably social media.
What about email? Is email a form of social media? It depends. If you are using email in a group setting, such as Yahoo groups or Big Tent, then that’s a basic form of social media. The content for that group is user-generated and intended for public consumption.
Private email is not social media, as it is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed. If email is like a letter in your mailbox, social media is like putting up a message on a billboard and allowing others to spray paint messages on your billboard in response.
Some other examples of social media include:
Blogs — Notice that there’s a comment at the bottom of this post. That means you can give feedback on this post, and we can have a conversation. That makes this a social media site.
Website polls — If you put a poll on your website, and people can vote and see the results, that is a basic form of social media.
Facebook — This is a pretty easy one to grasp. Everything on your Facebook page, whether it’s a personal page or a fan page, is created by you, your friends, your “fans” or someone who is reading the page.
Twitter — Again, it’s pretty easy to grasp why Twitter is a “conversation” tool. You don’t go to Twitter to read what the creators of Twitter have to say. You go to say something or ready something that some regular person (or not so regular person) had to say.
YouTube and other video sharing sites — Although it’s obvious when you think about it based on the above definition, many people don’t immediately think of YouTube as social media. But it is. Where does the content come from? Users. People can comment on that content and provide feedback. That’s social media.
Social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon — For the sake of brevity, I’m lumping all of these together. Social bookmarking sites are websites made up entirely of links to articles that users have said are worthwhile reads. Users give content a thumbs up or thumbs down, and people can see the most popular articles on a given topic.
Websites that utilize Facebook’s new social media tools — This is a new option for changing any website into a social media site. Facebook now provides a suite of tools that allows you to incorporate some of Facebook’s features directly on your website. People can “like” your page and perform and see other Facebook actions without ever leaving your site. This is a great opportunity to include a social media aspect on a site without spending a fortune designing a brand new site.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all of the social media sites and applications that exist. But I hope it gives you a better idea of what people mean when they mention social media.
If you have any questions about how you can use social media on your website or to promote your business, please give us a call or contact us. We’re always happy to help.
What Do You Want To Know About Twitter
April 13, 2010
We are finishing up writing an ebook on Twitter and I wanted to know what your biggest question was about Twitter so that we can be sure to answer it in our book. Go to our facebook fan page and let us know the answer:
or leave a comment below.
