SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media are computer-mediated tools that allow people or companies to create, share, or exchange information, career interests, [1] ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks. The variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available introduces challenges of definition; however, there are some common features: [2] (1) social media are Web 2.0 internet-based applications, [2][3] (2) user-generated content (UGC) is the lifeblood of the social media organism, [2][3] (3) users create service-specific profiles for the site or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization, [2][4] and (4) social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals and/or groups. [2][4] Social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between businesses, organizations, communities, and individuals. [5] These changes are the focus of the emerging field of
technoself studies. Social media differ from traditional or industrial media in many ways, including quality, [6] reach , frequency, usability, immediacy, and permanence. Social media operate in a dialogic transmission system (many sources to many receivers).[7] This is in contrast to traditional media that operates under a monologic transmission model (one source to many receivers).
There are many effects that stem from Internet usage. According to Nielsen, Internet users continue to spend more time with social media sites than any other type of site. At the same time, the total time spent on social media in the U.S. across PC and mobile devices increased by 99 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012 compared to 66 billion minutes in July 2011.[8] For content contributors, the benefits of participating in social media have gone beyond simply social sharing to building reputation and bringing in career opportunities and monetary income, as discussed in Tang, Gu, and Whinston (2012).[9]
Definition and classification
A challenge of definition
The variety and evolving stand-alone and built-in social media services introduces a challenge of definition. [2] Furthermore, the idea that social media are defined by their ability to bring people together provides too broad a definition. Such a broad definition would suggest that the
telegraph and telephone were social media – not the technologies scholars are intending to describe. [10] The terminology is also unclear, with some referring to social media as social networks .[4]
Attempting definition
A recent attempt [2] at providing a clear definition reviewed the prominent literature in the area and identified four commonalities unique to current social media services:
(1) social media are Web 2.0 internet-based applications, [2][3]
(2) user-generated content (UGC) is the lifeblood of the social media organism, [2][3]
(3) users create service-specific profiles for the site or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization, [2][4] and
(4) social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals and/or groups. [2][4]
Classification
Classification of social media and overview of how important different types of social media (e.g. blogs ) are for each of a company's operational functions (e.g. marketing ).[11]
Social media technologies take on many different forms including blogs ,
business networks , enterprise social networks , forums , microblogs, photo sharing , products/services review ,
social bookmarking , social gaming ,
social networks , video sharing , and
virtual worlds. [11]
The development of social media started off with simple platforms such as sixdegrees.com. [12] Unlike instant messaging clients such as ICQ and AOL's AIM, or chat clients like IRC, iChat or Chat Television, sixdegrees.com was the first online business that was created for real people, using their real names. However, the first social networks were short-lived because their users lost interest. The Social Network Revolution has led to the rise of the networking sites. Research [13] shows that the audience spends 22 percent of their time on social networking sites, thus proving how popular social media platforms have become.
BY PROTAS LEVINA
BAPRM 42657