Definition of Social Media

In my social media class at Lee, we have moved beyond focusing on innovation. Now we are delving into the essence of social media. In this post, I shall attempt to provide a tentative description for this rapidly growing and changing phenomenon. Please do not consider the following ideas to be complete. Professionals themselves disagree on how to define social media and, no doubt, my 40 classmates turned in 40 descriptions in completing the class assigment.

      Social media enable one person to talk with and inform many people. They include electronic technologies such as television (think TV news) and the radio. Many are conglomerations of various Web-based utility sites that serve as aggregates of information, connecting people. They provide a forum for discussion on every topic imaginable and give users control over how (within the medium’s parameters) and with whom they communicate. Many systems also provide a method of cataloguing the dialogue for easy retrieval. Social media is increasingly tailored to suit the individual; personalization may be its defining characteristic. Social media takes many shapes and forms, but in the end, it is about furthering communication and providing easy access for as many as possible.