Social Media - Dive in and Learn

Many conversations about social media are taking place across the business world, and many people want to understand the concept. The best way to understand social media is to jump in and do it yourself. After you begin to experience it you will better understand how it might benefit your company.

The following excerpted definition from the Wikipedia is clear:

Social media or social networking (one example of social media) has a number of characteristics that make it fundamentally different from traditional media such as newspapers, television, books, and radio.

Primarily, social media depends on interactions between people as the discussion and integration of words builds shared-meaning, using technology as a conduit.

Social media is not finite: there is not a set number of pages or hours. The audience can participate in social media by adding comments or even editing the stories themselves. Content in social media can take the form of text, graphics, audio, or video. Several formats can be mixed. Social media is typically available via feeds, enabling users to subscribe via feed readers, and allowing other publishers to create mashups.

Social Media Marketing, on the other hand, is an off-page characteristic of Social Media. This includes writing content that is remarkable, unique, and newsworthy. This content can then be marketed by popularizing it or even by creating a “viral” video on YouTube and other video sites. Social Media is about being social so this off-page work can include getting involved in other similar blogs, forums, and niche communities. Search Engine Marketing or SEM involves utilization of all available Social Networking platforms to brand a product using Search Engine Optimization or SEO techniques of communication, to the end consumer.

A few prominent examples of social media applications [with links] are:
social advertising and social ads
Wikis: Wikipedia
Social networking: MySpace and Facebook
Presence apps: Twitter and Pownce
Healthcare apps: CareFlash
Video sharing: YouTube
Virtual reality: Second Life
Events: Upcoming
News aggregation: Mixx and Reddit
Photo sharing: Flickr and Zooomr
Livecasting: Justin.tv
Social bookmarking: del.icio.us and StumbleUpon
Online gaming: World of Warcraft
Game sharing: Miniclip.com

Sign up for some of these, create your RSS feeds, and learn more - it's easy once you look closely! Learn more.