Social media are the various forms of user generated content and the collection of websites and applications that enables people to interact and share information online.
Social media as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. It is a media for social interaction as a super-set beyond social communication. Enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques, social media has substantially changed the way organizations, communities, and individuals communicate.
List of things that are part of the social media:
- Online forums (e.g., Kaskus)
- Blogs (e.g., WordPress)
- Social networking sites (e.g., Facebook)
- Microblogging sites (e.g., Twitter)
- Social bookmarking sites (e.g., Digg)
- Video sharing sites (e.g., YouTube)
- Photo sharing sites (e.g. Flickr)
- Streaming sites (e.g., Ustream)
- User reviews (e.g., Amazon)
- Crowdsourcing (e.g., Wikipedia)
- Content aggregators (e.g., FriendFeed)
Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media, such as newspapers, television, and film. They are relatively inexpensive and accessible to enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, compared to industrial media, which generally require significant resources to publish information.