This week we’ve gone over the history of social media and at times used the terms “social media” and “social networks/ing” interchangeably. This has caused some confusion – are they are the same thing? This post is intended to clarify the definition of social media to better understand this new and popular medium.

According to Wikipedia, social media first and foremost “depends on interactions between people as the discussion and integration of words builds shared-meaning, using technology as a conduit.”

In other words, social media is primarily about user-generated content (where the public become publishers) and the conversations that exist within the communities that flourish and thrive around that content, whether it’s video, audio or text.

As social media evolved, websites that focused on media sharing began incorporating social networking features, becoming Social Networking Sites (SNSs) themselves (e.g. Flickr and YouTube). This networking aspect was a major factor to the growth of social media. (Source: Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship).

The Difference Between Social Networking and Social Networks

Since the social networking component added so much to social media, it might be prudent to visit its two types or functions. They are similar but have subtle and important differences:

Networks. This includes your current network of people/friends/contacts and normally consists of people you share an offline connection with. Accessing your network in one place, such as a website where you all congregate, is part of the appeal for social media sites. It’s the ultra convenience of managing personal activities and sharing them online with a large group of immediate peers.

Networking. Is meeting new people (usually through current contacts) and interacting with them to find common interests, political views, activities or goals. This networking aspect is what has appealed to the business-minded folks, opening up the diversity in the social media audience.

Other Social Media Services

As we discussed above, social media refers to a collective group of web properties that are driven by users. Here are a few types of websites that fall under that umbrella:

• Blogs (short for web logs) – articles that the community can comment on.
• Forums or discussion boards – topics are posted and discussed.
• Content communities – media sharing (e.g. videos, stories, links), e.g. YouTube.
• Wikis – documents & databases created and edited by the community, e.g. Wikipedia.
• Virtual worlds – members live virtual lives in virtual worlds, e.g. Second Life.
• News aggregators – presents multiple sources in one place for users, e.g. Netvibes.
• Microblogging – communicating in brief bursts of communication, e.g. Twitter.

This list is not exhaustive. Let’s here your favourite type of social media site; please share it in the comment section below!

We hope this post answers some of your questions revolving around the definition of social media. Since social media is so new, chances are that the definition will become more refined as time passes. Stay tuned to the Apollo Media blog and on top of the latest developments in social media.