An Overview of Social Media and Social Networking Sites

Social media is the umbrella term for the wide variety of tools and
applications that give the Web its social capabilities—capabilities that
allow a community to come together, communicate, and build upon
each other’s opinions and ideas. Social media applications and tools
are numerous and include:

• E-mail
• Instant Messaging
• Blogs and Vlogs (video blogs)
• Internet forums and message boards
• File sharing (music, pictures, videos, games, etc.)
• Wikis (online content created and edited by ongoing user collaboration)
• Social networking sites and applications
• RSS feeds (subscription to sites that alert Web users when new
content has been uploaded)
• Product and service reviews
• Mashups (the combination of two or more social media tools into
one application)

A social networking site is one that uses these social media tools for
the primary purpose of promoting connectivity and interaction—to
facilitate people communicating with other people. Social networking
sites include generalist social networking sites, online dating sites,
and social bookmarking sites, which allow users to remember and
organize Web sites and pages to return to later. Th ese bookmarks
are usually made public and available on social bookmarking sites
for other Web users to review. Not all sites that include social media
tools are considered social networking sites. An e-commerce site that
only allows users to purchase products is simply an e-commerce site.
An e-commerce site that allows users to purchase products and read
and publish product reviews on the site is an e-commerce site with
social media functionality. It might have social networking capabilities;
however, its primary purpose is not social networking. For the
purpose of categorizing types of sites, the categorization of a site is
typically based upon its primary purpose.
Social media tools rely on the collaborative and continuous interaction
of people in order to have relevance. Th is ongoing interaction
also means that social media Web sites are in a constant fl ux. A Web
site often layers on additional social media applications as it expands
and attracts new audiences.