Social Media Intro

The term “social media” refers to the wide range of Internet-based and mobile services that allow users to participate in online exchanges, contribute user-created content, or join online communities. The kinds of Internet services commonly associated with social media (sometimes referred to as “Web 2.0”) include the following:1

Blogs. Short for “web log,” a blog is an online journal in which pages are usually displayed in reverse chronological order.2 Blogs can be hosted for free on websites such as WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger.3

Wikis. A wiki is “a collective website where any participant is allowed to modify any page or create a new page using her Web browser.”4 One well-known example is Wikipedia,5 a free online encyclopedia that makes use of wiki technology

Social bookmarking. Social bookmarking sites allow users to organize and share links to websites. Examples include reddit, StumbleUpon and Digg.6

Social network sites. These have been defined as “web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.”7Among the most popular in Canada are Facebook and LinkedIn.8

Status-update services. Also known as microblogging services, status-update services such as Twitter9 allow people to share short updates about people or events and to see updates created by others.10

Virtual world content. These sites offer game-like virtual environments in which users interact. One example is the imaginary world constructed in Second Life,11 in which users create avatars (a virtual representation of the user) that interact with others.12

Media-sharing sites. These sites allow users to post videos or photographs. Popular examples include YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.13

These categories overlap to some degree. Twitter, for example, is a social network site as well as a status-update service. Likewise, users of the social network site Facebook can share photographs, and users of the media-sharing site Pinterest can follow other people.http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/2010-03-e.htm