What Is Social Media URL:<\/strong> https:\/\/impactsocialmedia.net\/social-media-marketing\/what-is-social-media\/<\/a><\/p>\n Description:<\/strong> What is social media? Social media has been around for a lot longer than most people realize. Years before FaceBook and Twitter became prevalent; many people made use of Myspace and other social media sites like Friendster. Going back much farther in time, there was AOL and many of us can remember the distinct commercials and that familiar \u201cYou\u2019ve got mail.\u201d Today social media is intertwined into nearly every aspect of our culture. Social media can be beneficial and we must not forget that it also has a dark side to it as well. To better understand the current and future dynamics of social media it is necessary to have an in depth grasp of its history, types, platforms, uses and effects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I. Social Media Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Before I get too carried away<\/strong><\/p>\n B<\/strong>efore I go any further you need to know that this writing is about social media as an overview. Social media development<\/strong> is creating and building a digital presence at some social media site. Social media marketing<\/strong> is using those digital presences to advertise and promote.<\/p>\n 2. What is social media?<\/strong><\/p>\n S<\/strong>ocial media is a digital<\/strong> and virtual<\/strong> environment wherein people can interact<\/strong> with one another in a variety of ways. Social media has been persistent now for more than three decades. It currently shows a strong upward growth trend in a variety of platforms.<\/p>\n S<\/strong>ocial media finds itself in many different forms and types albeit the core function is always the connecting<\/strong> and interacting<\/strong> of people. Although there are those who resist it, one could say it has no boundaries in that it transcends the entire globe and spans across all languages, cultures and locations.<\/p>\n T<\/strong>o different people social media means many different things. To one person it is a way to find a mate<\/strong>. To another person it is a means by which to do research<\/strong> and gain insights. To yet another person it is an opportunity to reach out into the markets and promote<\/strong> branding, services and products.<\/p>\n 3. History of social media<\/strong><\/p>\n M<\/strong>ost would be surprised to find out that social media began as far back as 1973<\/strong> with the advent of Community Memory. Community Memory was a simplistic bulletin board system that allowed users to read and post messages and it made use of keywords<\/strong> and search functions. At the advent of Community Memory, it is safe to assume that nobody could foresee what would eventually evolve in the course of the next three decades.<\/p>\n T<\/strong>echnology improved and consequently so did the social media platforms. By 1978<\/strong> the bulletin board had become more complex and more widespread with the proliferation of CBBS. (Computerized Bulletin Board System)<\/p>\n T<\/strong>he technology became more socially integrated in 1980-1981<\/strong> and gained new market penetration. Part of the reason for this was the inclusion of additional features such as news reports, weather reports, sports reports, at home shopping, online games, chat and file sharing. This phase of social media was primarily pushed along by the likes of UseNet, Prodigy and Compuserve.<\/p>\n T<\/strong>he next significant milestone came in 1991<\/strong> with the launch of AOL. (America Online) If you were around at the time there is a good chance you can still remember the commercials that made use of the phrase, \u201cYou\u2019ve got mail!\u201d AOL sought to bring the population into the world of the internet and provided a great many features for its users.<\/p>\n O<\/strong>ver the next decade or so other players made their rise and eventual fall in the marketplace. Geocities, TheGlobe, Classmates, SixDegrees, Open Diary and Friendster all grabbed their market share during the mid to late 1990\u2019s<\/strong>. At this time social media continued to evolve and become more capable. It also became obvious that platforms could rise and fall rather quickly as the market shifted from one hot item to the next.<\/p>\n T<\/strong>he next significant milestone came along in 2003<\/strong> with the launch of Myspace. Myspace was the most advanced platform to ever come along and was actually coded and launched in an amazingly short amount of time. In 2004<\/strong> the world witnessed the launch of FaceBook and in 2005<\/strong> it was YouTube. Twitter was born in 2006<\/strong> and more recently we saw the late comer Google+ come into the foray in 2011<\/strong>.<\/p>\n A<\/strong>s of this writing, many dozens of social media platforms exist and some have experienced more success than others. The huge success of FaceBook, Google+ and Twitter has fueled the social media fire and countless entrepreneurs are continually looking to invent and launch the next big sensation. Even as I write this article, new platforms are being designed and launched at a steady pace.<\/p>\n 4. Current trends in social media<\/strong><\/p>\n C<\/strong>urrently social media is penetrating<\/strong> nearly every segment of society and nearly all populations on earth. New platforms are being launched on a regular basis and there seems to be no shortage of ideas on the horizon.<\/p>\n W<\/strong>hat is most notable now is that social media is no longer ignored or explained away as it was years ago. Previously, there was a hesitancy to jump on the band wagon and many of the biggest names in business waited on the sidelines and patiently observed<\/strong> the evolution of social media.<\/p>\n A<\/strong>t the time of this writing, current trends show stable and upward<\/strong> growth for a number of different social media platforms. The improvements in mobile device technology and increases in mobile speed and bandwidth have been a help to the industry. Also, internet availability and faster network speeds have helped social media to more deeply penetrate the global market.<\/p>\n C<\/strong>urrent trends show a literal frenzy<\/strong> of businesses and organizations fully engaging social media platforms. Their objectives are greatly varied but they all rely on the use of social media to reach out, connect, share and promote. Instead of being unsure of social media they have whole-heartedly jumped in.<\/p>\n A<\/strong>s a result of this movement, an entire industry has emerged for the purpose of catering to those who wish to penetrate social media. There are countless businesses such as Impact Social Media which offer services to design, develop, build apps and market for the various social media platforms.<\/p>\n 5. The future of social media<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he future of social media looks to be very strong<\/strong>. When we gaze at the timeline from 1973 until today we can clearly see a pattern of increased sophistication<\/strong> and global penetration<\/strong>. Increases in world population, technology for mobile devices and increased global availability of high speed internet will all serve to aid for exponential future growth.<\/p>\n I<\/strong> also anticipate seeing greater sophistication in the platforms as hardware, software and networks evolve. My biggest anticipation is the shift in the virtual environment from two<\/strong> dimensional to three<\/strong> dimensional.<\/p>\n C<\/strong>urrently nearly all platforms exist in a two dimensional realm and may include text, photos and even videos. In the future you can expect to see these realms become three dimensional and will include interactive<\/strong> three dimensional objects and much more sophisticated user interactions.<\/p>\n Second Life<\/a> and Entropia Universe<\/a> can give you a glimpse of what a three dimensional social media community looks like. Life-like avatars move about in a rich environment that includes real physics<\/strong>. Content is interactive with the user in a real live way. Users can do all of the activities that you find in two dimensional platforms and so much more.<\/p>\n G<\/strong>reat attentions to details include grass and trees that sway in the wind, timed motion of the sun, moon and stars in the sky and hair and clothes that have real life-like movements! Instead of the limitations<\/strong> of a two dimensional environment users can hold hands and walk, dance together, drive a motorcycle or fly a helicopter while simultaneously chatting via text, live voice or live video. Anything you can do in real life is also done in these worlds.<\/p>\n A<\/strong>nother change I foresee in the future is the overcoming of the limitations of screen sizes on mobile devices. Currently, screen size<\/strong> is one of the great limiting factors for mobile users. In the future I anticipate this problem to be eliminated with a projection<\/strong> type of display. Instead of being limited by screen size, mobile devices will project their display onto any readily available surface.<\/p>\n A<\/strong>s social media moves forward, many factors will contribute to its increased sophistication and global penetration. A future existence is guaranteed and it will continue to interconnect all walks of life in all parts of the globe. In 1973 nobody<\/strong> could have foreknown what social media would be like today. I humbly submit that as in 1973, people today truly cannot imagine what social media will evolve into 40 years from now.<\/p>\n II. Types of Social Media<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Blogs<\/strong><\/p>\n B<\/strong>logs are one of the most common and versatile<\/strong> types of social media. Blogs allow for the publishing of all types of content including text, links, photos, videos and more. Blogs are great for end user involvement since they can be syndicated via RSS feed and email newsletters. They can also allow for users to comment on and share the content. Currently, WordPress<\/a> is the big giant of blogs and is open source and in use in millions of sites around the globe. <\/p>\n 2. Dating<\/strong><\/p>\n M<\/strong>any social media sites are of the dating type. ChristianMingle<\/a>, eHarmony<\/a>, howaboutwe<\/a>, Match<\/a>, and OurTime<\/a> are all good examples of this type of social media site.<\/p>\n A<\/strong>s the name implies, these sites are all about dating<\/strong> and romance<\/strong>. Users create profiles and then seek to make connections to other users. For some the goal is friendship and for others the goal may be dating or even marriage.<\/p>\n 3. Discussion boards<\/strong><\/p>\n D<\/strong>iscussion boards are the oldest<\/strong> and most established type of social media. Consequently you can find them in use everywhere and for many different topics and purposes. They are also called forums<\/strong> or bulletin boards<\/strong>. A good example of a bulletin board is the community forum<\/a> at phpBB<\/a>.<\/p>\n T<\/strong>he typical discussion board revolves around users posting and responding to content that it usually grouped into topics and categories. Discussion boards can be very sophisticated and include internal messages, live chat and other features. Users can post text, links, photos, files and videos.<\/p>\n 4. Educational<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he educational type of social media site is uniquely designed for education. These sites incorporate virtual classrooms<\/strong> and virtual libraries<\/strong> to make information and curriculum available to students.<\/p>\n E<\/strong>ducational sites can be setup for a small group or a large group and have the advantage of giving access via the internet so users can be scattered around the globe. A great example of an educational type site can be found at the Moodle<\/a> demo entitled, \u201cMount Orange School<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. Gaming<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he gaming type of social media site typically intertwines user interaction with different types of games. This adds another dimension<\/strong> to playing games since users can chat with each other and also play as a member of a group or team. Many game consoles make great use of this and there are also stand alone websites built on this format.<\/p>\n A<\/strong> lot of money<\/strong> has been made with this type of social site and there is a lot of competition. Currently Lord of the Rings<\/a>, World of Warcraft<\/a>, Daybreak Games<\/a>, EverQuest<\/a> and Age of Conan<\/a> are all very popular examples of gaming type social media sites.<\/p>\n 6. Live chat<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he live chat type is centered on users chatting with each other. Often times it will include other features<\/strong> like the ability to transfer files, photos and videos. Some live chat will be text based and others will include capabilities for file sharing, live audio and live video.<\/p>\n Yahoo<\/a> has dominated and mastered this type with their amazing Messenger<\/a> application. Another example of a successful chat based site is Skype<\/a> which also integrates chat for calling cell phones and land lines. Snapchat<\/a> is a fairly new player in this market. A good open source application for setting up your own live chat site would be phpFreeChat<\/a> or X7 Chat<\/a>.<\/p>\n 7. Photo sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he photo sharing type is centered on users displaying images<\/strong> but can also include links, videos and other media. Currently Pinterest<\/a> is the top dog for this type of social site. Two other great examples would be Flickr<\/a> and Photobucket<\/a>.<\/p>\n I<\/strong>f you are interested in developing your own photo sharing site you have many open source options. I would recommend you check into Coppermine Photo<\/a>, Gallery<\/a>, Piwigo<\/a>, Pixelpost<\/a> and Zenphoto<\/a>.<\/p>\n 8. Polls<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he polls type is also referred to as a survey<\/strong>. Typically a question or group of questions is asked and then a range of possible answers are displayed for the user to select their choice. Also, polls can allow for users to comment to each other and also create their own polls. <\/p>\n P<\/strong>olls have many valuable uses. They can be used to gauge customer satisfaction on products and services. They can also be used for political purposes and research. Some examples would be Micropoll<\/a>, Easypolls<\/a> and SurveyMonkey<\/a>. You can develop your own polling site using open source software such as Advanced Poll<\/a>, LimeSurvey<\/a> or phpESP<\/a>.<\/p>\n 9. Question and answer<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he question and answer type is just at the name implies. Users generate questions and answers on a wide range of topics. Two very successful sites of this type are Ask<\/a> and Yahoo Answers<\/a>. Q & A can also be used for customer service by creating FAQs. (Frequently Asked Questions)<\/p>\n O<\/strong>ne very popular online example of a Q & A site is GameFAQs<\/a>. You can make use of a Q & A as a standalone site or you can include<\/strong> it into your E-Commerce or Customer Service site. There are open source programs available for this such as phpMyFAQ<\/a> and FAQMasterFlex Plus<\/a>.<\/p>\n 10. Social networking<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he social networking type is best known by examples such as Google+<\/a> and FaceBook<\/a>. These allow users to create a personal page<\/strong> or wall<\/strong> where they can display comments, links, photos, videos, files and more. They may also incorporate live chat, video chat and internal messaging<\/p>\n S<\/strong>ocial networking sites are fabulous for building vibrant online communities. You can make use of open source software to develop your own social network site. I would recommend you consider Elgg<\/a>, Jcow<\/a>, or OxWall<\/a>. ThinkUp<\/a> is a great application for integrating<\/strong> multiple social networks.<\/p>\n 11. Video sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he video sharing type gives users a place to upload<\/strong> and view videos while also allowing interaction through comments and other methods. Another great feature is the ability to copy and paste code for embedding stored videos in any website you choose. YouTube<\/a> and Vimeo<\/a> are currently two of the biggest video sharing communities.<\/p>\n 12. Virtual worlds<\/strong><\/p>\n T<\/strong>he virtual world type is focused on providing a social media experience within a three<\/strong> dimensional world. Some of these sites are geared towards gaming while others are more geared towards social interaction. Second Life<\/a> and Entropia Universe<\/a> are very successful and have a large population of users. I would say these two inventions are literally ahead of their time. These worlds have a unique property in that you can purchase and own \u201cvirtual real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n V<\/strong>irtual worlds are amazing with their realistic<\/strong> renderings and they also incorporate all of the features you find in two dimensional platforms. One unique feature is that they have their own micro-economies complete with virtual currency and the ability to convert it into real money.<\/p>\n T<\/strong>he potential for profit is very real and can get into large sums of money. I used to be heavily involved in developing and selling three-dimensional-content for Second Life. At one time I accumulated over 1 million Lindens of their virtual currency in my account. This equates to more than 4k of USA currency. My best month there produced around 10k in gross sales and that is 10K of USA currency!<\/p>\n III. Top Social Media Platforms that we use<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. FaceBook<\/strong><\/p>\n FaceBook<\/a> is the top dog of social media with more than 1.26 billion<\/strong> members! FaceBook has very advanced and varied API\u2019s. (Application Programming Interfaces) Applications can be developed for iOS, Android and websites. You can investigate their API offerings at the developer\u2019s page<\/a>.<\/p>\n F<\/strong>aceBook has many tools for marketing<\/strong> with their dashboard<\/a> for management and their insights<\/a> for analytics. Many options exist for businesses as you can build pages, develop apps and make use of paid for advertising and post boosting.<\/p>\n 2. Google+<\/strong><\/p>\n Google+<\/a> has only been around since 2011 but that has not detracted them from becoming one of the top<\/strong> power players of social media. Their platform is very advanced and offers great features for networking and community building. Their interconnectivity with YouTube and Gmail also adds a powerful punch to their offering.<\/p>\n G<\/strong>oogle+ also offers advanced API<\/a> capabilities so that you can develop apps and interface it to Android, iOS and websites. Google+ also benefits from their seamless integration<\/strong> with Chrome<\/a>, Games<\/a>, Google Maps<\/a> and Google TV<\/a>. They offer many methods for advertising and results monitoring with their interconnectivity to Google Ads<\/a> and Mobile App Analytics<\/a>.<\/p>\n 3. LinkedIn<\/strong><\/p>\n L<\/strong>inkedIn is a top contender for social networking of working professionals and businesses. A great feature is that you can build a company page with separate pages for your products<\/strong> or services<\/strong>. You can also garner followers and endorsements. LinkedIn also offers an assortment of API\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n L<\/strong>inkedIn offers paid advertising<\/a> which you can target<\/strong> by job title, function, industry, company size and seniority. They also offer sponsored updates for raising brand awareness. I also wanted to mention that LinkedIn is a great place to look for job opportunities and to also seek for employees. Take a look at their advertising<\/a> page and learn more.<\/p>\n 4. Myspace<\/strong><\/p>\n M<\/strong>yspace is a very sophisticated<\/strong> community site that is focused on the music and entertainment industry. They have done a great deal of remodeling there and have made enormous improvements. Although they have lost a great deal of user base I truly anticipate them making a big<\/strong> comeback in the near future.<\/p>\n M<\/strong>yspace is a fabulous platform for promoting<\/strong> movies, television, music, art, videos and any form of entertainment related content. Since Myspace is owned by Specific Media they are very connected for advertising opportunities. If you are interested in advertising at Myspace you need to get in touch with the website for Specific Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n 5. Pinterest<\/strong><\/p>\n P<\/strong>interest has climbed the social media ranks and is now a major force. Their focus is the display of
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