What Is Social Media?

• What makes something "social media?"
• How is "social media" different from other forms of media?
• What are some online examples of "clearly social" media?
• What are some online examples of "clearly not" social media?
• Why?

In order to fully answer these questions, it's helpful to first look at what the dictionary has to say. Merriam-Webster defines social media as:

"forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content"

In contrast, the definition of media is simply:

"a medium of cultivation, conveyance, or expression"

From looking at these two definitions, we get a better idea of how fuzzy the lines are between social and non-social media. What the two have in common is that they both deal with the sharing or presenting of ideas. But while traditional media is a one-way communication form, social media is a two-way communication form that gets its power from the communities it envelops. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are generally regarded as the epitome of social media, but there are a number of platforms, like YouTube and Pinterest, that contain social traits without serving the exact same functions. Regardless of the subtle differences in form and function, these sites are social because they tap into communities and give each user the ability to express themselves freely. Traditional media forms fail to do these things, allowing information to flow from only one source. Though they may be speaking to a community of people, traditional non-social media doesn't accept or consider the responses to it's content.

"Clearly social" sites, in my opinion, are those that are free to join, allow the creation of a profile, and let users share their own content while consuming the content of others. All of the sites in the above paragraph do this, albeit in different ways. "Clearly not social" sites, on the other hand, do not have all of these features. Something that isn't social is not free to join by anyone and does not allow for any two-way communication. Rather, it is only to be consumed. It is in that way that television, radio, and print would be considered predominantly non-social.