By the end of the write-up you should be navigating this subject without troubles. But let's start off by mastering a little more about the upswing of what has become known as customer made media and how it's marked the shift in the manner we use cyber space.
The Internet and the software that has been developed to run on it has made it so simple for anyone to publish content and make this content available to countless individuals. In effect, customers are granted a voice to air their views to a massive audience. Long gone are the times when the Internet was just for research, business websites and pornography :) ... today cyber space is for every single one of its people - we could contribute, we can share our ideas, our videos, our resources - in brief we, as an individuals are shaping what's available and no voice goes unheard.
Online chats are taking place daily in the shape of consumer made media and while PR has habitually focused on the media as authored by editors, the most trusted channels for modern consumers are regular individuals reporting their experiences. In a survey by Forrester Search, 25% of consumer participants said they trusted the feedback of fellow consumers significantly other forms of media referral or marketing. Accordant to Edelman's most recent Trust Barometer the most reliable source of information with regards to a company is... "a person like me".
It's for this reason that engaging in Social Media could be very lucrative to both individuals in addition to companies.
Wikipedia defines Social Media as "web technologies and practices that individuals utilize to share content, suggestions, insights, experiences, perspectives, and media themselves."
In recent times there has been the massive growth of blogs, wiki's, podcasts, social networking sites and moblogs - collectively they form what's loosely known as Social Media; the ability for anybody to publish virtually any content without having the conventional costs and hindrances related with traditional media. This brand new publishing freedom has lead to a surge of fresh content material.
We see a growing number of instances of Social Media turning out to be incorporated within the conventional media landscape. Newspaper writers are blogging, YouTube and Facebook are making the newspaper news headlines and a lot of television advertisements are examples of CGM to say but a few. This new media is enveloping traditional media and borders are becoming foggy - in brief a new challenge for media experts has initiated.
Over the last couple years, hundreds of Social Media type sites happen to be launched and over the next few weeks we will be looking into these numerous types and the major players in each field:
- Photos Sharing
- Videos Sharing
- Information Sharing
- Social Networks
- Blogging
- Forums
This is simply a brief summation on the subject of Social Media. There's more to it and there are arguments why it's helpful to understand about social media.
Author Resource:
You should try hard to become familiar with social media. To begin with, you could familiarise oneself with the top websites.