What is social media?
Social media has many definitions (Fuchs, 2017). It is defined by Miekle (2016) as internet-based and networked communication platforms that allow both personal and public communication. As use of social media continues to rise, it is estimated that by 2021, over 3 billion people will be using it (Clement, 2018).
Aspects of social media
Social networks
These are places where you can connect with others of similar interests and backgrounds. You’ll usually have a profile, groups, messaging and photos and lots of ways to interact with others. Popular social networks include Facebook and LinkedIn.
Bookmarking sites
These allow you to save, organise and manage links to websites and other online resources. You are able to tag links; making them easier to find again and share them with others. StumbleUpon is one of the most popular bookmarking sites.
Social news
These allow users to post news links, articles, videos, pictures and other items. People vote on the items and those with the most interest are displayed the most prominently. Popular social news sites include Reddit and Digg.
Media sharing
These sites allow users to upload and share different types of media such as pictures or videos. Most sites allow you to create a profile and post comments on others contributions. YouTube, Flickr and Vimeo are popular examples of media sharing sites.
Microblogging
These allow the users to post short written entries, photos, other media and links to products and service sites and these can be seen by anyone that subscribes. Twitter is the most popular example of a microblogging site.
Blogs and forums
Blogs are sites of information and discussion. There are lots of free publishing tools that enable you to share text, videos and photos to followers and comments are usually focused on the content of the blog.
Forums are sites that let users connect with one another by posting and responding to community messages. There are lots of forums online for many special interest groups.