About 3 months ago, when the tempest was brewing on defining Social Media, I wrote a post and invited people to edit the Social Media Club Wiki page so we could get there together. There were a lot of good criticism, but no one really logged in to modify it for some reason. I invite you after the conversation to use this as your base - http://socialmediaclub.pbwiki.com/WhatIsSocialM... /> Upon deeper consideration, I think I have an even simpler definition I would like to propose, very much in the spirit of what you have posted here.
Social Media is a broad term that represents the tools and processes by which we connect and communicate online with other people to share conversations, stories, insights, information and experiences.
Maybe as I approach marriage I am just trying to uncomplicate my life, but that feels a bit more soothing to me...
Michael Clarke
· 2 years ago
Looking at your list, it seems a little odd (given stereotypical gender attributes) that women are apparently so uninvolved in the business of "defining and defending Social Media". Or maybe they're too busy using and doing to spend time defining it? Either way, I know what your next question is - how about Anne Zelenka, Danah Boyd, Susan Mernit, Kathy Sierra or Tara Hunt? They might not VCs or Sillicon Vally fixtures but they're all people out there doing the work you're talk about.
Oh, and my own little contribution to a definition comes from some reflecting I've been doing about expertise - expertise is accountable in the context of social media. And perhaps more useful as a result of this, as any socially mediated means of distribution makes the consumer of expertise equally accountable for the uses they put it to. Well, that’s my optimistic take on it, anyway. (Feels kind of lame quoting myself, mind).
Luca
· 2 years ago
In terms of "Social Media Services", have you tried Hictu? It's like twitter but you can make audio and video posts also. Chek it out: www.hictu.com
John
· 2 years ago
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. It is always great pleasure to read your posts.
Steve Halsey
· 2 years ago
I like what you are trying to do, but am not sure the the nuance of capitalization effectively separates "social media" from "Social Media."
Perhaps you should use a broader social media definition and define the tools and applications as just that ... tools and applications.
One more question to ask here is whether "online" is an appropriate sole descriptor. Do you consider mobile marketing an element of social media?
Michael
· 2 years ago
Nice post. What are your thoughts about the idea that social media is the new [perfect] platform to facilitate self expression. This applies to consumers as well as publishers, brands, corporations, etc.
Isabel Walcott
· 2 years ago
With all due respect to the people who have spent time noodling on this, the definitions you all offer are far too complicated.
In discovering there was no universally agreed-upon definition and Wikipedia is a mess about it, I posted a simple and accurate definition on my blog at blog.isabelhilborn.com:
Social Media: Any communications format where the users publish the content.
I think if you get down in the weeds talking about tools (which is really social software), multi-media (that's a given because all media is multi-media), etc. is just making it hard for the layperson to understand.
Doc Think
· 1 year ago
Why do you use the word "online"? I would include SMS in a social media toolbox, and I think of mobile phones as NOT online.
The growth of mobile as a platform--from uploading pictures from a telephone, sending to others, commenting to one or to many--changes how we communicate, for example regarding length and frequency.
Michael
· 11 months ago
i too am for simplifying this definition. my verion?
"social media describes the digital experiences in which people share."
i dont think social media is/should be confined to "tools" and i think to try to identify everything that people share online will only result in missing something. it's just everything. people sharing whatever the hell they want. and doing so on multiple platforms. not just tools, web or handhelds.
Social
· 10 months ago
Hey Brian,
isn't wour definition the one for Web2.0? How would you define Web2.0?
Adam Gardefjord
· 9 months ago
What about Wikipedias new definition? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
All Comments
Upon deeper consideration, I think I have an even simpler definition I would like to propose, very much in the spirit of what you have posted here.
Social Media is a broad term that represents the tools and processes by which we connect and communicate online with other people to share conversations, stories, insights, information and experiences.
Maybe as I approach marriage I am just trying to uncomplicate my life, but that feels a bit more soothing to me...
Oh, and my own little contribution to a definition comes from some reflecting I've been doing about expertise - expertise is accountable in the context of social media. And perhaps more useful as a result of this, as any socially mediated means of distribution makes the consumer of expertise equally accountable for the uses they put it to. Well, that’s my optimistic take on it, anyway. (Feels kind of lame quoting myself, mind).
Perhaps you should use a broader social media definition and define the tools and applications as just that ... tools and applications.
One more question to ask here is whether "online" is an appropriate sole descriptor. Do you consider mobile marketing an element of social media?
In discovering there was no universally agreed-upon definition and Wikipedia is a mess about it, I posted a simple and accurate definition on my blog at blog.isabelhilborn.com:
Social Media: Any communications format where the users publish the content.
I think if you get down in the weeds talking about tools (which is really social software), multi-media (that's a given because all media is multi-media), etc. is just making it hard for the layperson to understand.
The growth of mobile as a platform--from uploading pictures from a telephone, sending to others, commenting to one or to many--changes how we communicate, for example regarding length and frequency.
"social media describes the digital experiences in which people share."
i dont think social media is/should be confined to "tools" and i think to try to identify everything that people share online will only result in missing something. it's just everything. people sharing whatever the hell they want. and doing so on multiple platforms. not just tools, web or handhelds.
isn't wour definition the one for Web2.0? How would you define Web2.0?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media