Defining Social Media
Social Media is more about culture than technology
-definitions of social media are based off of people's experiences
What type of orgs are more likely to use social media?
-small and very large -retail goods, technology communities, marketing communication organizations
Different types of social media
-suite of communication technologies -online communication technologies -individual tools (Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia) -Hosted Social Media -Campaigns
Affordances Approach
-think of technology in terms of what it allows/affords us to do - not as an objective set of features -social media is a suite of technologies that allow people to do similar things - these things would be difficult or impossible with other technologies -Visibility, editability, persistence, association
Editability
ability to carefully craft, change, and edit messages before they are viewed -more control of expressions -can target communication more effectively -ensure quality and accuracy of communication
Association
established connections between individuals, content, organizations, or presentations of material -supports social connections -suggests potential new connections -reveals other people's connections
Why is social media hard to define?
i. It is both specific tools (Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter) as well as classes of technology (social networking sites, wikis, microblogging) ii. It is both a tool (a blog) and an activity (blogging) iii. When we invoke social media, we usually have a specific example in mind
Visibility
make your store more visible than it would be with traditional media -who people are -what people do -what people know
How most people form definitions of social media
shaped by personal, familiar, and salient experiences - difficult to shift initial perceptions, people often default to stereotypes or common views
Persistence
the ability to make communication available in a consistent form -sustains material over time -makes it difficult for others to alter or delete material -allows multiple people to build material or collectivity contribute
