Popular Social Media – More Than Just Websites

Social Media is interactive multimedia technologies that enable the generation or sharing/exchange/engagement of information, experiences, career interests, views, and other types of expression through virtual communities and online networks. They are used in a variety of contexts, including everyday life, business, science & technology, and even in the social sciences. Today, Social Media has become an integral part of many people’s lives, businesses, science & technology sectors and even politics. Social Media is used by millions of users all over the world to share, store, organize, search, receive and transmit information and this information through a number of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, YouTube, Delicious, and many others. With Social Media, it is not necessary to use complex applications or complex networks to connect with people. Social Media provides a platform for users to meet, to interact and to communicate with each other.

There are many examples of social media in action. The most popular and common form of Social Media are the user-driven and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Such communities provide a platform where people can build relationships, share and discuss various issues, upload multimedia and photos, chat with other people and easily find and reconnect with people from their different places and cultures. These media also play an important role as a communication tool. For example, when users write comments on blogs, the blog is automatically tagged by the Search Engines, on the basis of the tags given by users, enabling the blog to show up in search results, when users search for a particular topic.

Social Media platforms have made a major impact on how organizations and individuals use the Internet, thus expanding their access to potentially more customers, potential for greater revenue, exposure and brand recognition. Popular social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook have over the past few years grown to be huge global phenomenon. As a result of this phenomenal growth, a plethora of new business opportunities are opening up in this exciting domain of online business and social networking. Many large companies are now employing the services of a dedicated team of online marketing experts to help them leverage the enormous power of these platforms and make it work to their advantage. Social media is also playing a significant role in shaping consumer identity and perception of brands across all industries, giving them the edge they need to seize control of their respective markets.