Wikipedia describes Social Media as:
Social Media is a term used to describe the type of media that is based on conversation and interaction between people online. Where media means digital words, sounds, and pictures which are typically shared via the Internet and the value can be cultural, societal, conversational, financial, or business oriented.
Social Media are media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social Media uses web-based technologies to transform and broadcast monologues into social media dialogues. They support the democratization of knowledge and information and transform people from content consumers to content producers.
The term Social Media has evolved from the terms “Web 2.0″ and “User Generated Content (UGC)”. Social Media became the populist term because it involves people socailizing online. But the key to it all is public generated content. For that reason, it seems to me that the correct name for it is Public Media.
Until Social (AKA Public) Media came along, information publication was controlled by a relatively few, but very large media companies. Companies used traditional media publication sources to broadcast their messages (AKA commercials). Whoever could afford air time or print publications spoke and the public listened. There was no practical way for the public to mass respond to broadcast news and ads.
With the evolution of Public Media (AKA Social) the public now has a mass publication method and the flow of information has become open to all. Companies now have to listen, not just talk.
I read that Amazon has been credited to be one of the first websites to tap into Social Media for business use. Amazon in the late 90′s added customer reviews of purchased products to their eCommerce function in the form of forum postings on the Amazon website.
From there social spread to other eCommerce websites and eventually to the mega sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc, etc, etc.
The invention of the large social sites has transformed mass communication. the public now has a broadcast method for their voice. Socail Media has moved past being just a place to socialize. Social Media is now a full fledged source of public information exchange.
I vote for renaming Social Media to Public Media. What do you think?
