Hey! Add me on to your Orkut account. Are you there on FB? Did you see Modi’s new tweet? Check my blog.
For the uninitiated, Orkut is not a bank, FB is Facebook, tweet is what you do on Twitter, and a blog is a weblog – an online diary. If all this sounded Greek to you, you might be a Martian, because inhabitants of Mother Earth have changed in more ways than one. Later part of 20th century has witnessed what people before this period would have only dreamed of.
Background
Thomas Friedman in his book “The World is flat” talks of ten flatteners which have made the world a level playing field. One of the flattener is “Netscape”, the first free for non-commercial use internet browser. What it has done is nothing short of a revolution. It didn’t limit the internet to the geeks, but made it accessible to everyone, right from an eight year old to an 80 year old. This led to the development of many other sophisticated protocols/technologies which have made what the world looks like now.
Social media is undeniably the most successful offshoot of this technical advancement. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein (authors of Users of the World, Unite!The Challenges And Opportunities of Social Media, Business Horizons) define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content". This definition suggests that Social Media is a platform, a potent one, which through the help of technology helps in the creation and dissemination of information.
Social Media Landscape
The taxonomy of Social Media would lead us to different set of applications depending upon the type of activity being performed. The type of activities can be listed as below.
1. Publish – You can create content and make it accessible to the global audience. Software applications most popularly used for this are Blogger, wikia, dig etc.
2. Share – You can share photos, videos with the intended audience. Applications most popularly used for this are flickr, Youtube, Picasa, Slideshare etc.
3. Discuss – Review products, opine on movies, and interact with other people. Applications include Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Meebo etc.
4. Social Networking – Websites which help you create your profile and then connect with other users. Examples of such application would include Orkut, MySpace, Facebook etc.
5. Microblog – These are applications which help individuals to keep posting statements on anything s/he might be feeling about. Applications like Twitter would be the perfect example.
6. Lifestream - Eric Freeman and David Gelernter at Yale University coined this word. It is a set of documents that are chronologically ordered and stored online. Examples of such application would be Flavors.me Social media aggregator that includes support for RSS, Chi.mp Lifestreaming and personal domain service, FriendFeed Lifestreaming service, Google Buzz Lifestreaming service embedded in Gmail.
7. Livecast – Applications that help share live content with an audience in real time. Examples would include Yahoo Live, Justin.tv, stickam etc.
8. Virtual Worlds – These are applications which simulate real life over the internet. Examples would include Second Life, The Sims Online, Forterra etc.
9. Social Gaming – Examples would include pogo, doof, Farmville etc.
10. MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) – These are multiplayer games, where hundreds of players can be supported simultaneously. Examples of MMO would include Toontown Online, Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall , Freaky Creatures, Infantry Online, SubSpace etc.
Wikipedia also classifies Social Media based upon the Software Applications that are being used. This can be seen here.
Impact of Social Media
Social media all over the world has given “expression” a new meaning. The world has shrunk and each nook and corner of the world has been conquered. It is this very ubiquitousness of social media that has made it the prime source of information. Let us try and understand its impact through different dimensions.
Political Impact: People all over the world have a platform where they can voice their opinions on every political incident that takes place. Political campaigns, live interviews of political leaders, information on political mandates, everything information is a click away.
Economic Impact:
o From the Marketer’s Perspective: Due to its reach a marketer has access to a larger set of audience. S/he can get consumer reactions in the most cost-effective way. Viral marketing is one more great positive impact of Social Media from a marketer’s perspective.
o From the Consumer’s Perspective: With a plethora of brands available in the market, the consumer today is spoilt for choices. This makes much more important for the consumer to interact with other consumers. Social Media becomes the ideal platform for such interactions. The consumer not only reviews a product or service but also gives feedback on how to make it better.
Social Impact: Internet communities, fora, blogs networking sites have become an important part of life today; we can say it’s the new face of youth. Right from researching about a new product in market to getting reviews of a movie to letting everybody know about what is happening in your life.
Technological Impact: Social Media has been a great platform for techies to share their ideas, brainstorm and create open source applications. Consumers have been more than ready to test technologies whose beta versions are introduced for testing and post their feedbacks.
Conclusion
Social Media has opened new career options for people, computer literacy has increased and life has become much easier. The impact of Social Media is all pervasive. You can create, collaborate, entertain, get entertained, review a product, discuss a movie, gossip with friends, find your life partner, the possibilities are endless.
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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in September, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.
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—About our writer:
Shailesh Sinha has an MBA in Finance & Marketing from a premier institute. He currently works as a Business Consultant with a multinational company. He has also worked as a quantitative researcher. His past engagements include working on projects for Fortune 500 companies. He would be interested in writing POVs (Point of View), articles, reports, white papers, and anything else that would make him exercise his grey cells. Coming from a consulting background, Shailesh understands the importance of meeting deadlines.
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