Social media - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0

Web 2.0

The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...

, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content

User-generated content

User generated content covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media content production circles...

."
Social media are media for social interaction, as a superset beyond social communication. Enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques, social media substantially change the way of communication between organizations, communities, as well as individuals.

Shaping

Social media take on many different forms, including magazines, Internet forum

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

s, weblogs

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

, social blogs, microblogging

Microblogging

Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size...

, wiki

Wiki

A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...

s, podcast

Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

s, photographs or pictures, video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

, rating and social bookmarking

Social bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....

. By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme for different social media types in their Business Horizons article published in 2010. According to Kaplan and Haenlein there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...

), blogs and microblogs (e.g. Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

), content communities (e.g. Youtube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

), social networking sites (e.g. Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

), virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...

), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life

Second Life

Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

). Technologies include: blog

Blog

s, picture-sharing, vlog

Vlog

Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Web television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take...

s, wall-postings, email

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

, instant messaging

Instant messaging

Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

, music-sharing, crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....

, and voice over IP

Voice over IP

Voice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...

, to name a few. Many of these social media services can be integrated via social network aggregation

Social network aggregation

Social network aggregation is the process of collecting content from multiple social network services, such as MySpace or Facebook. The task is often performed by a social network aggregator, which pulls together information into a single location, or helps a user consolidate multiple social...

platforms.

Kietzmann et al. (2011) present a honeycomb framework that defines how social media services focus on some or all of seven functional building blocks (identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups). These building blocks help understand the engagement needs of the social media audience. For instance, LinkedIn users care mostly about identity, reputation and relationships, whereas YouTube’s primary building blocks are sharing, conversations, groups and reputation.

Patents

There has been rapid growth in the number of US patent applications that cover new technologies related to social media. The number of published applications has been growing rapidly over the past five years. There are now over 250 published applications. Only about 10 of these applications have issued as patents, however, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents

Distinction from industrial media

Business

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

es may refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value.

People obtain information, education, news and other data from electronic media and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media, such as newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s, television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, and film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

. They are relatively inexpensive and accessible to enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, compared to industrial media, which generally require significant resources to publish information.

One characteristic shared by both social media and industrial media is the capability to reach small or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach no people or millions of people. Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social media and industrial media are:

Reach - both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and are capable of reaching a global audience. Industrial media, however, typically use a centralized framework for organization, production, and dissemination, whereas social media are by their very nature more decentralized, less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple points of production and utility.
Accessibility - the means of production for industrial media are typically government and/or privately owned; social media tools are generally available to the public at little or no cost.
Usability - industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Conversely, most social media production does not require specialized skills and training, or requires only modest reinterpretation of existing skills; in theory, anyone with access can operate the means of social media production.
Immediacy - the time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous responses; only the participants determine any delay in response). However, as industrial media begin adopting aspects of production normally associated with social media tools, this feature may not prove distinctive over time.
Permanence - industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing.

Community media constitute an interesting hybrid of industrial and social media. Though community-owned, some community radios, TV and newspapers are run by professionals and some by amateurs. They use both social and industrial media frameworks.

Managing Social Media

Kietzmann et al. (2011) contend that social media presents an enormous challenge for firms, as many established management methods are ill-suited to deal with customers who no longer want to be talked at but who want firms to listen, appropriately engage, and respond. The authors explain that each of the seven functional building blocks has important implications for how firms should engage with social media. By analyzing identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups, firms can monitor and understand how social media activities vary in terms of their function and impact, so as to develop a congruent social media strategy based on the appropriate balance of building blocks for their community.

Increasingly, the term 'social business' is being used. This reflects that social media is not just a marketing discipline, but that it has multiple touch-points in an organisation such as customer service, sales, human resource management and R&D. Social business is where social media has broken down silos and barriers that enable employees to have a genuinely more open and collaborative relationship with the outside world.

Building "social authority" and vanity

According to the European Journal of Social Psychology

European Journal of Social Psychology

European Journal of Social Psychology is a journal published by John Wiley & Sons. It publishes original papers on subjects like social cognition, attitudes, group processes, social influence, intergroup relations, self and identity, nonverbal communication, and social psychological aspects of...

, one of the key components in successful social media marketing implementation is building "social authority". Social authority is developed when an individual or organization establishes themselves as an "expert" in their given field or area, thereby becoming an influencer in that field or area.

It is through this process of "building social authority" that social media becomes effective. That is why one of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that you can achieve a significant influence in that conversation.

However, this conversation participation must be cleverly executed because while people are resistant to marketing in general, they are even more resistant to direct or overt marketing through social media platforms. This may seem counter-intuitive but is the main reason building social authority with credibility is so important. A marketer can generally not expect people to be receptive to a marketing message in and of itself. In the Edleman Trust Barometer report in 2008, the majority (58%) of the respondents reported they most trusted company or product information coming from "people like me" inferred to be information from someone they trusted. In the 2010 Trust Report, the majority switched to 64% preferring their information from industry experts and academics. According to Inc. Technology's Brent Leary, "This loss of trust, and the accompanying turn towards experts and authorities, seems to be coinciding with the rise of social media and networks."

Internet usage effects

A study by the University of Maryland

University of Maryland

When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...

suggested that social media services may be addictive, and that users of social media services leads to a "fear of missing out". It has been observed that Facebook is now the primary method for communication by college students in the U.S.

Several colleges have even introduced classes on best social media practices, preparing students for potential careers as digital strategists.

There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows:

Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US.
A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009.
Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40 million tweets per day.
Over 25% of U.S. internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before.
Australia has some of the highest social media usage in the world. In usage of Facebook Australia ranks highest, with over 9 million users spending almost 9 hours per month on the site.
The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so that one in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site. Facebook has 750 Million users.
Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
Social Media has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the web.
iPod application downloads hit 1 billion in 9 months.
If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 3rd largest.
U.S. Department of Education study revealed that online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction.
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world.
In four minutes and 26 seconds 100+ hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube.
Indians spend more time on social media than on any other activity on the Internet.

According to a report by Nielson

“In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month.”

The main increase in social media has been Facebook. It was ranked as the number one social networking site. Approximately 100 million users access this site through their mobile phone. According to Nielsen, global consumers spend more than 6 hours on social networking sites. "Social Media Revolution" produced by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman

Erik Qualman

Erik Qualman is an American author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, and is a speaker within the Internet community. In 2010, Socialnomics was a Book of the Year finalist as voted on by the American Marketing Association...

contains numerous statistics on Social Media including the fact that 93% of businesses use it for marketing and that if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest. In an effort to supplant Facebook's dominance, Google launched Google+ in the summer of 2011.

Probable historic impact

Social media may have been integral to the Arab revolutions and revolts of 2011. As one Cairo activist succinctly put it. However, there is some debate about the extent to which social media facilitated this kind of change.

Criticisms

Andrew Keen

Andrew Keen is a British-American entrepreneur and author. He is particularly known for his view that the current Internet culture and the Web 2.0 trend may be debasing culture, an opinion he shares with Jaron Lanier and Nicholas G. Carr among others...

criticizes social media in his book The Cult of the Amateur
The Cult of the Amateur
The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture is a 2007 book written by entrepreneur and Internet critic Andrew Keen...

, writing, "Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering."

Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...

contends that the danger of social networking sites is that most are silos and do not allow users to port data from one site to another. He also cautions against social networks that grow too big and become a monopoly as this tends to limit innovation.

Economic impact by social marketing

Thus, using social media as a form of marketing has taken on whole new challenges. As the 2010 Trust Study indicates, it is most effective if marketing efforts through social media revolve around the genuine building of authority. Someone performing a "marketing" role within a company must honestly convince people of their genuine intentions, knowledge, and expertise in a specific area or industry through providing valuable and accurate information on an ongoing basis without a marketing angle overtly associated. If this can be done, trust with, and of, the recipient of that information – and that message itself – begins to develop naturally. This person or organization becomes a thought leader and value provider - setting themselves up as a trusted "advisor" instead of marketer. "Top of mind awareness

Top of mind awareness

Top-of-mind awareness is: "When people think of you first to fulfill their product or service needs." Traditionally, TOMA has been achieved through traditional channels such as radio, newspapers, television, and magazines. Increasingly companies of all sizes are moving towards social media like...

" develops and the consumer naturally begins to gravitate to the products and/or offerings of the authority/influencer.

Of course, there are many ways authority can be created – and influence can be accomplished – including: participation in Wikipedia

Wikipedia

which actually verifies user-generated content and information more than most people may realize; providing valuable content through social networks on platforms such as Facebook

Facebook

and Twitter

Twitter

; article writing and distribution through sites such as Ezine Articles

EzineArticles

EzineArticles is a matching services between hundreds of thousands of expert authors and Ezine Publishers looking for supplemental content they can use for next permission-based email newsletter. As of April 2011, it was ranked #102 in traffic among global websites, and #88 in the United States,...

and Scribd

Scribd

Scribd is a Web 2.0 based document-sharing website which allows users to post documents of various formats, and embed them into a web page using its iPaper format. Scribd was founded by Trip Adler, Tikhon Bernstam, and Jared Friedman in 2006...

; and providing fact-based answers on "social question and answer sites" such as EHow

EHow

eHow is an online how-to guide with more than 1 million articles and 170,000 videos offering step-by-step instructions. eHow articles and videos are created by freelancers and cover a wide variety of topics organized into a hierarchy of categories. Any eHow user can leave comments or responses, but...

and Yahoo! Answers

Yahoo! Answers

Yahoo! Answers is a community-driven question-and-answer site or a knowledge market launched by Yahoo! on June 28, 2005 that allows users to both submit questions to be answered and answer questions asked by other users...

.

As a result of social media – and the direct or indirect influence of social media marketers – today, consumers are as likely – or more likely – to make buying decisions based on what they read and see in platforms we call "social" but only if presented by someone they have come to trust. Additionally, reports have shown organizations have been able to bring back dissatisfied customers and stakeholders through social media channels. This is why a purposeful and carefully designed social media strategy has become an integral part of any complete and directed marketing plan but must also be designed using newer "authority building" techniques.

In his 2006 book, The Wealth of Networks
The Wealth of Networks
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom is a book by law professor Yochai Benkler published by Yale University Press on April 3, 2006....

: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yochai Benkler

Yochai Benkler

Yochai Benkler is an Israeli-American professor of Law and author. Since 2007, he has been the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is also a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.- Biography :In 1984, Benkler...

analyzed many of these distinctions and their implications in terms of both economics and political liberty. However, Benkler, like many academics, uses the neologism network economy

Network Economy

The network economy is the emerging economic order within the information society. The name stems from a key attribute - products and services are created and value is added through social networks operating on large or global scales...

or "network information economy" to describe the underlying economic, social, and technological characteristics of what has come to be known as "social media".
The basic assumption with social media is there will be a demand for the information published using such media. The quantity of subscribers to the various providers seems to prove that assumption. However, the quality of the contents casted by individuals may be subject of a more distant view, regarding the multicast or even broadcast distribution as powered by vanity of the issuers. In contrast the reception of contents published by organisations shows the curiosity of the subscribers to learn more about the ever renewing world they are part of. Both aspects may generate economic value beyond the providers sake for the issuers of the contents.

However, building reputation and becoming recognised as an expert with a high yield in "social authority" may remind the fact that there is no quality assessment for the issued contents but the acclamation or applause by the readers or the opposite, deprecation or disapproval. That does not guarantee for a reasonable value of the messages.

Ownership of Social Media Content

Social Media content is generated through social media interactions done by the users through the site. There has always been a huge debate on the ownership of the content on social media platforms since it is generated by the users and hosted by the company. Critics contend that the companies are making huge amount of money by using the content that does not belong to them. Hence the challenge for ownership is lesser with the communicated content, but with the personal data disclosed by the subscribed writers and readers and the correlation to chosen types of content. The security danger beyond is the parasitic conveying, diffunding or leaking of agglomerated data to third parties with certain economic interest.

Brand monitoring

Social media measurement
Social media measurement
Social media measurement refers to the tracking of various social media content such as blogs, wikis, micro-blogs, social networking sites, video/photo sharing websites, forums, message boards, and user-generated content in general as a way for marketers to determine the volume and sentiment around...

: Attensity
Attensity
Attensity provides text analytics software for Customer Experience Management . Attensity's software applications extract facts, relationships and sentiment from unstructured data, which comprise approximately 85% of the information companies store electronically.The software uses natural language...

, Statsit
Statsit
Statsit is a social media monitoring and insight company founded in 2008, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.The company specializes in measuring the effectiveness of marketing activities and providing brand insights via comments and conversations on social media sites including blogs, forums,...

, Sysomos
Sysomos
Sysomos Inc. is a Toronto-based social media analytics company.The company uses content of social media sites including blogs, forums and Twitter to create a real-time picture on how products, people, and brands are covered in those media sites. Unlike other similar services, it also attempts to...

, Vocus
Vocus
Vocus is a publicly held company that provides on-demand software for public relations, marketing and communications professionals. Their software provides news monitoring and management, social media monitoring and management, press release distribution and reporting and analytics, and includes...

Communication

Blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

s: Blogger
Blogger (service)
Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Up until May 1, 2010 Blogger allowed users to publish...

, Drupal
Drupal
Drupal is a free and open-source content management system and content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is used as a back-end system for at least 1.5% of all websites worldwide ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and...

, ExpressionEngine, LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....

, Open Diary
Open Diary
Open Diary is an online diary community, an early example of social networking software. It was founded on October 20, 1998 by Bruce Ableson, known on the Open Diary website by the title of his diary, The DiaryMaster...

, TypePad
TypePad
TypePad is a blogging service from company Say Media . Originally launched in October 2003, TypePad is based on Six Apart's Movable Type platform, and shares technology with Movable Type such as templates and APIs, but is marketed to non-technical users and includes additional features like...

, Vox
Vox (blogging platform)
Vox was an Internet blogging service run by Six Apart, which ran from October 26, 2006 to September 30, 2010. Before launching, it had the codename "Project Comet"....

, WordPress
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...

, Xanga
Xanga
Xanga is a website that hosts weblogs, photoblogs, and social networking profiles. It is operated by Xanga.com, Inc., based in New York City.-Origins:...
- Microblogging
  Microblogging
  Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size...
  
  : Dailybooth
  DailyBooth
  DailyBooth is a photoblogging website designed for users to take a photo of themselves every day with a caption, in order to document and share their life with others, thus the slogan "your life in pictures." It is similar to social-networking websites such as Twitter in that you can follow other...
  
  , FMyLife
  Fmylife
  FMyLife is an English-language blog that serves as "a recollection of everyday anecdotes likely to happen to anyone". Posts on the site are short, user-submitted stories of unfortunate happenings that begin with "Today" and end with "FML"....
  
  , Foursquare, Google Buzz
  Google Buzz
  Google Buzz is a social networking, microblogging and messaging tool from Google integrated into the company's web-based email program, Gmail. Users can share links, photos, videos, status messages and comments organized in "conversations" and visible in the user's inbox. On October 14, 2011,...
  
  , Identi.ca
  Identi.ca
  identi.ca is an open source social networking and micro-blogging service. Based on StatusNet, a micro-blogging software package built on the OpenMicroBlogging specification, Identi.ca allows users to send text updates up to 140 characters long...
  
  , Jaiku
  Jaiku
  Jaiku is a social networking, micro-blogging and lifestreaming service comparable to Twitter. Jaiku was founded in February 2006 by Jyri Engeström and Petteri Koponen from Finland and launched in July of that year...
  
  , Nasza-Klasa.pl
  Nasza-klasa.pl
  - External links :* *...
  
  , Plurk
  Plurk
  Plurk is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates through short messages or links, which can be up to 140 text characters in length....
  
  , Posterous
  Posterous
  Posterous is a simple blogging platform started in May 2008, funded by Y Combinator. It is based in San Francisco.Updating to Posterous is similar to other blogging platforms. Posting can be done by logging in to the website's rich text editor, but it is particularly designed for mobile blogging...
  
  , Qaiku
  Qaiku
  Qaiku is a micro-blogging and lifestreaming service comparable to Twitter and Jaiku. It allows users to post short text or picture messages that other users can then comment...
  
  , Tumblr
  Tumblr
  Tumblr is a website and microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users can follow other users, or choose to make their tumblelog private. The service emphasizes ease of use. The site ranks as the 10th...
  
  , Twitter
  Twitter
  Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
  
  , *Engagement Advertising & Monetization: SocialVibe
  SocialVibe
  SocialVibe is a social networking advertising company whose website has over 1,750,000 members which rewards publishers of social media content through mechanisms such as donations to their charity of choice. After joining SocialVibe, in addition to creating a personal profile, users are asked to...
Location-based social networks
Location-based service
A Location-Based Service is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device....

: Facebook places, Foursquare, Geoloqi
Geoloqi
Geoloqi is a private, real-time mobile and web platform for securely sharing location data, with mobile apps available on iPhone and Android. Geoloqi can track a user’s location at all times, and use this data to provide various services. A user can leave himself a note to receive when he gets to a...

, Google Latitude
Google Latitude
Google Latitude is a location-aware mobile app developed by Google as a successor to their earlier SMS-based service Dodgeball. Latitude allows a mobile phone user to allow certain people to view their current location. Via their own Google Account, the user's cell phone location is mapped on...

, Gowalla
Gowalla
Gowalla is a location-based social network. Users 'check in' at Spots in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile application or through the mobile website. As a reward users will sometimes receive virtual "items" from check-ins. Items have developed to become a promotional tool for...

, The Hotlist, Yelp, Inc.
Events: Eventful
Eventful
Eventful is a web service which aims to help users search for, track, and share information about events. Eventful is a service of Eventful, Inc. from San Diego, California...

, The Hotlist, Meetup.com
Meetup.com
Meetup is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. Meetup allows members to find and join groups unified by a common interest, such as politics, books, games, movies, health, pets, careers or hobbies...

, Upcoming, Yelp, Inc.
Information Aggregators: Netvibes
Netvibes
Netvibes is a personalized dashboard publishing platform for the Web including digital life management, widget distribution services and brand observation rooms.-History:The company was founded by Tariq Krim and Florent Frémont in 2005.-Technology:...

, Twine (website)
Twine (website)
Twine is an online, social web service for information storage, authoring and discovery. Created by Radar Networks, the service was announced on October 19, 2007 and made open to the public on October 21, 2008. On March 11, 2010, Radar Networks was acquired by Evri Inc...
Online Advocacy and Fundraising: Causes, Jumo
Jumo
Jumo is a social network service and website launched on November 30, 2010, to index charities so that people can find and evaluate them. Jumo was founded by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. On August 17, 2011 he announced Jumo was merging with the GOOD organization, providing a social engagement...

, Kickstarter
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors, ranging from indie film and music to journalism, solar energy technology and food-related projects.-Model:...

, IndieGoGo
Indiegogo
IndieGoGo is a crowd funding site founded by Slava Rubin, Danae Ringellmann and Eric Schell in 2008. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California...
Social networking
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...

: ASmallWorld
ASmallWorld
aSmallWorld is an on-line social network service similar to XING, and LinkedIn. It is an exclusive network with roughly 770,000 members that was founded by Erik and Louise Wachtmeister.-Features:...

, Bebo
Bebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....

, Cyworld
Cyworld
Cyworld is a South Korean social network service operated by SK Communications , a subsidiary of SK Telecom .Members cultivate relationships by forming Ilchon or "friendships" with each other through their minihompy....

, Diaspora
Diaspora (software)
Diaspora is a free personal web server that implements a distributed social networking service. Installations of the software form nodes which make up the distributed Diaspora social network....

, Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

, Google+
Google+
Google+ is a social networking and identity service, operated by Google Inc.The service was launched on June 28, 2011, in an invite-only "field testing" phase. The following day, existing users were allowed to invite friends who were over 18 years of age to the service to create their own accounts....

, Hi5
Hi5 (website)
hi5 is a social networking website based in San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 2003 by Ramu Yalamanchi. By 2008, comScore reported that hi5 had become the third most popular social networking site in terms of monthly unique visitors....

, Hyves
Hyves
Hyves is a social networking site in the Netherlands with mainly Dutch visitors and members and competes in this country with sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Hyves was founded in 2004 by Raymond Spanjar, Koen Kam, and Floris Rost van Tonningen....

, IRC, LinkedIn
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...

, Mixi
Mixi
mixi, Inc. is one of several social networking websites in Japan, founded in 2004. As of May 2008, mixi had over 21.6 million users and an 80% share of the social networking market in Japan...

, MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

, Netlog
Netlog
Netlog is a Belgian social networking website specifically targeted at the European youth demographic....

, Ning, Orkut
Orkut
Orkut is a social networking website that is owned and operated by Google Inc. The service is designed to help users meet new and old friends and maintain existing relationships...

, Plaxo
Plaxo
Plaxo is an online address book and social networking service originally founded by Sean Parker, Minh Nguyen and two Stanford engineering students, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring...

, The my2i, Tagged, Tuenti
Tuenti
Tuenti is a Spain-based, invitation-only private social networking website that has been referred to as the "Spanish Facebook." Tuenti, pronounced in Spanish, sounds like Twenty in English...

, XING
Xing
Xing may refer to:* an abbreviation for crossing, primarily used in North America* Qiao Xing Universal Telephone Inc. * XING, a social network platform* Xing County, in Shanxi, China* Xing - A Korean boyband...

, Yammer
Yammer
Yammer is an enterprise social network service that was launched in September 2008. Unlike Twitter, which is used for broadcasting messages to the public, Yammer is used for private communication within organizations or between organizational members and pre-designated groups, making it an example...

Collaboration/authority building

Collaboration: Central Desktop
Central Desktop
Central Desktop, Inc. is a privately held collaboration software company that is headquartered in Pasadena, California. The company's primary focus is providing a Software-as-a-Service collaboration tool to small and medium-sized businesses. The company and its products are most often compared to...
Content Management Systems: Drupal
Drupal
Drupal is a free and open-source content management system and content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is used as a back-end system for at least 1.5% of all websites worldwide ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and...

, Joomla, Plone, Siteforum
Siteforum
The SITEFORUM Group is a medium-sized software company, headquartered in Germany with regional offices and partners in the UK, USA, Canada and Asia. The portal SITEFORUM software is offered as "Software-as-a- Service"....

, Wordpress
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...
Diagramming and Visual Collaboration: Creately
Creately
Creately is a cloud-based diagramming and design application service operated by Cinergix, Pty Ltd. It is built on Adobe's Flex/Flash technologies and provides a visual communication platform for virtual teams...
Document Managing and Editing Tools: Docs.com
Docs.com
Docs.com is a collaboration between Microsoft FUSE Labs and Facebook to provide a basic online document editing suite, similar to Google Docs. It is designed to make it easy to discover, create and share Office documents with your Facebook friends...

, Dropbox.com, Google Docs, Syncplicity
Syncplicity
Syncplicity is a backup and synchronization service provided by Syncplicity Inc. The service allows users to store and sync files online between computers...
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....

(or social tagging): CiteULike
CiteULike
CiteULike is based on the principle of social bookmarking and is aimed to promote and to develop the sharing of scientific references amongst researchers. In the same way that it is possible to catalog web pages or photographs , scientists can share information on academic papers with specific...

, Delicious, Diigo
Diigo
Diigo is a social bookmarking website which allows signed-up users to bookmark and tag web-pages. Additionally, it allows users to highlight any part of a webpage and attach sticky notes to specific highlights or to a whole page. These annotations can be kept private, shared with a group within...

, Google Reader
Google Reader
Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7, 2005 through Google Labs. Reader was graduated from beta status on September 17, 2007.-Interface:...

, StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that finds and recommends web content to its users. Its features allow users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos that are personalized to their tastes and interests using peer-sourcing and social-networking principles.Toolbar versions exist for...

, folkd
Folkd
folkd.com is a social bookmarking and social news website that has been founded in 2006 by Bastian Karweg out of Germany. The website has grown into one of biggest services of its kind and currently lists over 8 million public bookmarks by more than 500.000 users...
Social Media Gaming: Empire Avenue
Empire Avenue
Empire Avenue is a stock market simulation social network game that allows users to buy and sell shares of people and websites. It started in February 2010 as an invitation-only closed beta before launching to the public in July 2010. Registration and game play is free.- Gameplay :Players have...
Social navigation: Trapster
Trapster (speed trap sharing system)
Trapster is a social networking mobile application and website, provided for free, that maps out and alerts users in real time to the presence of live police speed traps, red light cameras, speed cameras, and areas where police often hide. Further, it allows users to record trip data and share it...

, Waze
Waze
Waze is a free GPS application featuring turn-by-turn navigation, developed by the Israeli start-up Waze Mobile for mobile phones. It currently supports iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and BlackBerry. Waze differs from traditional GPS navigation software as it is a community-driven...
Social news
Social news
A social news website is a type of website that features user-submitted stories that are ranked based on popularity.-Slashdot:Slashdot, started in 1997, was one of the first social news websites. It focuses mainly on science and technology related news. Users can submit stories, and the editors...

: Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...

, Mixx
Mixx
Mixx is a user-driven social media web site that serves to help users submit or find content by peers based on interest and location. It combines social networking and bookmarking with web syndication, blogging and personalization tools.-Details:...

, Newsvine
Newsvine
Newsvine is a community-powered, collaborative journalism news website, owned by msnbc.com, which draws content from its users and syndicated content from mainstream sources such as The Associated Press...

, NowPublic
NowPublic
NowPublic is a user-generated social news website. The company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and was founded by Michael Tippett, Leonard Brody and Michael E. Meyers in 2005. On Sept. 2, 2009 the company was acquired by Clarity Digital Group, LLC, wholly owned by The Anschutz...

, Reddit
Reddit
reddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content, in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.Reddit was originally...
Wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...

s: PBworks, Wetpaint
Wetpaint
Wetpaint is a Seattle, Washington-based company, founded in 2005, that hosts both user-generated and professionally created content. Wetpaint began as a wiki farm, hosting wikis using their own proprietary software. In 2010, the main site was rebranded as Wetpaint Entertainment, a website focused...

, Wikia
Wikia
Wikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...

, Wikidot
Wikidot
Wikidot.com is a social networking service and wiki hosting service , developed in Toruń, Poland. Wikidot Inc., which owns and operates Wikidot.com, is incorporated in Delaware, USA, Division of Corporations, file no. 4326793...

, Wikimedia, Wikispaces
Wikispaces
Wikispaces is a hosting service based in San Francisco, California. Launched in March 2005, Wikispaces is owned by Tangient LLC and is among the largest wiki hosts, competing with PBworks, Wetpaint, Wikia, and Google Sites .Private wikis with advanced features for businesses, non-profits and...

, Wikinews
Wikinews
Wikinews is a free-content news source wiki and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. The site works through collaborative journalism. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has distinguished Wikinews from Wikipedia by saying "on Wikinews, each story is to be written as a news story as opposed to an...

Entertainment

Game sharing: Armor Games
Armor Games
Armor Games, formerly Games Of Gondor, is a website based in Irvine, California, that hosts free Flash-based browser games. Armor Games was founded by Daniel McNeely. Under its former name, it hosted The Lord of the Rings-themed content, such as the games "Hob the Hobbit", "Battle for Gondor", and...

, Kongregate
Kongregate
Kongregate is an online games hosting website owned by Gamestop Corporation, which allows users to upload user-created Adobe Flash or Unity3D games. It features an API that Flash and Unity developers can integrate into their games which allows users to submit high scores and in some games, earn...

, Miniclip
Miniclip
Miniclip is a website known for its browser-based casual games. It was started in 2001 by Robert Small and Tihan Presbie on a budget of £40,000 and quickly grew to become a leader in its respective market. As of 1701, the company has been valued at over £200 million, having been profitable for six...

, Newgrounds
Newgrounds
Newgrounds is an American entertainment and social media website. Founded on July 6, 1995 by Tom Fulp, the site primarily hosts Adobe Flash animations and games, but also features a music-oriented page, along with an art portal...
Media and entertainment platforms: Cisco Eos
Cisco Eos
Cisco Eos was a software platform for Media & Entertainment companies developed by the Cisco Media Solutions GroupUnlike the Canon EOS product, Cisco says that "Eos" is not an acronym, but is pronounced as a word Eos is reported to be focused on helping M&E companies connect with online fans...

, Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

, Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Virtual world
Virtual world
A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...

s: Active Worlds
Active Worlds
Active Worlds is a 3D virtual reality platform. The Active Worlds client runs on Windows. Users assign themselves a name, log into the Active Worlds universe, and explore 3D virtual worlds and environments that other users have built. Users can chat with one another or build structures and areas...

, Forterra Systems
Forterra Systems
Forterra Systems, Inc. was a 3D graphics software company headquartered in San Mateo, California that produced private and secure MMO virtual worlds for corporate, government, defense, medical and educational clients. Forterra Systems also shared a close history with the MMOG There...

, Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

, The Sims Online
The Sims Online
The Sims Online was a massively multiplayer online variation on Maxis's highly popular computer game The Sims. It was published by Electronic Arts and released on December 17, 2002 for Microsoft Windows. In March 2007, EA announced that the product would be re-branded as EA-Land and major...

, World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...

, RuneScape
RuneScape
RuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering...

Leisure example

The Dutch man Ramon Stoppelenburg

Ramon Stoppelenburg

Ramon Stoppelenburg is a world traveler and a Dutch author, currently residing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.-Education:...

traveled around the world for free, without spending any money, from 2001 to 2003, thanks to his blog

Blog

on Letmestayforaday.com. His website was his profile with which he created his own necessary network of online offered places to stay for the night. This made Stoppelenburg one of the first people online who used the online media in a social and effective manner.

Multimedia

Livecasting: blip.tv
Blip.tv
The website Blip.tv is a platform for web series. The company offers a for the "best in original web series" and also offers a dashboard for producers of original web series to distribute and monetize their productions....

, Justin.tv
Justin.tv
Justin.tv is a website created by Justin Kan, Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel and Kyle Vogt in 2007 that allows anyone to broadcast video online. Justin.tv user accounts are called "channels", and users are encouraged to broadcast a wide variety of user-generated live video content, called...

, Livestream
Livestream
Livestream, formerly known as Mogulus, is a live streaming video platform that allows users to view and broadcast video content using a camera and a computer through the internet...

, oovoo
OoVoo
ooVoo is a proprietary instant messaging client developed by ooVoo LLC for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS. It was released in 2007, and is similar to Skype and Apple's Facetime. Calls can be recorded in real-time and twelve-way video chatting is supported...

, OpenCU
OpenCU
openCU is a cross-platform, open source implementation of CU-SeeMe, a video-conferencing protocol, written in C++.While the SIP and H323 needs human intervention, it is not really recommended for large conferences....

, Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...

, Stickam
Stickam
Stickam is a website devoted to live-streaming video, featuring both professional and user-generated content. The site launched in 2005. Stickam features user-submitted pictures, audio, video, and most prominently, live streaming video chat...

, Ustream
Ustream
Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten...

, Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Music and audio sharing: Bandcamp
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an online music store, as well as a platform for artist promotion, that caters mainly for independent artists. Artists on Bandcamp have a customizable microsite with the albums they upload. All tracks can be played for free on the website and some artists offer free music downloads...

, ccMixter
CcMixter
ccMixter.org is a community music site that promotes remix culture and makes samples, remixes, and a cappella tracks licensed under Creative Commons available for download and re-use in creative works. Visitors are able to listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in a variety of ways...

, Groove Shark, The Hype Machine
The Hype Machine
-History:The Hype Machine was created in 2005 by Anthony Volodkin, a sophomore computer science major at Hunter College. The site was born out of Volodkin's frustration with music magazines and radio stations. He said, "I discovered MP3 blogs like Stereogum and Music for Robots...

, imeem
Imeem
The online service imeem was a social media web site where users interacted with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos...

, Last.fm
Last.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....

, MySpace Music, Pandora Radio, ReverbNation.com
ReverbNation.com
ReverbNation.com is a web site, launched in 2006, that focuses on the independent music industry. It aims to provide a central site for musicians, producers, and venues to collaborate and communicate.-Innovations:...

, ShareTheMusic
ShareTheMusic
ShareTheMusic is an Internet platform for legal and free music sharing, owned by Desh, ltd.It was launched worldwide on 26 October 2009. In December 2009 ShareTheMusic.com has been admitted to Microsoft BizSpark .The guiding idea of the service was to make it possible for all the Internet users,...

, Soundclick
SoundClick
SoundClick is a music-based social community. It offers bands, artists, and music labels a platform for self-promotion. Songs can be streamed, downloaded in MP3 format, sold through the store, or licensed to others. SoundClick compiles daily charts for various genres, based on how many times a...

, SoundCloud
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings.-History:SoundCloud was originally started in Stockholm, Sweden, but was established in Berlin, Germany in August, 2007 by sound designer Alex Ljung and artist Eric Wahlforss...

, Spotify
Spotify
Spotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had...

, Turntable.fm
Turntable.fm
Turntable.fm is a social media website that allows users to interactively share music. The website is run by Billy Chasen, who started it in January 2011, using revenue generated by his previous start-up to fund Turntable.fm. The service allows users to create "rooms," which other users can join...
Photography and art sharing: deviantArt
DeviantArt
deviantART is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork. It was first launched on August 7, 2000 by Scott Jarkoff, Matthew Stephens, Angelo Sotira and others. deviantArt, Inc...

, Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...

, Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket is an image hosting, video hosting, slideshow creation and photo sharing website. It was founded in 2003 by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal and received funding from Trinity Ventures. It was acquired by Fox Interactive Media in 2007....

, Picasa
Picasa
Picasa is an image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website, originally created by Idealab in 2002 and owned by Google since 2004. "Picasa" is a blend of the name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the phrase mi casa for "my...

, SmugMug
Smugmug
SmugMug is a paid digital photo sharing website.- History :Chris MacAskill and Don MacAskill started the original company to build a new video game-oriented web service in February 2002. By August 2002, though, their focus shifted...

, Zooomr
Zooomr
- History :Zooomr was created in 2005 by Kristopher Tate and Michael Van Veen of BlueBridge Technologies Group. On June 19, 2006, Thomas Hawk, a well-known photographer and blogger from San Francisco, was recruited by Zooomr as its so called "Chief Evangelist." On July 17, 2006, Zooomr released...
Presentation sharing: Prezi
Prezi
Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software and storytelling tool for exploring and sharing ideas upon a virtual canvas. Prezi is distinguished by its Zooming User Interface , which enables users to zoom in and out of their presentation media...

, scribd
Scribd
Scribd is a Web 2.0 based document-sharing website which allows users to post documents of various formats, and embed them into a web page using its iPaper format. Scribd was founded by Trip Adler, Tikhon Bernstam, and Jared Friedman in 2006...

, SlideShare
SlideShare
SlideShare is a Web 2.0 based slide hosting service. Users can upload files privately or publicly in the following file formats: PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote or OpenOffice presentations. Slide decks can then be viewed on the site itself, on hand held devices or embedded on other sites. Launched on...
Video sharing: Dailymotion
Dailymotion
Dailymotion is a video sharing service website, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement, Paris, France. According to Comscore, Dailymotion is the second largest video site in the world after YouTube....

, Metacafe
Metacafe
Metacafe is a web site that specializes in short-form video entertainment in the categories of movies, video games, sports, music and TV.The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London and Tel Aviv...

, Nico Nico Douga
Nico Nico Douga
is a popular video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango, a subsidiary of Dwango. Its nickname is "Niconico" or "Nico-dō", where "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. Nico Nico Douga is the thirteenth most visited website in Japan...

, Openfilm
Openfilm
Openfilm is a website for finding and distributing independent film. Its Advisory Board includes members of the film industry, such as James Caan, Robert Duvall, Scott Caan and Mark Rydell, and independent filmmaker Alan Melikdjanian....

, sevenload
Sevenload
Sevenload is an online video and Web-2.0 media platform used for managing video and multimedia contents. Since its founding in April 2006, the platform emerged on international markets to become a Social Media Network for photos, videos and web TV content...

, Viddler
Viddler
Viddler is an interactive online video platform for uploading, sharing, enhancing, tagging, commenting on, and forming groups around videos. Viddler no longer provides a free service for non-commercial users and now requires all users to choose one of the three paid plan options...

, Vimeo
Vimeo
Vimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It was founded by Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick in November 2004...

, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

Reviews and opinions

Business reviews: Customer Lobby
Customer Lobby
Customer Lobby is a web-based client to proactively invite end-customers for reviews, verify their authenticity before publishing, and correspond with consumers to manage negative reviews...

, Yelp, Inc.
Community Q&A: ask.com
Ask.com
Ask is a Q&A focused search engine founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California. The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky from his own design. Warthen, Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website around that core engine...

, Askville
Askville
Askville is a user-driven research site founded by Amazon.com and opened to the public on December 8, 2006.-History:Askville was co-founded by Korean-American former investment banker Joseph Park, previously co-founder of Kozmo.com . The documentary film e-Dreams portrays the fate of the company...

, EHow
EHow
eHow is an online how-to guide with more than 1 million articles and 170,000 videos offering step-by-step instructions. eHow articles and videos are created by freelancers and cover a wide variety of topics organized into a hierarchy of categories. Any eHow user can leave comments or responses, but...

, Quora
Quora
Quora is a question-and-answer website created, edited and organized by its community of users. The site was founded in June 2009, launched in private beta in December 2009, and made available to the public on June 21, 2010....

, Stack Exchange, WikiAnswers
WikiAnswers
WikiAnswers is an ad-supported wiki-based website where users can submit and answer questions.This site allows users to post and edit questions and answers. WikiAnswers.com uses wiki technology and fundamentals, allowing communal ownership and editing of content. Each question has a "living"...

, Yahoo! Answers
Yahoo! Answers
Yahoo! Answers is a community-driven question-and-answer site or a knowledge market launched by Yahoo! on June 28, 2005 that allows users to both submit questions to be answered and answer questions asked by other users...
Product reviews: epinions.com, MouthShut.com
MouthShut.com
MouthShut.com is a highly popular user-generated content and consumer review website on the Internet.At the core of MouthShut lies a global Web 2.0 social media platform. Any visitor can become a member and then can influence or be influenced by others...

Shaping

Patents

Distinction from industrial media

Managing Social Media

Building "social authority" and vanity

Internet usage effects

Probable historic impact

Criticisms

Economic impact by social marketing

Ownership of Social Media Content

Brand monitoring

Communication

Collaboration/authority building

Entertainment

Leisure example

Multimedia

Reviews and opinions

See also

Further reading