Some questions, thoughts & observations:
1. What is/are social media?
2. Social media or new media? – Some people seem to use the labels ’social media’ and ‘new media’ interchangably. Does this matter? Surely there is a distinct difference in that the ’social’ tag certainly adds a dimension that this form of interaction and communication can be created, consumed and controlled by people more than ever before.
3. Social media vs. old media – A discussion of social media by someone who is fairly new to this concept brings on the inevitable comparison between social media and ‘old’ or more traditional forms of media.
Some initial observations: social media doesn’t make money in the traditional sense, it can be updated and altered much easier, different forms of media can be mixed – pictures, text, video, it can be easily accessed by most people, it is arguably more personal and there is more of a focus on relationships and interaction – hence the term ’social’ above – and im sure there are plenty of others…
Should we even square up these two types of media in this way? Surely that suggests that aspects of traditional media are not social and surely they are in some ways?
So to look at social media as compared to other forms of media shows that maybe it transcends the boundaries already established. Either that or the notion of media is changing, in which case should we even use the term ‘media’ anymore?
4. Evolving forms of media – I find it interesting that something that is another form of media can change into social media – a newspaper article can be typed up into a blog, a TV programme can be copied into a blog or YouTube.
5. After some initial reasearch it seems there are no definite definitions of what social media is. When a definition is offered others are quick to question and tweek it. But, I think this reflects the nature of social media, nothing is set in stone, everything is susceptible to change, evolution and interaction and contribution from others.
Tags: social media
December 4, 2008 at 10:18 am
[...] was trawling through my feeds this morning when I came across Rebecca Caddy’s latest post ‘Understanding Social Media’. Which asks some excellent questions that many people in the echo chamber tend to forget are [...]
December 4, 2008 at 10:18 am
Social media is a pretty fluid area. The key to understanding its nature is simple, it’s all about community and social interaction; be it in the form of citizen journalism on blogs or through communities of consumers reacting to a product/service online. Social media is the empowerment of the consumer and the individual, all enabled by their peers who offer constant support and critique. And as I spied Stuart Bruce retweeting on Twitter yesterday; @spwalker “The PR who thinks social media changes everything is a fool, the PR who thinks it changes nothing is a bigger fool” me in Guardian”
We’re always going to see comparisons between old and new – as you said, it’s inevitable. But the important thing is to realise the new opportunities that social media brings and the way in which it can combine with ‘old media’ in a positive way. In terms of ‘dead tree’ media transposing into social media, it’s very interesting and at the moment I think we’re in a transitionary state where the CEO’s and the owners of media empires are beginning to look into new media (for new media, read new revenue streams). Recently Rupert Murdoch announced plans to tier content on The Wall Street Journal site – with the top tier providing completely customisable financial news. It is these sort of announcements and attempts at social media that will cause the inevitable deluge of old media jumping into new media. Some will do it correctly, and some will FAIL – I suppose it’s our jobs as social media people to help the transition and guarantee that both public relations and social media thrive in the future.
December 5, 2008 at 10:33 am
[...] to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!I read an excellent blog post today by Rebecca Caddy. Understanding Social Media asks the question that many people in the echo chamber of online public relations often ignore; [...]
December 5, 2008 at 2:18 pm
[...] examples have illustrated is that the modern world has forced us to keep up to speed. With the surge in social media even evident as I am typing, blogging allows even those without journalistic qualifications to be [...]