Social Media: An Insight

Firstly, I’d like to apologise.

The reason for my apology is that I have been so inactive on this blog, and that is due to me having some major health complications which stopped me in my blogging tracks.

However, that aside, here I am (again)! And this week I will be addressing some important question about social media and where it came from.

So firstly, this post begs the question: What is social media and what is its history?

The official entrance of when social media actually arrived it a little hazy, which scholars constantly arguing over the year it ACTUALLY began. However, the most widely recognised date for the dawn of social media is circa. 1997, as this is when the first blogging website was launched. On the other hand, some scholars argure that social media actually began ass early as 1959, with a website called ‘Open Diary’. Open Diary is described as a website for Online Diary writing.

The term ‘Social Media’ wasn’t used until the early 2000s, until websites such as MySpace and Facebook were created. However to fully understand social media and where it comes from, two aspects of he internet need to be briefly defined: User Generated Content and Web 2.0.

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Firstly if there is a Web 2.0, there had to be a Web 1.0! Web 1.0 was entirely comprised of static web pages that had incredibly basic functionality, whereas Web 2.0 represents the second stage in the vast development of the internet. With the development of Web 2.0 came web pages that could be created and edited by more than just one individual, and can be edited at any time by any user. Web 2.0 needs certain things to be able to function better than Web 1.0, and they are RSS, AJAX, and Adobe Flash. Social Media arrived with Web 2.0 as well (Kaplan, & Haenlein, 2010).

User Generated Content is exactly what it says it is. However not only is it what individuals and groups contribute to the Internet, it is also how people choose to use social media. Of course, User Generated Content must be publicly available to be considered UGC, and it must also be creative in some way and must be created outside of an individuals professional work content (Kaplan, & Haenlein, 2010).

The next question is what are the types of social media that exists? The short answer is that there is a TON of social media that exists today. Some of the most notable types of social media are the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, MySpace, and LinkedIn. These sorts of social media can be used for both social and professional use and combined they have billions of users. However the list does indeed go on. There are photo and video content sharing social media websites such as Youtube, Flickr, Picasa, Pinterest, Instagram and SnapChat. These types of social media allow users to share creative content and others can comment and react to the content. There are also blogging websites, much like WordPress, and they include Tumblr, Blog.com, and Weebly. These allow users to write an online document, which can range from personal stories, to recipes. The last most notable type of social media that exists is discussion forums. These are most seen on websites such as Reddit. Discussion forums allow users to post content and questions and can often garner a huge reaction in a short space of time.

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Part 2 to be continued…

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References:

Edosomwan, S., Prakasan, S. K., Kouame, D., Watson, J., & Seymour, T. (2011). The history of social media and its impact on business. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 16(3), 79-91. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.www.elgar.govt.nz/docview/889143980?accountid=40858

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68. Retrieved from http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0007681309001232/1-s2.0-S0007681309001232-main.pdf?_tid=bce78436-ff8c-11e5-98cb-00000aab0f27&acdnat=1460341743_c86847fdd1cf7d67aa40646da1d8b32d