When one thinks of the word “media”, he or she will automatically think of news, television, or the radio, all of which are considered Old Media in today’s modern world. While social media are not media in the traditional sense of the word, they do fall under the category of New Media, which includes social networking sites, blogs, forums, podcasts, etc., all of which are powerful tools in today’s modern world.

Long before the wonderful, amazing and very addictive invention of the World Wide Web, people resorted to Old Media as a way of discovering what was going on in the world. But it was a one-way communication system, meaning that people at home or in their car could not engage with people on the television screen or the voice on the radio. Social media took the word “media” and shot it to a whole new level, becoming platforms for interaction and relationships.

Joseph Thornley, CEO of ThornleyFallis.com, gives a good definition of social media: “Social media are online communications in which individuals shift fluidly and flexibly between the role of audience and author. To do this, they use social software that enables anyone without knowledge of coding, to post, comment on, share or mash up content and to form communities around shared interests.

Some examples are:

• Social networking – Facebook, MySpace
• Micro-blogging – Twitter, Jaiku
• Social bookmarking – StumbleUpon, Digg
• Podcasts
• Blogs
• Video sharing – YouTube
• Photo sharing – Flickr