Well the Wikipedia definition is comprehensive, but perhaps a little dry. And I’m not sure that it truly conveys what is at the heart of social media – people!

These new-fangled technologies are supremely cool in their own right, but they should not be the be all and end all. What they can do for us in terms of bringing people together and giving us all a voice is the be all and end all in my book.

There are two very different presentations below that attempt to answer the question – WTF is social media? – in very different ways.

The first is from Marta Kagan and she answers the question with all-American chutzpah. It’s actually an update on an earlier presentation she gave to reflect the way social media has grown and grown.

And then there’s this from Erik Qualman of Socialnomics. It’s a fast-moving, four-minute summary of all that’s good in social media with the sole intention of convincing you this is more than a passing fad.

Enjoy!

Social media is a relatively new term, but what it applies to isn’t. People have always used technology to connect and communicate, it just happens that now we have very cool and sophisticated technology to help us do that.

Before we had social media we had web2.0 – the title was supposed to indicate that the web had gotten all interactive and that the web is now all about two-way communication, as opposed to broadcast models.

But think about it… the web has always been social and interactive. The web grew out of email technology and networks that existed for scientists to talk to each other. And going back to 1998 when I first started working on the web, there was already a mind-boggling array of chat-rooms, forums and bulletin boards where I could chat to people to my heart’s content.

So why all the excitement about social media? It’s simply the fact that these tools are easier to use then ever, and that because more and more people are using them there is a growing rejection of traditional media. People are showing they want to talk to each other, rather be talked at.

Why not talk with us to see how we can help you on your social media journey?