About that “social” media

March 29, 2009 · Posted in Media Criticism, Social media · Comments

: Image via Wikipedia

The last couple of days, I’ve been thinking a lot about “social media.” I’m not an expert, I grant you. But I do see where the lines are blurring, and that is something that culminated in my responses to Pat Thornton earlier today on Twitter.

What is “social media?”

To hear some people talk, it’s closer to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter than it is to blogs and podcasts and YouTube.

But I’m going to argue that “social media” encompasses all those things. It is FaceBook. It is Twitter. It is MySpace. It is YouTube. It is blogs. It is even – gasp – comments!

Because social media isn’t about the platform, rather it’s the ability of people to interact with the content, to provide feedback, to provide their own views on whatever content is supplied. Some media are more social than others. I’d argue that newspapers – for instance – are gradually moving toward a greater social media presence through the use of blogs and comments. But it’s a slow movement. Some are more attuned than others.

Twitter sounds like a good example of “social media,” since people can respond to one another and follow one another, but, honestly, that’s been happening since the beginning of the blog explosion in 2001. “Social Media” is really just another term for “Web 2.0.”

Now, the real crux of the issue is whether people “respond” to “social media” and change their practices based on the feedback of their userbase (for a great discussion of this, listen to this episode of On the Media).

If I really wanted to dissect “social media,” I’d come up with an operational definition that excluded some of the simplistic means of “socializing” media (like comments) and go through every media outlet and score them on their “social media” ability. It’s a good idea, and one I’m throwing out for free to anyone who might like to apply for a grant. I’ve got a dissertation to finish.

The point being, “social media” is amorphous. You can’t nail jello to the wall. Let’s quantify the phenomenon with better data before talking about who’s doing what. I would welcome the details.