What the Heck is Social Media Anyway?
This whole Social Media trend is very confusing. Sometimes it is difficult to discern what is social media and what isn’t. Not only that but what the heck does social media mean? 
Well, if you look it up on wikipedia, it defines social media as “media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. “ Ok, so great – I’m still confused….
Well, to help soften my confusion, I decided to define what Social Media means to me…. (hmm, wonder if I can get Webster’s to use my definition – do they pay royalities?) So here goes – Social media is the new communications foundation that enables human interaction via the Internet- and web-based applications. This includes but is not limited to on-line forums, blogs, podcasts, video, emails, instant messaging, etc, etc, etc. Currenlty the most common software applications are facebook, twitter, myspace, wordpress, and Linked In.
Sound confusing? It is! That’s why it is important to know up-front what you want to do and be able to articulte it with someone who understands social media and the business impacts BEFORE you start.
Basically, the verdict is still out – the trend is still so new that experts vary in their interpretation of social marketing. However, what they agree on is, it is here and it is here to stay. Which means, you need to be in the medium or at the very least moving into the medium AND you need to be ready. Without a doubt the biggest mistake businesses and people make with Social Media today is not being prepared.
