An Overview of Social Media and Social Networking Sites

Social media is the umbrella term for the wide variety of tools and applications that give the Web its social capabilities—capabilities that allow a community to come together, communicate, and build upon each other’s opinions and ideas. Social media applications and tools are numerous and include:

Entertainment

Entertainment-specific sites have grown in popularity—a simple glance at the most-visited sites on the Web proves that. Users continue to flock to YouTube, while new and established sites race to cash in on the streaming-video craze. Traditional forms of entertainment such as TV and board games have steadily lost their audience, while online video and gaming sites have seen steady and impressive increases. Flash, a program developed by Adobe, has played a large role in the popularity of both online gaming and video sharing,

Informational

Much like any other site category, the purpose of an informational site is to relate content to the users. Th e diff erence, however, is that informational sites do so as the primary reason for being, unlike a B2B site, which exists in order to generate new contacts and eventually increase sales, or B2C sites, which primarily exist to generate Web-based sales.

Social Networking

Social networking is the interaction of people from a variety of demographic groups and geographic locations via the Internet. At its heart, through blogging, Web site feedback, reviews, message boards, RSS, and other tools, the Internet has become one large, ongoing conversation, with side topics being started and continued all the time. Th ink of it as a large party. Th e party itself is made up of a large group of people in attendance, all talking and engaging in conversation, meeting each other, exchanging ideas, debating, and soon. Th roughout the night, small groups of people band together to engage in a variety of side conversations, usually open to anyone who passes by.

B2E (Business to Employee)

B2E (business to employee) marketing involves a business carrying out online initiatives to communicate with its employees. Many medium to large companies have B2E sites, which help facilitate internal communications and provide information to employees. B2E sites can be used to provide a variety of resources and important information to employees, including:
• Important corporate announcements
• Access to employee information, such as benefi ts statement, 401(k) management, insurance information, etc.