Social media
Social media is the combination of online communications channels committed to group-oriented input, communication, information sharing, and relationship. Various types of applications and websites which are devoted to social networks, blogging, forums, wikis, and social bookmarking form the different types of social media.
Types of Social Media:
The most common types of social media are Facebook, YouTube, Google+, WhatsApp, Twitter, QQ, WeChat, Qzone, OLX, Instagram, Linkedin, Tumblr, Skype, Viber, Snapchat, Pinterest, MySpace, Meetme, Meetup, Mixi, Tout, Douban, Flickr, Buzznet, Weheartit, and Friendster These social media websites have approximately 100,000,000 registered users. Although there are different types of social media they use many common features such as Consumers creating service-oriented profiles for the website and applications that are planned, and upheld by the social media association. The user-created material, such as digital images, posts, videos, comments, and data shared through online interfaces. All type of Social media is interactive internet applications that enable the growth of online social networks by linking a user's profile with those of other persons or groups.
Social media is different from the traditional media
Users usually contact social media facilities via web-based tools on computers, or download services from internet applications to their cell phones, through these services, users can generate highly collaborating platforms through which persons, groups, and establishments can segment, co-create, debate, and revise user-created data or pre-built content displayed online. They present considerable and prevalent changes to communiqué between trades, establishments, societies, and personalities. Social media has modified the communication between persons and large establishments. Researchers study these changes and new technologies are being introduced as a result of these changes. Social media is different from traditional print and electronic media in various aspects, such as grasp, customer, value, reach, occurrence, interaction, usage, nearness, and durability. Social media channels operate in a dialogic mode of transmission whereas old-style media used monologic transmission mode.
Usage of Social Media
Facebook is widely used in all countries, 84 percent of young Americans are its user. Almost 60 percent of teenagers have social media profiles, a majority of people spend a minimum of two hours daily on social networking sites and the time spent on social media sites is greater than the time spent on other types of sites. The total time spent on social media sites in the USA was 66 billion minutes in 2012 now it reached 121 billion minutes. Social media have become a source of professional prospects and financial profits.
Social media has a lot of good and bad effects. Social media give a chance of linkage with actual or virtual groups, and it is a real publicizing instrument for businesses, financiers, charitable establishments, as well as support groups, politicians, and administrations. At the same time, concerns have been raised about possible links between the substantial use of social media is also proved as a cause of sadness, cyberbullying online persecution, and wandering.
We cannot define social media by its aptitude to fetch people together, according to this description telegraph and telephone can be typical social media, Actually social media is typically used to pronounce social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Instagram, and WeChat permits their use to make their private Profiles to share ideas, images, videos, to talk with each other and update each other with the new things, events and happenings while doing their daily deeds and routine jobs.
A peculiarity of Social media
The Content Spread like Virus, Sometimes contents that are posted on social media sites have likely to spread like a virus on social networks. The users will reshare the content posted by some other users to their social network, resulting in further sharing. Posts like North Korea Atomic Bomb Explosion, fast-breaking news like the news of Michel Jackson's death have crashed down the internet servers as this news was rapidly shared and re-shared by the people who use social networking sites. This is the concept of spreading viral disease from one infected person to another person. Some individuals, Groups, and Organizations use this Viral Spreading of news as an effective way of Publicity.
Use of Cellular Applications
The usage of Mobile phones to access social media sites is a great factor in the popularity of these sites, Now it is more easy, private, and cheap to use social media than before, the Smartphone has made the internet a very “Handy” thing to use by the young generation. Now youngsters pass more time doing interactions on social media sites than passing time on watching TV. Every type of site can be reached easily with the help of the smartphone, contents can be added, shared, send, received, status updated voice and video calls can be made more easily without the use of desktop computers or laptops. The use of Wi-Fi technology has enabled us to use an internet connection with the whole members of a family. All the family members can use internet sites according to their own likes and dislikes, the flexibility of time, and Privacy. Mobile applications like Whatsapp, Skype, are used widely to make video calls, YouTube is used to see videos, Facebook is used to share videos, images, texts, and status updating by the mobile users. Mobile social media mentions the use of social media on mobile phone sets such as smartphones. Mobile applications let the formation, interchange, and spread of user-created content. Location and time sensitivity are the important factors to access social media by mobile devices.
Business perspective
Location and Time sensitiveness gave mobile devices an edge on desktop computers in offering companies to expand their businesses by marketing and advertising by using social media. Mobile social media utensils can be used for investigation, communiqué, sales advancements or concessions, and affiliation growth programs.
E-Commerce
Social media sites use sociable plans, creating stages that are equally helpful for users, industries, and the nets with the help of e-commerce, or online consumption. The users post remarks about a company's product or service with their online friends and associates. The company profits because it gains awareness about how its product or service is regarded by customers. Applications such as Amazon.com and Pinterest influence a mounting tendency in the acceptance and approachability of e-commerce, or online consumptions.