Of course facebook, twitter and linkedin are social media sites, but I would like to use this opportunity to discuss the actual definition of social media. I mean, do niche groups qualify as social media ? Take for instance elance.com or scriptlance.com where sellers/buyers collaborate together for completing a project. Would these sites qualify as social media ? If not why ?
Many people seem to consider anything where users can “like/dislike/favourite” stuff, add/remove “friends/contacts/watchers”, and link to the other users on the service as “social media”.
Though some people consider mailing lists and BB lists and IRC as social media, since it’s user-to-user, rather than the traditional model (producer-to-user, like newspapers, radio and television).
I’ve never been to either of the sites you mention, but if the people registered on those are talking to each other, and that’s kind of the main point, then it’s probably social media. There are plenty of variations and degrees of it anyway: if someone has a blawg, that’s producer-to-user, a one-way thing… yet if there is a commenting system added on, it gains a social element: people react not only to the author/article, but also each other.
Where it gets interesting to me is when it mixes with the real world. Like geo-caching. Or the project from the national historical museum here, where little symbols are placed outside where historic events have happened… users (unfortunately only with iPhones) can scan that image in and get media about the historical event and can check themselves in (I guess kinda four-squarish, I still don’t quite get the point of that).
I always like to think of “social media” as something that can go “viral” on its own. Just as STOMME POES mentioned, if your content/info is on something that users can like/dislike/etc than it does have the “social media” aspect.
:That’s a good question. Well, we already know what social media practically is. So yes, I believe what you mentioned (in the very first post) is already considered as it is.
So how about a blog site that has a community? Is it also considered as social media? I just want to ask for your opinions. Because as for me, I’m still thinking about that too. :confused2:scratch:
cris-k: like SitePoint? 
Blogs and forums are most definitely forms of social media no doubt. Sites like elance.com or scriptlance.com in my opinion fall under the category of online marketplaces cos they’re places where actual trade, buying and selling happens…with Social media, that’s not usually the main objective…social media is about spreading the word and then of course lead generation etc…but it’s secondary…that’s my take atleast…
Yeah! I do agree with your both. Well I guess we all now know what’s the core definition of social media then… It’s basically about open-communication and “spreading the word”. :nod:
if social media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Then probably all sites providing interactive dialogue be considered as one? Like elance.com and scriptlance…
i think all groups online is classified as social media where there is a medium of communication among the members. it is not only limited to the most trendy sites like facebook or twitter but there are many sites that not been heard by people because of their lack of popularity:)
I am sorry to say this but social media websites mentioned above do not qualify as niche social media websites. It gets classified into b2b or b2c commerce websites. Many people say that websites like e-bay and quikr should also be included in social media but i beg to differ.
Elance & Scriptlance these are not social media sites. These are the online market place where buyers and sellers meet and communicate. But these sites doesn’t have any social media feature like share any post or status message within friends. You can only share any message if you join any group but you can’t add a friend or like any message. These sites are mainly containing competitors rather than friends. Social media sites must have social features like comment, share, like etc.
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i dont thing the site where buyer and seller interact each other on some product comes under the umbrella of social media…we can say its a commercial site rather than giving it a name of social sites.
I suppose those sites are not like traditional social media sites (ie Facebook), but individuals are gathering to communicate. Interesting question.