Image credited to Smarnad “Social Media Wheel With Icons”
What is social media? I’d say that this is the response of more than 60% of the people I speak to. When I tell them that I run a social media agency. If you ask that question to the front of all knowledge a.k.a. the Oracle of the Internet, Google, you will get something like 2,200,000,000 results in 0.26 seconds (Google gives different people different search results based on their browsing habits so your answer may not be identical). Wikipedia offered the following definition:
Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media use web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues. …
I also stumbled across a website offering 50 different definitions from social media. You can view them here
Quite clearly there isn’t one answer. So I decided that I would offer my own definitions in the style of the famous love is… cartoon. They include the positive, negative, serious and funny. Feel free to add yours.
So here are my 101 responses to the question: Social Media is …
- Playing it forward.
- Sharing because you care.
- The new democracy.
- Liberation of the masses.
- The window through which to see the world.
- The lid to Pandora’s box.
- A weapon for harm or a voice for good.
- A great equaliser.
- The smaller person’s voice singing in the darkness.
- The sound of destruction for corruption.
- Customer feedback you can’t control.
- A pipeline into your business of interested customers.
- The thoughts of the nation.
- A buzz.
- Humming in the background that you should listen closely to.
- Simple: be honest give value.
- Not a numbers’ game.
- The start of a great conversation.
- The beginning and not the end.
- A friend when there is no one else to talk too.
- A passport to the world.
- 21st-century pen pals.
- Your thoughts electronically transmitted – telepathy.
- A devourer of time.
- A distraction that keeps you from the main task.
- A tool for cowards to spread despite.
- Judge and jury in its own court.
- The vocal minority claiming dominance.
- Tittle tattle for the An influential.
- An untameable beast.
- Confusing from the outside.
- The TARDIS of the Internet – so much bigger on the inside.
- A warm blanket on a rainy day.
- The SMEs level playing field.
- A wild stallion that needs to be broken if you want to ride it safely.
- A cave of wonders.
- The Temple of doom.
- A deity for geeks.
- Unfettered opinion masquerading as fact.
- A king/queen maker.
- The 13th disciple.
- Addictive.
- The dumbing down of young minds.
- A bigot is playing field.
- The Pied Piper of idiots.
- A test card.
- A screensaver that talks back.
- The new statistics – lies dam lies and social media.
- A great way to turn words into pictures.
- People friendly.
- No place to hide.
- Is a good place to hide.
- OCD.
- The backbone of modern marketing methods.
- A stage to act out your life.
- The business Messiah.
- The new campfire.
- A place where everyone is an expert.
- Market testing you didn’t ask for.
- The business sniper.
- The game changer.
- An uncontrollable virus.
- A plague of free speech.
- Customer referrals gone wild.
- Honest endorsements for your service.
- Telling it like it is.
- A mirror reflecting your business.
- A place where you struggled to be heard.
- A voice for the oppressed.
- Other people’s opinions – take it or leave it.
- A scale to weigh the impact you have.
- The American dream – anyone can become “president”
- Full of forced prophets (profits).
- A sound with no volume control.
- The diamond in your pocket.
- Overrated and under utilised by business.
- The Orwellian Big Brother we thought we’d escaped.
- State-control in sheep’s clothing.
- Free marketing and advertising.
- A tool, nothing more nothing less.
- Only one of many tools businesses should employ.
- The creation of a new kind of public space.
- An authentic personal voice.
- Simply a new communication tool set.
- Is a poor man’s therapist.
- A listening ear.
- The habit of highly engaged businesses.
- Ignoring the real people standing next to you while you play with your phone.
- An online platform that enables you to connect, interact and exchange.
- Word of mouth viral marketing.
- Word of mouth on steroids.
- Two-way communication between sender and receiver.
- Conversational content that is really shared.
- Collaboration, communication, engagement.
- Engagement that informs, inspires and enlightens.
- Participation in open conversations.
- Online reference to shared content personal opinions and insights.
- Audience communications upwards.
- Information funneled to the people that want it.
- Multi directional sound, words and pictures arriving all at once.
- The superhero of the Internet
Ola is
is a recent addition to the Socialable team. Joining as a full partner, Ola is responsible for Business Operations, PR and marketing. With over 15 years senior management experience in a large corporate setting; leading multidisciplinary teams; running multi-million pound projects, marketing and strategic planning; Ola brings a multitude of skills to Socialable. As well as being an expert in business planning, training and development, Ola is also a certified coach, NLP practitioner; an accomplished author, speaker and presenter. Ola was the host of the successful radio show Tycoon Women Moments.subscribe to Socialable newsletter here
You can connect with Ola on Twitter and LinkedIN here
Latest posts by Socialable_ola (see all)
- Doing the “Gangnam” - November 12, 2012
- Business success is written all over your Facebook - November 5, 2012
- The missing ingredients for success - October 9, 2012
5 crazy ways to get Buyers to your website
Subscribe and give yourself an unfair advantage!
