Social Media: A term used to describe a variety of web-based platforms, applications and technologies that enable people to socially interact with one another online.

• http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/social_media.html

To me its a place to share and interact with others. Social media is a great resource for learning and finding out things that previously that would have difficult to know about in the past.

For example, prior to the internet if you were going to buy a hi-fi you would probably read a magazine, perhaps discuss with friends then go down to the shops and speak to some spotty sales rep and make a purchase based on a combination of the advice you have received.

With the mass adoption of the internet we had access to millions of pages with the ability to comparison shop. Fast forward to present day its now increasingly difficult to displace people from their news or twitter stream. Brands need to reach out to their audience as they will no longer come to them. To combat our information rich time poor society people are crowd sourcing their information using Social Media. Brands need to ensure that they become one of the trusted sources for people’s limited attention.

The boom in internet usage, both desktop and ever increasingly mobile, has meant that anyone can be in the limelight whether you want it or not and bad publicity can affect your image very quickly. Therefore it’s vital to maintain your Social Media presences no matter you are an individual, small business or a multi-national organization.