SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media are forms of new media, but not all forms of new media are social media. New media can be seen to cover everything that has been changed in the now digitized sharing of information. of course social media is a part of that. It is perhaps the biggest and most influential part in many ways, but still just a part. While new media allows for sharing, the development of social media and its interactive components has made the ability to comment, respond, share, critique, change and add to information possible on a broad scale. It is the increased visibility of interaction, with largely unfiltered peer-to-peer communication that cannot be easily controlled, that is central to social media.

In the process of making information and communication digital, new forms of media have made the ability to store, share and work with information easier. Computers have of course played an essential role in this, but other technologies such as smartphones, apps, VOIP, software, e-readers, near-field communication and tablets (and whatever other next technology is conceived of) have all made significant contributions. Though all of these build on or add to previously existing infrastructures, networks, cables, and communication systems, it is the transition to technologies focused on use by the consumer, as opposed to the original use of computers at workplaces for instance, that is a crucial element in new media. These technologies are (relatively) affordable and simple to use, making the transmission of information and communicating with friends, family and colleagues easy, fast and reliable.

 People now have the ability to share and distribute a lot of information about themselves and their life, including personal information data and the music they listen to, videos of their friends to pictures of their cat, ideas they have and plans they are making, preferences for food, people, and music and places that they have been and are going. Much of this is connected with social media as discussed below, but the ability to share and distribute is based on the ones and zeroes of the digital information of new media.

What’s important is to see that new media is a concept that incorporates all the technological devices and programs that have made this change to digital information and distribution. It includes Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, but it is also about e-books and downloading movies and paying your concert ticket on-line and using Bluetooth to swap photos and having your own website, things that may not necessarily social at the outset.

Advantages of new media 

o   Digital distribution 

o   Reduced costs

o   Consumer focused

o   Affordable (relatively)

o   Simple to use

o   Communication easy, fast and reliable