CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media can be defined as the web based communication tools that enable people to interact with each other by both sharing and consuming information, this has replaced the traditional media like Television, Radio and News papers in which people were not getting chance to share their views direct and be seen by other members

The following are some of the features of the social media:

User accounts: If a site allows visitors to create their own accounts that they can log into, then that is a good sign there is going to be social interaction. You can't really share information or interact with others online without doing it through a user account.

Profile pages: Since social media is all about communication, a profile page is often necessary to represent an individual. It often includes information about the individual user, like a profile photo, bio, website, feed of recent posts, recommendations, recent activity and more.

Friends, followers, groups, hash tags and so on: Individuals use their accounts to connect with other users. They can also use them to subscribe to certain forms of information. example face book and histogram.

News feeds: When users connect with other users on social media, they are basically saying, I want to get information from these people. That information is updated for them in real time via their news feed. A good example we can see to various face book accounts in which people upload various information’s, in which people get informed immediately as the act occur.

Personalization: Social media sites usually give users the flexibility to configure their user settings, customize their profiles to look a specific way, organize their friends or followers, manage the information they see in their news feeds and even give feedback on what they do or don't want to see. 

Notifications: Any site or app that notifies users about specific information is definitely playing the social media game. Users have total control over these notifications and can choose to receive the types of notifications that they want or not.

Information updating, saving or posting: If a site or an app allows you to post absolutely anything, with or without a user account, then it is a social. It could be a simple text based message, a photo upload, a YouTube video, a link to an article or anything else.

Like buttons and comment sections: Two of the most common ways we interact on social media are via buttons that represent a "like" plus comment sections where we can share our thoughts.

Review, rating or voting systems: Besides liking and commenting, alots of social media sites and apps rely on the collective effort of the community to review, rate and vote on information that they know about or have used.

 To conclude social media ca include different networking, on the other hand, has to do with who your audience is and the relationships you have with them. Your network can include people like friends, relatives, colleagues, anyone from your past, current customers, mentors and even complete strangers.

BY CHAMI FRIDA A

BAPRM 42690