What makes social media, well, social? Conversation. Traditional media and marketing is one-way, aimed at sending a controlled message in one direction: towards the target audience. Tools that are described as social media are bidirectional, allowing the person who was originally in the recipient role to engage in a dialog with the content producer. Here are some specific examples:
- Blogs have comments which allow for feedback and conversation around a particular topic.
- Microblogging tools such as Twitter allow for @replies to be posted, continuing a conversation.
- Photo sharing sites often allow for comments or favorites providing feedback to the photographer and the ability to provide specific feedback or criticism.
- Online communities are inherently social in that they facilitate and foster discussion amongst individuals for a given subject area. Although not often lumped in with blogs and Twitter as social media, the concepts and strategies are often the same.
The power in social media lies in the conversation – attempting to use tradtional one-way marketing tactics through social media technologies will result in frustration and angry folks on the other end.
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