The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content." Social media are media for social interaction, as a superset beyond social communication. Kietzmann et al (2011) argue that “social media introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals” (p. 250), enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques.

Shaping

Social media can take on many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme for different social media types in their Business Horizons article published in 2010. According to Kaplan and Haenlein there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia), blogs and microblogs (e.g. Twitter), content communities (e.g. Youtube), social networking sites (e.g. Facebook), virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life). Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few. Many of these social media services can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms.

Kietzmann et al. (2011) present a honeycomb framework that defines how social media services focus on some or all of seven functional building blocks (identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups). These building blocks help understand the engagement needs of the social media audience. For instance, LinkedIn users care mostly about identity, reputation and relationships, whereas YouTube’s primary building blocks are sharing, conversations, groups and reputation.

Patents

thumb|right|Number of US social network patent applications published per year and patents issued per year There has been rapid growth in the number of US patent applications that cover new technologies related to social media. The number of published applications has been growing rapidly over the past five years. There are now over 250 published applications. Only about 10 of these applications have issued as patents, however, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents

Purpose

Distinction from industrial media

Businesses may refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value.

People obtain information, education, news and other data from electronic media and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media, such as newspapers, television, and film. They are relatively inexpensive and accessible to enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, compared to industrial media, which generally require significant resources to publish information.

One characteristic shared by both social media and industrial media is the capability to reach small or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach no people or millions of people. Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social media and industrial media are:

# Reach - both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and are capable of reaching a global audience. Industrial media, however, typically use a centralized framework for organization, production, and dissemination, whereas social media are by their very nature more decentralized, less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple points of production and utility. # Accessibility - the means of production for industrial media are typically government and/or privately owned; social media tools are generally available to the public at little or no cost. # Usability - industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Conversely, most social media production does not require specialized skills and training, or requires only modest reinterpretation of existing skills; in theory, anyone with access can operate the means of social media production. # Immediacy - the time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous responses; only the participants determine any delay in response). However, as industrial media begin adopting aspects of production normally associated with social media tools, this feature may not prove distinctive over time. # Permanence - industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing.

Community media constitute an interesting hybrid of industrial and social media. Though community-owned, some community radios, TV and newspapers are run by professionals and some by amateurs. They use both social and industrial media frameworks.

Managing Social Media

Kietzmann et al. (2011) contend that social media presents an enormous challenge for firms, as many established management methods are ill-suited to deal with customers who no longer want to be talked at but who want firms to listen, appropriately engage, and respond. The authors explain that each of the seven functional building blocks has important implications for how firms should engage with social media. By analyzing identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups, firms can monitor and understand how social media activities vary in terms of their function and impact, so as to develop a congruent social media strategy based on the appropriate balance of building blocks for their community.

Building "social authority" and vanity

According to the European Journal of Social Psychology, one of the key components in successful social media marketing implementation is building "social authority". Social authority is developed when an individual or organization establishes themselves as an "expert" in their given field or area, thereby becoming an influencer in that field or area.

It is through this process of "building social authority" that social media becomes effective. That is why one of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that you can achieve a significant influence in that conversation.

However, this conversation participation must be cleverly executed because while people are resistant to marketing in general, they are even more resistant to direct or overt marketing through social media platforms. This may seem counter-intuitive but is the main reason building social authority with credibility is so important. A marketer can generally not expect people to be receptive to a marketing message in and of itself. In the Edleman Trust Barometer report in 2008, the majority (58%) of the respondents reported they most trusted company or product information coming from "people like me" inferred to be information from someone they trusted. In the 2010 Trust Report, the majority switched to 64% preferring their information from industry experts and academics. According to Inc. Technology's Brent Leary, "This loss of trust, and the accompanying turn towards experts and authorities, seems to be coinciding with the rise of social media and networks."

Internet usage effects

A study by the University of Maryland suggested that social media services may be addictive, and that users of social media services leads to a "fear of missing out". It has been observed that Facebook is now the primary method for communication by college students in the U.S.

There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows:

Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US. A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009. Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40 million tweets per day. Over 25% of U.S. internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before. Australia has some of the highest social media usage in the world. In usage of Facebook Australia ranks highest, with over 9 million users spending almost 9 hours per month on the site. The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so that one in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site. As of June 2011 Facebook has 750 Million users.

According to a report by Nielson : “In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month.” The main increase in social media has been Facebook. It was ranked as the number one social networking site. Approximately 100 million users access this site through their mobile phone. According to Nielsen, global consumers spend more than 6 hours on social networking sites. "Social Media Revolution" produced by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman contains numerous statistics on Social Media including the fact that 93% of businesses use it for marketing and that if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest. In an effort to supplant Facebook's dominance, Google launched Google+ in the summer of 2011.

Probable historic impact

Social media may have been integral to the Arab revolutions and revolts of 2011. As one Cairo activist succinctly put it, However, there is some debate about the extent to which social media facilitated this kind of change.

Criticisms

Andrew Keen criticizes social media in his book ''The Cult of the Amateur'', writing, "Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering."

Tim Berners-Lee contends that the danger of social networking sites is that most are silos and do not allow users to port data from one site to another. He also cautions against social networks that grow too big and become a monopoly as this tends to limit innovation.

Economic impact by social marketing

Thus, using social media as a form of ''marketing'' has taken on whole new challenges. As the 2010 Trust Study indicates, it is most effective if marketing efforts through social media revolve around the ''genuine'' building of authority. Someone performing a "marketing" role within a company must ''honestly'' convince people of their ''genuine'' intentions, knowledge, and expertise in a specific area or industry through providing valuable and accurate information on an ongoing basis without a marketing angle overtly associated. If this can be done, trust with, and of, the recipient of that information – and that message itself – begins to develop naturally. This person or organization becomes a thought leader and value provider - setting themselves up as a trusted "advisor" instead of marketer. "Top of mind awareness" develops and the consumer naturally begins to gravitate to the products and/or offerings of the authority/influencer.

Of course, there are many ways authority can be created – and influence can be accomplished – including: participation in Wikipedia which actually verifies user-generated content and information more than most people may realize; providing valuable content through social networks on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter; article writing and distribution through sites such as Ezine Articles and Scribd; and providing fact-based answers on "social question and answer sites" such as EHow and Yahoo! Answers.

As a result of social media – and the direct or indirect influence of social media marketers – today, consumers are as likely – or more likely – to make buying decisions based on what they read and see in platforms we call "social" but only if presented by someone they have come to trust. Additionally, reports have shown organizations have been able to bring back dissastisfied customers and stakeholders through social media channels. This is why a purposeful and carefully designed social media strategy has become an integral part of any complete and directed marketing plan but must also be designed using newer "authority building" techniques.

In his 2006 book, ''The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom'', Yochai Benkler analyzed many of these distinctions and their implications in terms of both economics and political liberty. However, Benkler, like many academics, uses the neologism network economy or "network information economy" to describe the underlying economic, social, and technological characteristics of what has come to be known as "social media". The basic assumption with social media is there will be a demand for the information published using such media. The quantity of subscribers to the various providers seems to prove that assumption. However, the quality of the contents casted by individuals may be subject of a more distant view, regarding the multicast or even broadcast distribution as powered by vanity of the issuers. In contrast the reception of contents published by organisations shows the curiosity of the subscribers to learn more about the ever renewing world they are part of. Both aspects may generate economic value beyond the providers sake for the issuers of the contents.

However, building reputation and becoming recognised as an expert with a high yield in "social authority" may remind the fact that there is no quality assessment for the issued contents but the acclamation or applause by the readers or the opposite, deprecation or disapproval. That does not guarantee for a reasonable value of the messages.

Ownership of Social Media Content

Social Media content is generated through social media interactions done by the users through the site. There has always been a huge debate on the ownership of the content on social media platforms since it is generated by the users and hosted by the company. Critics contend that the companies are making huge amount of money by using the content that does not belong to them. Hence the challenge for ownership is lesser with the communicated content, but with the personal data disclosed by the subscribed writers and readers and the correlation to chosen types of content. The security danger beyond is the parasitic conveying, diffunding or leaking of agglomerated data to third parties with certain economic interest.

Application examples

Communication

Blogs: Blogger, ExpressionEngine, LiveJournal, Open Diary, TypePad, Vox, WordPress, Xanga

Microblogging: FMyLife, Foursquare, Jaiku, Plurk, Posterous, Tumblr, Twitter, Qaiku, Google Buzz, Identi.ca Nasza-Klasa.pl, Dailybooth

Location-based social networks: Foursquare, Geoloqi, Gowalla, Facebook places, The Hotlist, Yelp, Inc., Google Latitude

Social networking: ASmallWorld, Bebo, Cyworld, Diaspora, Facebook, Google+, Tuenti, Hi5, Hyves, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Orkut, Plaxo, Tagged, XING , IRC, Yammer

Events: Eventful, The Hotlist, Meetup.com, Upcoming, Yelp, Inc.

Information Aggregators: Netvibes, Twine (website)

Online Advocacy and Fundraising: Causes, Kickstarter, Jumo

Engagement Advertising & Monetization: SocialVibe

Collaboration/authority building

Wikis: PBworks, Wetpaint, Wikia, Wikimedia, Wikispaces

Social bookmarking (or social tagging): CiteULike, Delicious, Diigo, Google Reader, StumbleUpon, folkd Social Media Gaming: Empire Avenue

Social news: Digg, Mixx, NowPublic, Reddit, Newsvine

Social navigation: Trapster, Waze

Content Management Systems: Wordpress, Drupal, Plone, Siteforum

Document Managing and Editing Tools: Google Docs, Syncplicity, Docs.com, Dropbox.com

Collaboration: Central Desktop

Diagramming and Visual Collaboration: Creately

Multimedia

Photography and art sharing: deviantArt, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, SmugMug, Zooomr

Video sharing: sevenload, Viddler, Vimeo, YouTube, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Nico Nico Douga, Openfilm

Livecasting: Justin.tv, Livestream, OpenCU, Skype, Stickam, Ustream, blip.tv, oovoo, Youtube

Music and audio sharing: ccMixter, Pandora Radio, Spotify, Last.fm, MySpace Music, ReverbNation.com, ShareTheMusic, The Hype Machine, Groove Shark, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Soundclick, imeem, Turntable.fm

Presentation sharing: scribd, SlideShare, Prezi

Reviews and opinions

Product reviews: epinions.com, MouthShut.com

Business reviews: Customer Lobby, Yelp, Inc.

Community Q&A;: Askville, EHow, Stack Exchange, WikiAnswers, Yahoo! Answers, Quora, ask.com

Entertainment

Media and entertainment platforms: Cisco Eos, Myspace, Youtube

Virtual worlds: Active Worlds, Forterra Systems, Second Life, The Sims Online, World of Warcraft, RuneScape

Game sharing: Kongregate, Miniclip, Newgrounds, Armor Games

Brand monitoring

Social media measurement: Attensity, Statsit, Sysomos, Vocus

Leisure example

The Dutch man Ramon Stoppelenburg traveled around the world for free, without spending any money, from 2001 to 2003, thanks to his blog on Letmestayforaday.com. His website was his profile with which he created his own necessary network of online offered places to stay for the night. This made Stoppelenburg one of the first people online who used the online media in a social and effective manner.

See also

Brand infiltration

Citizen media

Connectivism (learning theory)

Human impact of Internet use#Internet and political revolutions

Metcalfe's law

MMORPG

Networked learning

New media

Online research community

Participatory media

Social media marketing

References

Further reading

Category:Mass media Category:Revolutionary tactics

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Coordinates	23°33′″N46°38′″N
name	Erik Qualman
birth place	Detroit, MI
occupation	Author, Social Marketing
url	}}

Erik Qualman (born 1972) is an American author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, and is a speaker within the Internet community. In 2010, Socialnomics was a Book of the Year finalist as voted on by the American Marketing Association. . He is a columnist for Search Engine Watch and ClickZ Magazine.

Background

Qualman was born and grew up outside of Detroit, Michigan in Rochester Hills. He attended Michigan State University receiving a BA in Marketing. While at Michigan State (1990–1994) he was named Academic All-Big 10 for Basketball. Qualman also holds an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas (1999). In 2011 Qualman gave the keynote address to the McCombs graduating class on the Austin, Texas campus.

He is currently the Global Vice President of Digital Marketing for EF Education headquartered in Lucerne, Switzerland and a Professor of Digital Marketing for Hult International Business School's Masters program. Prior to joining EF Education and Hult, Qualman worked in online marketing and eBusiness functions at Cadillac & Pontiac (1994–97), AT&T; (1998–2000), Yahoo (2000–03), EarthLink (2003–05) and Travelzoo (Head of Marketing 2005-08).

Qualman was a featured speaker at BookExpo America 2009, presenting to those in attendance on how social media is transforming the way people live and do business. Qualman also was the keynote speaker at Europe's Fiber To The Home (FTTH) Council Meeting in Lisbon, alongside the Prime Minister of Portugal Jose Socrates. The 2009 FTTH keynote speaker was Don Tapscott.

Qualman has been highlighted in Mashable, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, Forbes, and The Huffington Post He has also been interviewed on radio and television discussing his view on digital trends.

Books

Crisis by Erik Qualman

Socialnomics by Erik Qualman

References

Category:Living people Category:1972 births Category:American writers Category:Michigan State University alumni Category:McCombs School of Business alumni

Coordinates	23°33′″N46°38′″N
name	Gregory Markel
background	solo_singer
years active	Current
genre	Progressive Rock, Rock Progressive Alterenative
origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
website	www.gregorymarkel.comgreogrymarkelrocks }}

Gregory Markel, known to fans as "The Voice" due to his emotive 4+ octave range. Is an American Vocalist/Guitarist/Songwriter who spent time on U.S. Rock Radio Charts at #1 in the early 90's via Warner Bros Records recording group, "Altered State."

The Voice

Gregory Markel's live shows are known as hit or miss events with the "hits" resulting in a profound connection and as Music Connection wrote, "an almost spiritual experience."

Markel's soulful and explosive vocals have been compared by the press to some of the greatest singers of our time including Bono, Jeff Buckley and Robert Plant.

Principal writer of the songs "Strong As I Am", a child's message to his parents, and "Ghost Beside My Bed", based on an actual event, Markel's music has been heard the world over via radio, television and DVD. "Strong As I Am" first charted within The BBC Top 20 and was then chosen personally by director Michael Mann for his cult classic "Manhunter." The song's message of child/parent forgiveness and reconciliation strikes a universal chord in fans the world over and continues generating fans 20 years later via the film and many fan comments and blogs throughout the web.

"Ghost Beside My Bed," produced by Tony Berg, went #1 on Rock Radio in 1991 in many states in the U.S. and top 30 nationally. The song, with its Radiohead and Pink Floyd like properties and mixed by legendary mixer/producer Bob Clearmountain, (Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and others), stood in profound contrast to the radio fare that year. Guitarist Curtis Mathewson, who plays the David Gilmour like passionate solo in the song went on to co-produce the first record of the top 40 rock group, "Train."

Gregory Markel continues to record music, most recently in 2006 with Paul McCartney guitarists Rusty Anderson, Christian Nesmith, drummer Chip Moreland and bassist Howard Ulyate.

Songs

I Know Something You Don't The Corporation Tells You Strong As I Am Into The Strange Until You Come Back To Me Doubt I've Got To Believe Moth In The Light As Purposeful As The Sun Avenging Angel Of Sierra Leone Song To The Siren

Poetry

death, transfiguration, and the emergence of joy can you hear it? reunion waiting and watching eureka

Band members

Live band

Chip Moreland - Drums/Dumbek

Christian Nesmith - Guitar

Howard Ulyate - Bass

Equbud Mot - Dumbek

David Gillette - Dumbek

Studio band

Chip Moreland - Drums

Christian Nesmith - Guitar

Rusty Anderson - Guitar

Howard Ulyate - Bass

Rob Thomas - Bass

Sean Murphy - Guitar

Bruce Draper - Guitar

Discography

Studio

The Living Daylights-EP 1984
The Prime Movers-EP 1985
Altered State "Altered State"-1991
Altered State ":[dos]:"-1993

Singles

The Living Daylights Colleen/neelloc - 1984 Katbox Beach - 1984 The Prime Movers Strong As I Am/Kahlua House - 1985 On The Trail - 1985

Altered State Step Into My Groove/Like Father/Drifting - 1991 Ghost Beside My Bed - 1991 Made Of Gasoline (demo) - 1992 Strong As I Am/Strong As I Am (Acoustic Studio) - 1993 Life On A Skateboard - 1993 Darkness Visible - 1993

External links

GregoryMarkel.com Official Web Site

MySpace Fan Site

Markel Fan Site

MySpace Tribute to Strong As I Am

Manhunter Soundtrack tribute site

MySpaceTribute to Ghost Beside My Bed

Strong As I Am on YouTube

Bob Clearmountain Favorite Mixes "Ghost Beside My Bed"

Category:American male singers Category:Living people