Lateral media can be seen as any specific technology to promote lateral communication. A grapevine is in effect lateral communication but is not necessarily a lateral media if there is no technology. We then can consider informal help networks, email circulation lists, Information Routing Groups, even the Internet as a lateral media. Lateral media assists lateral communication and the transmission of tacit knowledge in contrast to Central media which cannot.

Various of the great Enlightenment figures could be seen as lateral mediarists in that they wrote and copied ideas amongst the great thinkers of that era, a bit like the Internet but slower and on parchment. The Lunar Men or Lunar Society were a classic Lateral Media of the 19th century, bringing together scientists, engineers, chemists, and manufacturers leading to many technical and social innovations.

The Internet is largely a lateral media, and likewise Information Routing Groups (IRGs) which are specifically designed to promote lateral communication.