ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA

The term social media refers to wide range of internet base and mobile services that allow users to participate in online exchanges, contribute user created content or join online communities. The kinds of internet services commonly associated with social media include the following: 

Blogs; short for web log, a blog is the online journal in which pages are usually displayed in reverse chronological order. blogs can be hosted for free on websites such wordpress and blogger.

Wikis; a wiki is a collective website where any participant is allowed to modify any page or create a new page using a web browser. One well known example is wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia that makes use of wiki technology.

Social bookmarking; these sites allow users to organize and share links to websites. Example includes ;reddit, stumbleupon and digg.

Social network sites; these have been defined as web based services that allow individuals to:- 

• Construct a public or semi public profile within a bounded system 
• Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection 
• View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system

Status update services; also known as microblogging services, status update such as twitter allow people to share short updates about people or events and to see updates created by others.

Virtual world content; these sites offer game like virtual environments in which users interact. Example is the imaginary world constructed in second life, in which users create avatars that interact with others.

Media sharing sites; these sites allow users to post videos or photographs. Examples include youtube, pinterest and istagram. 

The evolution of social media:

In the late 1990s as broadband internet became more popular, websites that allowed users to create and upload content began to appear. The first social network site appeared in 1997. From 2002 onward a large number of social network sites were launched. 

By the late 2000s social media had gained widespread acceptance and some services gained huge numbers of users. Example in November 2012, Facebook announced it had 1 billion users world wide

a number of factors have contributed to this rapid growth in social media participation. These include technological factors such as increased broadband availability, the improvement of software tools and the development of more powerful computers and mobile devices; social factors such as the rapid uptake of social media by younger age groups and economic factors such as the increasing affordability of computers and software.

Attributes of social media:

With attributes that can effect the way people interact online, social media open up new ways for collaboration and discussion. One of these is persistence, meaning that a great deal of content posted on social media sites may remain there permanently by default. Other characteristics are replicability means content can be copied and shared. The characteristic, of accessibility is also important; social media can be used anywhere at anytime where an internet connection is available. 

BY MWINYIJUMA REHEMA 

BAPRM III - 42686