What it is and why do we use it?

Social media is the name given to websites and computer programs that have the purpose of facilitating communication and sharing information. Social networks are one of the fastest growing industries in the world, that have the power to reach a large number of people in a matter of seconds.

Social media has become one the most influential and important virtual spaces and it is an easy way to digitally present brands and products.

There are several types of social media. People wishing to develop a subject matter field need to analyse the pros and cons of each platform. I am describing some options that seem to be adequate for the education field:

- Blogs and Microblogs sites

- Podcasts and Webinars

- Photo and Video-sharing

- Forums and Discussion board

- Social networks

- Social news site

- - Question and Answer Sites

- Social bookmarking

Blogging sites

A blog is a journal of ideas or a diary published online, wher the owner can write “posts” that can also contain images and hyperlinks.

The blogger has total freedom and flexibility to express his opinion, decide when he want to post an entry (comments, event descriptions, graphics, videos,…) and can control users’ comments and subscriptions.

It is an important source of news/ knowledge and it is a great option for sharing thoughts and content in a creative way. Writing posts may take you a significant amount of time.

The posts or articles are shown from newest to oldest.

The most used blog hosts are www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com

Micro-blogging sites

It is a recent development in the field of blogging, it is also known as nano-blogging and enable users to send and publish short messages (maximum 140 characters) to reach the influx of audiences in a quicker way.

It is an important source of news and usually only contains text. It is a multidirectional communication channel and the content should be: interesting, fun, valuable, timely, relevant, appealing.

The updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and are also immediately sent to other users who have chosen the option of receiving them. The use of hashtags makes topics easily searchable.

Two examples of micro-blogging sites are: www.twitter.com and www.tumblr.com

Podcasts

It is a platform that allows to share expertise with few entry barriers. It is a non-streamed webcast and a series of media files released episodically, people can download it and listen offline when it better suits them. It can contain audio only or combo of audio and video (Vodcast) and the content can be educational, informative or entertaining.

A podcast should be simple, clear and catchy. The most common lengths are: 10, 30 or 60min but it requires editing to avoid dead time.

Podcatcher is the software clients use to check web feeds and download new podcasts. It has a huge variety and minimal costs.

@Marc Leonard in his website (https://medium.com/@mark_leonard) has a great explanation and show examples of the seven most common podcasts.

Webinars

It is a web-based seminar conducted live over the web. It is scheduled in advance to encourage participants to attend and usually it takes 1 or 2 hours. It can be free or fee based.

The speaker should provide substantive knowledge, introduce himself, announce the plan and encourage the audience to stay at the online meeting. It enables the utilization of audio and video. It is interactive and give the possibility to share the screen, documents and offer visuals during the presentation.

Webinars allow for live Q&A sessions, which can be beneficial for building connection.

Some examples of webinar plataforms are: Zoom, Adobe Connect Pro, GoToWebinar

Sharing photos sites

There are free sites and fee-based for hosting and sharing photos.

Subscribers can make thoughtful comments, tag images and add descriptive words.

Some examples of sharing photos are: Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Flickr,…

Sharing videos Sites

The basic functions of video sharing web sites are: search, watch videos and upload content.

A video on a website increases engagement and time spent, reaches larger audience and show case products and services.

Sharing videos sites allow video clips uploads to a website, which can be viewed publicly or privately.

The content of the videos can refer to: entertainment, information, product promotion, training amongst other.

Most of the sites allow searching for keywords to facilitate retrieval of a theme.

There are some sites that rank videos in terms of popularity.

Some examples of sharing videos are: Youtube, Yahoo video, Live, Vimeo, Dailymotion, IGTV, Periscope, Metacafe, Google video, Facebook Watch,…

Forums and discussion boards

These are online discussion sites where people can hold conversations, longer that one line of text, in the forum or posting messages.

There are forums where a user needs to register, there are others where it is optional and sometimes people can write anonymously (as guests).

In some forums/ discussion boards users post messages that might need approval by a moderator before being visible (published).

Social networks

Social networks are dedicated websites or applications where users can communicate.

It can easily aggregate people with the same characteristics and interests to promote virtual exchanges, relationships, dating and other.

The users can share ideas, interests and post information, comments, photos, videos and messages privately or publicly.

It is possible to find discussion boards of social, political, personal, health,… and other thematics and it is possible to create events and activities.

Some examples of social networks plataforms are: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter,…

LinkedIn it is also an example but it is mainly a business network

Social news site

Social news site are mobile-friendly and the most part of them have apps.

The users submit links to news’ stories and other web pages. There are some that are displayed according to a rank while others are based on votes by readers, the most popular appear in the front page.

Usually readers can comment and discuss on articles, this can promote the popularization and personalization of the news.

Some examples of social News sites are: Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg, Newsvine, Havker News, Dzone, Fark, Slashdot, Voat, Mixx, Metafilter. The best way to choose is to explore and find the one that better user interests, look and feel.

Question and Answer Sites

Question and Answer sites are websites where people can ask questions that are going to be replied from willing and knowledgeable users.

There are several sites and some of them classify questions by category. In order to get a theme replied it is important to find the best website. Usually people can have access for the previous questions.

Some examples of Q&A sites are: Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, American Heritage Dictionary, Ask.com, Answers.com, Yahoo.com, Quora, JustAnswer, ChaCha, AllExpets, Asnwerbag Blurtit,…

Social bookmarking

Social bookmarking are sites where people can list their site or page URL. This action can increase the visits of their blog or website.

At the same time, social bookmarking sites allow users to save and organize links to any number of online resources and websites. It has a useful system to tag links and consequently to search and share.

Some examples of social bookmarking are: Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Flipboard, Diggs…