As defined by Wikipedia Social media are primarily Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.

Forms of Social Media include:

SOCIAL NETWORKS
These sites allow people to build personal web pages and then connect with
friends to share content and communication. The biggest social networks are
MySpace, Facebook and Bebo.
BLOGS
Perhaps the best known form of social media, blogs are online journals, with
entries appearing with the most recent first. Popular blog platforms are Wordpress, Blogger and Typepad
WIKIS
These websites allow people to add content to or edit the information on them, acting
as a communal document or database. The best-known wiki is Wikipedia, the
online encyclopaedia which has over 2 million English language articles.
PODCASTS
Audio and video files that are available by subscription, through services like Apple
iTunes.
FORUMS
Areas for online discussion, often around specific topics and interests. Forums came
about before the term “social media” and are a powerful and popular element of
online communities.
CONTENT COMMUNITIES
Communities which organize and share particular kinds of content. The most popular
content communities tend to form around photos (Flickr), bookmarked links
(del.icio.us) and videos (YouTube).
MICROBLOGGING
Social networking combined with bite-sized blogging, where small amounts of content
(‘updates’) are distributed online and through the mobile phone network. Twitter is the clear leader in this field.

I’ll be looking at these forms of Social Media in more detail over the next few months.