Social Media, What is it?

Using my handy dandy RSS reader, I came across this edgy slideshow (pictured below) via Slide Share. I suppose it was the use of profanity in the title that really caught my eye at first. However, after quickly scrolling through it I decided it was a creative and attention grabbing way of explaining Social Media in layman's terms. Kind of like a "Social Media for Dummies" on crack.

What The F**K is Social Media?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialmediamarketing marketing)

Created by Marta Z. Kagan, a social media evangelist and online marketing professional, the slideshow defines social media as "an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio" (slide 2). It is the process of "people having conversations online" (slide 3).

So why should people care? The slideshow states that social networking is more popular than porn and that other forms of advertising are less effective than many believe them to be. Check out all the interesting (and slightly frightening!) statistics on social media participation and advertising.

Kagan also lists some of the many reasons we discussed in class for using social media: transparency, flexibility, consumer-driven, etc. Not to mention, Social Media will only continue to gain ground in the future as technology becomes everyday for everyone.

Using creative graphics and language many students (and young adults) can relate to, Kagan makes a great case for why Social Media is important, what it is, and how to get involved. While many slideshows bore me to tears, I found myself interested in what this show had to say and it really helped continue to explain Social Media and its importance.

What do you guys think of it?