 Social media landscape 2010 To browse other articles on a range of HSL topics, see the wiki index.
Introduction
See also Blogs | Information technology topics | Social networking | Twitter | Web 2.0
"...Social media or web 2.0 is the use of digital media, including internet and mobile, for collaborating to create user generated content and form self organizing communities. Typical elements of a social media service include the ability to: 1) create a personal profile 2) “friend” or follow other members to subscribe to their activity streams 3) create content in the form of text, photos, audio, or video and 4) share, tag, rate, comment on or vote on content created by other members. Blogs, forums, wikis, social networking sites, microblogging sites, social bookmarking sites, social voting sites, social review sites and virtual worlds are all example of web 2.0 sites. So are social sites built around photos, audio, videos, presentations, music, and games... "
The social media landscape is a complex and continually-evolving digital space and increasingly involves hundreds if not thousands of tools. (For a quick view of the range of tools, see the Go2Web directory). That said, the term social media specifically refers to tools that enable social interaction and the open sharing of ideas, resources and digital objects. Sometimes called Web 2.0 services, they comprise text, images, audio and video. Some popular types of social media are blogs, podcasts, wikis, Twitter and location-based services such as FourSquare and Gowalla. In addition, these are increasingly provided via mobiles, iPhone and iPad.
Social media is often designed to help groups involved in a common task collaborate, exchange ideas and achieve commonly-shared goals. Metcalfe's law applies to social media: "... the more people you have in your network, the more valuable it becomes." The phenomenon of drawing on the power of the network is linked to the idea of crowdsourcing or the "wisdom of the crowd". Some prominent examples of social media include wikipedia (a general reference tool), Facebook and LinkedIn (social and business networking),YouTube (video sharing), Digg and Twitter (news and information sharing), Flickr and Instagram (photo sharing).
Social tools
Aggregators and feedreaders
See also List of aggregators
Blogging platforms
Current awareness in social media
Directories
Discussion lists
Instant Messaging Clients
Library wikis
Open source wiki tools
Wiki hosting
Bookmarking
See also Social bookmarking sites
- del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site where you can organise, share and read others bookmarks. A tag is simply a word you use to describe a bookmark. Unlike folders, you make up tags when you need them and you can use as many as you like. The result is a better way to organize your bookmarks and a great way to discover interesting things on the Web.
- Diigo (dee'go) combines social bookmarking, clippings, in situ annotation, tagging, full-text search, easy sharing and interactions. It provides a rich social platform for knowledge users and turns the web into writable, participatory and interactive media.
- Trailfire enables you to discover the web through the expertise of others. Follow a trail and find what you need, or share your expertise by making a trail. To make a trail, place a 'trail mark' (like a 'post-it' note) on a page with your comments. A trail mark can contain text, images, videos and other media.
Content management tools
See also: Content Management Systems
- b2evolution is a free blog tool for the next generation of blogs. It includes all the features of traditional blog tools, and extends them with evolved features such as file & photo management, advanced skinning, multiple blogs support as well as detailed user permissions.
- Drupal is equipped with a powerful blend of features, and can support a variety of websites ranging from personal weblogs to large community-driven websites.
- Edublogs is a free blog hosting tool for education purposes. It is particularly useful if you want to set up a blog for multiple users (classroom) as opposed to an individual student or instructor.
- Elgg is an open source software platform designed to allow people to easily connect and share resources. Elgg Spaces allows you to create social networks like MySpace for your school/institution. You decide if the network is private or public.
- Journler is a daily notebook and entry based information manager. Scholars, teachers, students, professors, scientists, thinkers, the business minded and writers of every persuasion use it to connect the written word with the media (video and images) most important to them.
- Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, open source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities.It is also used to host online conferences.
- TakingITGlobal.org is a Canadian online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities.
- Tapped In is an online workplace for a community of education professionals. K-12 teachers, librarians, administrators, and professional development staff, as well as university faculty, students, and researchers gather here to learn, collaborate, share, and support one another.
- Thinkature is a collaborative workspace to which you can invite coworkers, friends, and colleagues to join you in just seconds. Once inside your workspace, you can communicate by chatting, drawing, creating cards, and adding content from around the Internet.
- Worldbridges is a community of communities that use 'homegrown webcasting' and other new media technologies to help people learn.
See also
Disclaimer
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