The Power of Twitter

Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are all the rage these days. We often hear about social media's incredible potential or conversely, its lack of relevance compared to traditional media.

But what exactly is "social media"?

Social media is a term used to describe the web-based tools, applications, spaces, and practices that people use to interact with each other and share information online. For example, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace provide online tools that can be used for sharing media and engaging in online conversations, while also providing users with online personal space that forms a repository of shared content and social interactions.

Social media is highly participatory, unlike most traditional (offline) media. With traditional media like television, audience members are passive participants, consuming content that is produced by others. In stark contrast, online social media represent something of a return to a pre-print oral culture -- more of an ongoing dialogue than a form of production and consumption -- in the form of commentary, anecdotes, and shared stories (in audio, video and text forms). Through social media, the means of communicating and producing social meaning, narratives, and values have been returned to what citizen media commentator Dan Gillmor calls "the people formerly known as the audience."

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http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2009/05/21/PowerOfTwitter/