Social media has expanded over the years to include six primary categories, each with its own unique set of characteristics.
They include the following:
1. Social networks
A social network site is a social media site that allows users to connect and share with people who have similar interests and backgrounds. Facebook is the most popular example of a social network website.
2. Bookmarking sites
These sites allow users to save and organize links to any number of online resources and websites. A great feature of these services is the ability for the user to “tag” links, which makes them easier to search, and invariably, share with their followers.StumbleUpon is a popular example of a bookmarking site.
3. Social news
This is a social news site that allows its users to post news links and other items to outside articles. Users then vote on said items, and the items with the highest number of votes are most prominently displayed. A good example of a social news site is Reddit.
4. Media sharing
Media sharing websites allow users to share different types of media, such as pictures and video. Most of these sites also offer social features, like the ability to create profiles and the option of commenting on the uploaded images. YouTube is the most well-known media sharing site in the world.
5. Microblogging
These are just what they sound like, sites that allow the users to submit short written entries, which can include links to product and service sites, as well as links to other social media sites. These are then posted on the ‘walls’ of everyone who has subscribed to that user’s account. The most commonly used microblogging website is Twitter.
6. Blog comments and forums
An online forum is a site that lets users engage in conversations by posting and responding to community messages. A blog comment site is the same thing except a little more focused. The comments are usually centered around the specific subject of the attached blog. Google has a popular blogging site aptly titled, Blogger. However, there are a seemingly endless number of blogging sites, particularly because so many of them are niche-based, unlike the universal appeal of general social media sites.
.