The 7-C’s of Social Media
Blogs, social networking, wikis, forums, photos, videos or any type of social media share essential elements and common characteristics. These make social media distinct and different than traditional media and websites.
- Conversations: Social media is about interactive conversations. Traditional media broadcasts a message to be heard and not responded to. This has changed from an advertising message to product discussions. Consumers today want to discuss, respond and give opinions and not just be marketed to.
- Collaboration: This is about the sharing of information, opinions, stories, photos or videos. This is the norm in social media and is done with candor and openness. There is easy access to content where password protected content is not the norm. The interactive nature of social media encourages publishing, participation and feedback
- Cooperation: Social media is active and you are no longer just a reader. People ask for help and others will chime in. “I’m working on a project and I need some help with…” The separation between writer and reader is gone.
- Community: Social media forms small social communities around common interests or needs. People participate and form these virtual communities around hobbies, occupational interests, political beliefs or philosophies.
- Connections: It is easy to recycle or build upon other conversations and content. Linking to other resources, other sites or other people make access to information faster threads easy to follow.
- Confidence: People interact and participate because of the trust level that comes with social media. Honest and open communication is at the core of social media and with this comes confidence and trust in what is being said.
- Creativity: User generated content (UGC) makes it possible for the average person to participate. It is easy to create, share and publish original content and videos. This is very different from the days of traditional media where only a few provided what we read and watched.