The term social media has been carelessly tossed around and used too often in online marketing. But what is it really about? In essence, social media incorporates the use of online technologies and methods that allow people to share personal opinions, content as well as swap insights and perspectives with the rest of the world. Social media content can take different shapes and forms:

Text – often used to write or put across personal opinions or posts
Images – photos are used to display anything of interest
Audio – podcasts can be created to other users to download
Video – video content can be shared to engage, entertain or educate Among the most popular social media sites at the moment include:
Social Networking: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+
Wikis: Wikipedia
Video Sharing: YouTube
Photo Sharing: Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr
News Aggregation: Digg, Reddit
Online Gaming: World of Warcraft