CHAPTER 1:
Introduction
The concept “social media” has attracted many definitions from different disciplines. In a lay man‟s explanation, it may simply connote “within group interactive communication”. The “group” in this definition represents “social” content of the definition. According Suomen Toivo–Think Tank (2012), social media are new information network and information technology using a form of interactive communication skills, where users produce the content of information and interpersonal relationships are established and maintained in the process. A typical social media services could be content sharing, web communities, or an Internet forum (Sanastokeskus, 2010). In the same vein, Kaplan and Heinlein (2010), defined social media as a group of Internet-based application that ar2 built upon the ideology and technology of web 2.0 and allows the generation and exchange of its content. On the social media, the users are not passive like in the case of Television, Radio, and Newspaper; rather they are active in the formation and exchange of information (Sweeter and Laricsy, 2008).
Information that emanated from a member of the forum might become topical and even spread beyond where it was first discussed. Typical examples of social media include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, MySpace, Skype, Instagram, Flipagram, and Hi5. All these sites and applications have interactive options that facilitate broadcasting and rebroadcasting of information. Aside from these websites, these are also application that people are even more accessible to on smartphones and androids. The applications include: BBM on which there are BBM channels, where news and other information are created, broadcasted, and even modified. There is also What Sapp application that facilitates the formulation and dissemination of information. Others are Nimbuzz and 2go. They are not just for news, but are also for gossips and rumours. In so many cases on social media, what started out as rumours, gossip, or even speculation that are reproduced and rebroadcasted as real, even though it was fake ab-initio. This particular problem emanates from the user-to-user interaction found on social media and distinguishes from the traditional media. In social media, the gate keeping role of traditional media is eliminated.
In social media, there are 5 major features that are easy to identify. According to Suomen Toivo- Think Tank (2012), the features are social networking and social interaction, participation, the use of social providers, openness, and collaboration. These features are linked to the six classifications of social media postulated by the same author. There classifications are: Social Networks (Facebook, Google+, Myspace, LinkedIn); Media Products Community (Youtube, Flickr, Slideshare); Blog Services (wordpress, blogger, Twitter); Information Community (Wikipedia and Wikispaces), which is also referred to as Collaborative Project (Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, 2012); Virtual Community also called Virtual Game Worlds PLAC (2012) includes Second Life and World of War craft; and Link Sharing Services (Digg and Diego). The social media is a body of packages that users would find attractive and even hard to do without.
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