social media profiles
Social Media
Direct conversational communications
All web tools that are designed for the easy exchange of information are called "Social Media". This direct conversational exchange for everyone (even if you don't know html) defines the social web (or web 2.0).
Here is a selection of tools that can be useful for your
online communications.
If and how they can work for you is something that we have to decide
in relation to your individual situation.
Social Networks
In social networks you can set up your own page (profile), make it accessible for everyone or selected persons only, network and exchange information. Social networks are suitable for any kind of information exchange (text, images, audio, video).
The most known examples for social networks are:
Professional Networks
There are social networks designed specifically for the professional exchange of information, where you can find working partners and clients/customers too.
Microblogging
The best known microblogging platform is surely Twitter. Here you can publish micro-blogposts of a max. 140 characters length, network and exchange information. This is how highly effective and direct communications are created (if used in the right way).
Friendfeed allows microblogging too. But here you can also join subject related discussions in so called "rooms". Although the original purpose of this tool is to combine different feeds into one.
Other platforms are designed for the exchange of specific file formats only but they still offer the possibility for users to network. The services of these tools can also be implemented into social media profiles or (through widgets) in your website or blog.
Images
There are many platforms for saving and sharing digital images online. The best known is probably FlickR. You cannot only save images there and organise them in albums, you can also tag and comment them. And FlickR automatically provides an RSS feed for any list of images you create.
Video
Everyone has heard of the video platform YouTube. You can publish your videos there, share them with others and comment on them.
Bookmarks
You know the digital bookmarks you save in your browser to get access to your favourite websites more quickly? The same principle is the base of online bookmarking tools but the bookmarks you save there are publically visible;, they can be tagged and subscribed to through RSS. That's how you can easily and quickly share intersting information.
Examples:
