DISQUS

Taylor Davidson · 1 year ago

As you know, I love the thought about re-framing the definition, about thinking of the goals and not just the tactics, about separating popular usage from the more standardized defition of "social media" and its inevitable sub-segments.

Couple questions:

1) What's the difference between "communication" and "social media"? Is it the use of an artifact?

2) Does combining the definition of "social" and "media" result in a definition of "social media"?

Bryan Landers · 1 year ago

Thanks for reading, Taylor :) Great questions.

Re: #2, first - it occurred to me after I posted that my examples did fit the definition of both the individual words and the most general version of a combined term "social media", but I didn't specify that well in the post. You could make an argument that all media is social (what non-social entity creates tools to communicate information?).

The current, popular usage of "social media" is clearly referring to a much more specific scope (being human, first off!), but the details are subjective at this point (some people think internet, some think pre-internet video, etc), so as the beginning of the thought experiment (and without new meaning attributed to combining the two words), it's helpful for me to start big like this before drilling down to get a more relevant, contemporary version.

Re: #1 - after digging for meanings of "media", I don't we're restricted to an artifact (although I love that word :). Or at least, it seems more poetic to me to include the possibility...for example, "media" in art can be used to describe the technique utilized, which in the case of sound or light could be a non-artifact (if directly used to communicate and not archived via some kind of storage method). But, that's not very useful for everyday application!

I would say that communication is the process of transferring information and social media are the tools used to communicate. Does that jive with your thinking?

Thanks again!

Ethan Bauley · 1 year ago

quickly, i liked this, you're right, air is a social medium...many people can talk to each other in a room (moving air around with soundwaves), many dogs can pee on something and each can interpret meaning from the fragrance, asynchronously.

what i've learned from this is that we need to make a distinction about "common usage" and a more technical explanation. i think the common usage fundamentally assumes some kind of digital/mechanical tool, so we'll start there maybe.

Bryan Landers · 1 year ago

Thanks, Ethan. Aren't the bowerbirds amazing!!!

I agree. If there's going to be a foundation to build on, it would be helpful if there were some agreement about what is the standard starting point in the larger taxonomy for what we're calling SM. I'll leave that to you (and others) after I do a taxonomy post (coming soon...)!

metafluence · 1 year ago

The bowerbirds were cool as hell! Enjoyed your post, Bryan. I clipped a portion of it and linked to it from my blog. :)

Bryan Landers · 1 year ago

Thanks, Justin! Clip and quote away - it's yours for the taking :)

Re: bowerbirds, I definitely recommend the video "Attenborough In Paradise and Other Personal Voyages". I watched it from Netflix. It's a nice relief from our highly plugged-in tech lifestyles...

Taylor Davidson · 1 year ago

What is the alternative to "social media"? Once we start talking about the components of social media, it becomes pretty clear that not all media is social.

Anyway, just points to the need to break down the taxonomy of social media a little more clearly so we can understand what we're all talking about. I'm looking forward to that part of the discussion...

(Honestly, I don't know the answer to either of the questions I asked, but I liked both of your responses...)

Bryan Landers · 1 year ago

Ok. I can help there. My mind works well for breaking down taxonomy like this...I'll see what I can do :)

swg credits · 1 year ago

I think the word 'social' is not mean humanity now.Everybidy and
every organization is comercial now.