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> Social media are interactive technologies that allow the creation or sharing/exchange of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression v

• thethethethe 5y ago
  To start, social media != social network. I am saying that HN and other forums are a form of social media, albeit a very primitive form. Forums enable individuals to interact to create and exchange information, as opposed to mass media where things are centrally distributed and consumed with no input. > This description would include email and SMS I would absolutely consider SMS and email to be a social network, they are just limited and have fewer features. Definition of social network from wikipedia: > A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors > no one describes those as social networks I do acknowledge that there is a more nebulous popular definition of social media which refers to the major platforms. However, when you try to define what makes them different than email and SMS, things get challenging. If email, an network of independent actors exchanging information isn't a social network, then what set of features would make it a social network and why? All of the major platforms have different sets of features, some of them overlapping. What set of common features makes them a social network and why?