3.8 Billion People Accessing Social Media Networks Every Day

Social Media is now an integrated part of any online business. Social Media is interactive tools that enable the generation or sharing/ exchange of ideas, thoughts, interests, and various forms of human expression through virtual communities and networks, easily and quickly. The use of Social Media is increasing day by day and has become a crucial aspect of any website. Social Media includes: blogs, forums, social network sites, video web casts, instant message boards, online communities, community websites, photo galleries, and wikis.

– Blogs are informal written texts that are normally updated every day. It can contain any sort of content like information, news, reviews, opinions, suggestions, or entertainment. Blogs provide a good platform for sharing information and for getting feedback. Most popular social media blogs are WordPress, Tumblr, TypePad, MyBlogLog, and LiveJournal.

– Forums are online discussion forums where people can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community. It can also act as a medium to promote business and brand awareness. Internet marketers can take advantage of forums by hosting a discussion board within the forum, or by posting links to their website in the discussion forums. Most popular forum communities include Yahoo! Answers, WordPress, Digsby, WordPress, and MySpaceQ.

– Video webcasts (Vlogs) are short online tutorials that engage viewers and teach viewers about different types of things. These can be uploaded to several different types of social media networks including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, LinkShare, and Slideshare. Most marketers these days prefer to make video webcasts into ad-supported podcasts that target audiences by location, gender, age, and monetization method. Examples of popular Vlogs are “Sizzle” and “How-To.”

– Social video sharing platforms such as YouTube, Brightcove, Vimeo, Mezzanine, Metacafe, and FindMe are the new tools for the modern marketer. The popularity of these platforms are attributed to the flexibility of users who can post and share videos on a variety of different platforms at any time of the day, any day of the week. It is important for internet marketers to familiarize themselves with the different video sharing platforms available so they can effectively use them to increase exposure for their websites.

These are just three of the different social media networks that are being used by millions of people across the globe. Social media has provided a unique opportunity for businesses and organizations to expand their customer base while increasing profitability at the same time. Internet marketers can take advantage of the growing popularity of social sharing sites to create viral campaigns that spread through social networks like wildfire. Once a campaign is in place, it is virtually impossible to stop.