Sorting out the pieces of today’s Social Media pie.

What is social media? It’s often hard to really pinpoint because it’s such a moving target. Many defining aspects of social media are evolving. It’s hard to know what this landscape will look like 2, 3 or 5 years from now. How many of the sites that we relied on in 2000 are still around today? Will the social sites and technologies we use today find better rates of success? It’s hard to know. What will social media become? What of today’s social movement will endure?


Instead of talking about social networking in terms of the sites and technologies we use today, it may be more meaningful to define social media by the activities and purposes that drive our involvement. To get our collective heads around the different needs and problems that drive today’s usage, let’s place our social needs into 4 distinct groups: Content, Community, Distribution and Management.



1.) Personal Content:

Defined as: The noise I make. The moments I experience. The content I create.

Enabled by:
Personal Websites
Social, Career & other Community Profiles
Blogs

* Photos
* Video / Audio
* Media Hosting Services

2.) Community:

Defined as: My individual and group connections. The people who make up my world.

Enabled by:
Online Communities
Social Networks (Relationship Managers / Social Graphs)
The Harnessing of Collective Intelligence

* Recommendation Engines
* Social Book-marking
* Reputation Systems
* User Reviews/Opinions
* Social Commerce
* Crowd Sourcing
* Wiki

3.) Data Distribution

Defined as: How I share and receive information. My information pipelines.

Enabled by:
RSS
File Sharing / Peer-to-Peer
Mobile Media

* Podcasts
* Location Based Media
* Location-Based Services

Messaging

* Instant Messaging
* Internet Forums & Message Boards
* Chat Rooms
* Micro Blogging

Search
Lifestreaming
Content Aggregators
Widgets

4.) Relationship & Data Management

Defined as: How I control it all.

Enabled by:
Password, Identity & Authentication Management
OpenID
DataPortability
Timeline, Event & News Management
Relationship Management
Media/Content Management

When you look at these 4 social needs categories and compare them with today's offerings it seems clear that the "management" piece has some growing up to do. As online social management matures it will have a big effect on existing social technologies, new product development and our real social lives.

Many of today’s new social offerings serve very specific social needs. These are more widgets that robust services. Enabling users to build networks of social components is one of the promises of Web 2.0. Will the success of these stand-alone services and the addition of OpenID and Data Portability deliver a more meaningful and reliable experience than a central social networking hub like a MySpace or FaceBook? Or will new central hubs for social relationships and media that better address all 4 needs categories emerge?