"Social Media" is an OXYMORON.

This is Google Search's definition of the word "media".  

me·di·a¹

ˈmēdēə/

noun

1. 1.

   plural form of medium.
2. 2.

   the main means of mass communication (esp. television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet) regarded collectively.

   "the campaign won media attention"

   synonyms:

   the press, the fourth estate, the news, the papers;

   
   

Webster's New World Dictionary, 2nd College Ed., published in 1974, defines the term "media" with a single word: middle.  It also recognizes the word as the plural form of "medium." (Is more than one Long Island-based mystic considered media? )  It references anatomy as well.  Surprisingly, this older definition does not even encompass the use of the word to indicate the type of paint an artist prefers to work with; nor does it speak to the materials of creators working in stone, metal, wood, or paper as their "media of choice".  The word media has undergone a substantive change in connotation, denotation, and general use in an astonishingly short time.

To say "media" to indicate the means of dissemination of popular culture to the masses is a relatively recent phenomenon. 

The phrase "social media" itself is a marvel of contextual connotation. It indicates the head-on collision of selling producers and striving consumers within the online milieu.  

There isn't anything social about it.  

'Milieu' is described by Webster's as, "a place or environment, especially a social or cultural setting." It may be a more apt descriptor of what the average person conceptualizes when thinking of "social media interaction." People who are on line reading articles, looking at photography and animations, or actually shopping know that they are being marketed.  It's almost like a store window on a busy city street.  Something might just catch your eye, you know?  To the consumer's mind, anything that shows itself appealing online is a bonus, especially if none of their social superiors (or equals, or inferiors, for that matter) is able to lay hands upon it.  

To the producer, finding new, unobtrusive ways to create that appeal is the order of the day.

so·cial

ˈsōSHəl/

adjective

1. 1.

   of or relating to society or its organization.

   "alcoholism is recognized as a major social problem"

   synonyms:

   communal, community, collective, group, general, popular, civil, public,societal More
2. 2.

   ZOOLOGY

   (of a bird) gregarious; breeding or nesting in colonies.

   synonyms:

   gregarious, interactional; More

noun

1. 1.

   an informal social gathering, esp. one organized by the members of a particular club or group.

   "a church social"

   synonyms:

   party, gathering, function, get-together, soirée; More

Now, the last definition is what most people conceptualize when they consider what they are doing on the internet as "social media."

It's not true.

I know a man who is highly motivated to sell a house.  I'm not a realtor.  I'm a blogger who cleans houses before they are listed for sale.  My social networking may do for free what an under-motivated agent is doing for a 6% commission.  
Let's find out.

No matter what the headline, tagline, lead-in, or cover blurb, mass communication has one goal.  To sell.  The editor, founder or publisher of a newspaper may want to change the world, but in order to do that, he or she must sell.  A magazine may want to broaden the horizons of a particular demographic segment.  It may want to educate and inform.  What it must do in order to meet this goal is sell.  A television network may want to create offerings that reflect the interests of the people it serves.  If advertisers don't place commercial content for sale during those shows, that network will fail.  A television network that wants to keep broadcasting must sell.  An author who wants to keep writing must sell.  A realtor who wants to keep eating must sell.  A photog who wants to see the world has got to do more than post pretty pics.  He or she has got to sell.

What have you got for sale?  Is it your ideas?  Your personality?  Your popularity?  Your indefinable charisma?

YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE.

so·cial me·di·a

noun

1. 1.

   websites and applications used for social networking.

so·cial net·work·ing

noun

1. 1.

   the use of dedicated websites and applications to communicate informally with other users, or to find people with similar interests to oneself.

Not much to go on, is it?

With the sum of human knowledge at the tips of Google's fingers, one would think a more thorough and meaningful discussion of what these two terms truly represent would be a given.  Maybe not.  Maybe social media is whatever we say it is.  Whatever we think it is.  Maybe we don't actually know what the hell it is, consequently, less of an explanation of terms is more.  Really.  "Websites and applications used for social networking" could come from anywhere, including Hamas and the Taliban.  I'm not interested in that, not at all,.

The use of the word "informally" is nearly meaningless in this context.  You are reading my blog.  That's informal.  That's communicating.  Would you say the subject matter is "informal"?  Is my intent "informal"?  Do I have an "informal" desire to get a grasp on what I'm truly exchanging in the online marketplace of ideas?  What I'm giving?  What I'm getting?  What I'm leaving behind me forever, in perpetuity, on this here internet?  No, I would not call those matters informal.  Not in the least.

"Social Media" to me is like those Big Pharma adverts where they describe a "fatal event."  Possibly, I may be too literal, but events can and do happen more than once. Fatality is generally a one-time proposition.  Otherwise the circumstance is described as a "near-death experience," or a "miracle."  So maybe social media is not so outrageously oxymoronic as fatal events, but events could prove otherwise.  What are the corporations doing with all our social socializing and networking?

1. social media marketing

   Web definitions

   1. Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. ...
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social-media_marketing

   
   
2. Hmmm.  We could be here a while.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

#FriendsofMalachiMaxwellGlass

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