The Internet has now become an integral part of our day to day lives, as well as in the working environment many people use the Internet as a social tool allowing them to easily interact and connect with others socially.

Social media platforms & websites allow its users to interact with one another online and as social media has become rapidly embraced by modern society, the business and marketing sectors have also taken to social media as a way to connect with existing or potential clients. This is generically known as Social Media Marketing or Social Media Optimisation.

A social media website such as Facebook gives its users a place to communicate with one another via status updates.  Facebook users can share “media” such as photos, videos and links to other web pages.

This is done to interact with other people and is known as “social” activity, this social activity is carried out on a few well-known websites such as Facebook.  These sites are known as social media sites and this is quite simply because users share their media socially, hence the term Social Media.

With hundreds of social networking websites available globally here are a few well-known ones listed below in no particular order:

• Facebook
• Linkedin
• Google Plus
• Twitter
• Pinterest

Read more about SMM below:

• Information Page – Wikipedia
• Read Posts about Social Media – Mashable
• Guide to Social Media Marketing – Search Engine Land