What the heck is social media anyway?

Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge in the universe, tells us that social media is difficult to define, but the common features are:

1. Social media are interactive internet-based applications.
2. Content is user-generated, such as text posts or comments, digital photos, or videos, and data generated through all online interactions.
3. Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social-media organization.
4. Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user’s profile with those of other individuals or groups.

This definition sounds way too complicated for me. I personally prefer to use the definition of obscenity used by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in a 1964 case: “I know it when I see it”.

We at ClanDonnell are not social media gurus. There are many technologies out there which we do not use and, we confess, many out there which we have never heard of.

But we do use Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest. Like and subscribe to them if you are so inclined.

Our favorite social media is shown in the photograph at the top of the page, even though it doesn’t fit the Wikipedia definition. It still works for us. Photograph by Linda McDonnell