What is Social Media?

To quote one of the most influential, successful woman and social media guru to this date, Liz Strauss @lizstrauss of Chicago, she will tell you that “social media would be any object or tool, that connects people in dialogue or interaction — in person, in print, or online. In common usage, social media has come to mean a category of practices, technology, tools, and online sites that are based in social relationships, participation, and user-generated content. Social media adds a more personal context to the traditional business relationship” (http://bit.ly/gaDWyR).

What is Social Networking? 

“Most literally, social networking would be meeting and making connections and relationships — both business and social — online and offline. In the lexicon of social media, social networking involves establishing an online presence and connecting regularly with other people and businesses who have done the same. Connections are made through hyperlinks and references embedded in personal profiles, comment text, audio comments, podcasts, videos.

Social networking sites provide efficient ways for individuals (and individual businesses) to find and connect with friends and colleagues, to establish new relationships and deepen them, and to introduce friends and colleagues to each other. Many social networking sites also offer platforms for discussion of topics that a community or network finds mutually interesting or beneficial.

In the most concise terms, a social network is a group of like-minded individuals connected by a common interest” (http://bit.ly/fQsl2C).

About Liz: 

Liz Strauss is “a social web strategist and community builder. Coming from a background of publishing, business, and instructional design, Liz understands how people perceive a blog, a product, and an experience — how the head and heart engage to make a fiercely loyal customer. She can articulate what makes things irresistible — what keeps people coming back — from literacy, editorial, design, and marketing sensitivities.
Liz works with businesses, universities, and individuals to help them understand how text, words, and images work in the culture of the social web. She has over 20 years in print, software, and online publishing, and has strategized with publishers in Europe, Australia, the UK, and Ireland. She was recently a featured speaker at the Cass Business School of City University in London and taught a Master’s Level class at the CityU School of Pubishing.

Liz is a founder of the highly successful business bloggers conference SOBCon — which has gained the partnership of companies such as Intuit, IZEA, ReveNews, Walmart, Colgate, Allstate, and Klondike Frozen Treats, as well as the attention of BusinessWeek, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Innovation Initiative of the Kellogg School of Business. She has been named to the Top 100 Social Media & Internet Marketing Bloggers Top 100 Most Influential Marketers of 2008, the 50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women of Social Media, NxE’s Fifty Most Influential ‘Female’ Bloggers and her blog is listed on Alltop Social Media and Alltop Twitterati.”