I consider myself to be a social media enthusiast: I wrote my first programs at the age of 7, had my first web site in 1996, started a web business in 1998, and have been active in social media since the first chatrooms. And I have to constantly remind myself that there are a lot of people out there who no idea what social media are.

So what are they, really?
Social media are new ways to share, collaborate, and create communities. The amazing thing is that the principles of social media can be applied to *every* area, as long as two prerequisites are fulfilled:
  1. People are willing to share, collaborate and connect (culture)
  2. People have the tools to interact (technology)
Let’s take a look at what sharing, collaborating and creating communities means: