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npuntyesterday at 9:06 PM2 repliesview on HN

OPs is closer to the truth; the shift from network -> media shows a useful distinction between what the focal point of activity is.

Note that "social" (as in social interaction with people you know) in "social networking" is a requirement, while it is not in "social media". You may as well call it "parasocial media" since that is the way most people use it most of the time.

Thus 'social media' is primarily based on content, while 'social networking' is primarily based on social connection and interaction.


Replies

Izkatatoday at 4:11 AM

If anything the terminology shift was the other way, we called forums and MySpace social media back then even though MySpace is called social networking now. "Networking" back then was pretty restricted to business / self-promotion oriented stuff like LinkedIn.

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fc417fc802today at 8:56 AM

This delineation does not match the common usage of the terms as I understand them. If you want to talk about parasocial media then just use that term.