Media comes from the English word medium, a way through which one can communicate with the other in form of letters, posters, emails, public meetings, etc. There is also mass media whereby you communicate with a large number of people, it includes TV, News, internet etc. Today, social media is often understood as a group of new kinds of online media, which share relative characteristics. These are mostly web-based and mobile technologies(means) that are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue. The characteristics are; participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness. So, in this sense the basic forms of social media are social networks like facebook, wikis like wikipedia, podcasts like Apple iTunes, content communities like Flickr, del.icio.us, Youtube and micro-blogging. A best example of micro-blogging is Twitter.
“A good way to think about social media is that all of this is actually just about being human beings. Sharing ideas, cooperating and collaborating to create art, thinking and commerce, vigorous debate and discourse, finding people who might be good friends, allies and lovers – it’s what our species that has built several civilisations on. That’s why social media is spreading so quickly, not because it’s great shiny, whizzy new technology, but because it lets us be ourselves.” (Antony Mayfield. 2008, What is Social Media?
From all the above, do we see the in-thing of social media as a recent discovery or an evolution of means of communication over time? If we are to go back to the African Tradition, on a social note, people used to interact in the most perfect way. This would include elders telling stories around a fire place, traditional dances to celebrate harvest, birth of a child or arrival of a long gone son of the soil. People really shared much during that time especially in-terms of personality and living an exemplary life. Putting that aside, when it came to communication there were use of drums played for different purposes or occurrences. For example in the kiganda culture the sagal’ agalamidde drum was played if a prominent person would be visiting a village or to inform the community that he would be visiting. In most communities, they played drums to inform the community about a death, birth of a child, local brewing of alcohol etc. But then in relation to social media today it is had to differentiate which one was a DM(twitter message), email, SMS, blog, tweet. Much as communities then were able to differentiate what each type drumming the message or information it passed on.
It is from this I tend to understand that actually social media is not a recent discovery but something that has evolved over time dating way back during the times of the African traditional society. People then sang to communicate each other, they danced to communicate to each other and please note they did not dance to earn money like today. If I am to remember when we were still young, during the Christmas season there used to be a choir which would move house to house singing Christmas hymns to pass on a message that Christ is born. But all that has gone away and the best we get the these days is a Christmas song shared on Youtube, a poem shared on facebook, a picture of baby Jesus born uploaded and shared on Flickr.
Yes, social media has evolved but we should not forget that it is much more than web based tools and materials shared to communicate to each other. Much as Chameleon, GNL, Mun G, or Angella Kalule of the Katitiki fame sing for money, there is much information shared through that and so much more.
‘Til next time...!!
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