What is social media?

Social media is creating a lot of buzz lately, but what really is it? It's not social networking and it's not social marketing, it's actually about contributing and communicating in a community, an online community that is. There are a lot of different versions around, but I liked the simplicity and directness on a marketing blog called Britopian, which is discussed in a post titled 5 Distinct Characteristics of Social Media. According to the blog author Michael Brito, Social Media is characterized by 5 aspects; participation, openness or transparency, conversation, community feel and facilitation or control by consumers. His description really covers social media in its entirety and refrains from over complicating it. There are lots of interesting discussions on SEO, online marketing, blogging and other aspects of social media. My only grouse about the site is that I don't much care for the "read more" tags that you have to click on to read the rest of the entry.