Social media platforms according to their usage and function
Type
Description
Examples
Blogs
Online publications where individuals discuss their thoughts and/or views on a range of subjects. Blogs can be private, much like an online journal, or they can be professional, featuring comments about a particular field of expertise. Viewers can leave comments on postings, and entries range in length (typically 200–1,000 words) and frequency (some bloggers publish regularly or several times per day, whilst some publish 2–3 times/week). Photos and audio/video files can be submitted as entries.
Blogger, WordPress, etc.
Microblogging and presence applications
A blog of some kind. More frequently and with significantly shorter postings. Twitter only allows posts of 140 characters or less, yet many users publish numerous times daily. Posts may be transmitted by text message or mobile phone and can contain both picture and audio/video assets.
Twitter, Tumblr, etc.
Photo/video/file sharing sites
Sites where users may exchange data, photographs, and videos. Uploads may frequently be downloaded and shared by connecting to them in the other three forms of social media, and they are accessible. A movie or picture that is linked to might have an exponentially greater audience and become “viral”.
YouTube, SlideShare, etc.
Social networking sites
Websites, where users may create online profiles, update information about themselves, images, links, and other content, and remark on the changes of people. Joining with different profiles is a crucial feature for expanding one’s social network on a website.
Author D.T. is Editorial Board member of Exploration of Digital Health Technologies, but he had no involvement in the peer-review of this article and had no access to information regarding its peer-review. The other author declares that he has no conflicts of interest.
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