Social media encompasses any type of new media that can start a conversation. The best way of determining if something is social media is whether or not it is stagnate once the user produces it (if not, it probably is social media).

Examples of social media include blogs, social networking sites (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etcetera), forums/product reviews (e.g. Google Groups, Amazon.com, Yelp), sharing sites (e.g. YouTube, Pandora), reference sites (Wikipedia) and so much more.

Social media can be hard to classify because some sites are more robust than others; many sites fit into more than one category or create their own category. For instance, YouTube is both a vehicle to share and a social networking site. Facebook allows for picture sharing and reviews.

Anytime a Web site allows you to connect with other people, it automatically becomes a part of social media. That means many sites that were previously in the realm of traditional media, such as some news Web sites, have entered into the realm of social media by allowing users to connect with other users via commenting.

Other sites are more grounded on social media principles, such as Twitter, which is completely based on interactions with others.