Social media
Online platforms where people publish content, interact with others, and discover communities, ideas, and information.
Social media includes platforms built around text, images, video, professional connections, or community discussion. People can publish posts, respond to others, follow accounts, and discover content through feeds or search. Features and audience expectations differ across platforms.
A language teacher might share a short pronunciation lesson, answer questions in the comments, and link to a longer newsletter lesson. Each action serves a different purpose: discovery, conversation, or continued learning.
Social media is a channel, while social media marketing is a deliberate use of that channel to support an organization or business. A growing follower count alone does not establish that the right people are seeing, understanding, or acting on the content.
Related terms and guides
Explore the glossary
Build your understanding of newsletters, social media, and audience growth, one topic at a time.