Social media is a term that almost everyone use but actually what is social media? What are social media platforms? YouTube is a type of social media or not? If you want to know what is social media and is YouTube social media site? In this article we provide the details about all these questions.

What is social media? An Overview Of Social Media

Social media refers to a range of online platforms and technologies that enable people and organisations to produce, distribute, and engage in content creation and communication in a virtual, digital environment. Users can publish text, photographs, videos, links, and other types of information on these platforms, and they can interact with that content by taking actions like “liking,” “commenting,” “sharing,” and “reacting” to it. Social media is used for many things, including networking, communication, sharing of material, and entertainment.

Example of social media

Social media include different platforms like

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Telegram
• Pinterest
• Reddit
• Snapchat
• WhatsApp
• Wechat

Specifications Of Social Media

Those sites which offer all these specifications considered as social media platforms

1. The account Profiles
2. Developing The contents
3. Social Networking
4. Interaction
5. Sharing and Finding of Content
6. Commercial and marketing
7. Innovations and Relevance
8. Global Effects
9. Flexibility and Management

Is YouTube Social Media?

Almost every individual who is aware of social media know YouTube. What is YouTube? Is it considered as social media? Let’s discuss with logical reasoning

What is YouTube? An Overview of YouTube

The most well-known video-sharing platform worldwide is YouTube. It has grown to play a significant role in many people’s online experiences with over 2 billion active users each month. A hub for entertainment, learning, and user-generated material, YouTube is a hugely popular online video-sharing service that enables users to create, watch, and share videos on a variety of subjects. It also gives producers the chance to make money from their work through adverts and subscriptions.

Reasons Why Youtube Considered As Social Media

There are various features that YouTube allows to its users and these features similar to different social media platforms. These features which are discuss below

1. The account Profiles

Just like other social media platforms before publishing video content on YouTube, you must first create a profile. When it comes to watching content, however, this is not the case. Anyone can visit YouTube whenever they want and start watching as many videos as they want.

You can engage with the content, though, if you create a profile. You can customize your YouTube experience, for instance, by like, sharing, commenting, and subscribing to a channel.

2. Subscriptions, Comments, and Likes

Subscriptions to YouTube channels provide a platform for communication between producers and viewers. In some ways, this resembles how following operates on Facebook and Twitter. It’s comparable to following a creator’s updates on other platforms to subscribe to a YouTube channel. The interaction between content creator and viewers is judge through likes and comments. Each video has a little thumbs-up or thumbs-down button that allows viewers to rate it. Less pleasant or infrequently viewed films are displayed less, while more positive ones are promoted to the front page.

3. Community Rules and Reports

To keep the community on YouTube safe and respectful for users, there are rules and reporting procedures. These guidelines cover a variety of topics related to content and conduct on the platform. Some of community rules are avoid hate speech, harassment and cyber bullying is not allowed, copyright rules, strick rules for child safety, adult content, spams, scams, privacy violation, harmful content etc.

4. User Generated Content

Due to its user-generated content, YouTube differs from conventional video streaming platforms. The site allows registered users to upload videos. Anyone can watch them for free in the meanwhile, registered or not. Another reason for YouTube’s consider as a social media platform is its capacity to disseminate information (in this example, videos) to a huge audience.

5. YouTube shorts

In competition with tiktok, Instagram, Facebook reels and other different social media platforms YouTube add options for creator to uplaod short video of their content. Users can add music, effects, and stickers to short videos that are under 60 seconds long using shorts.

The addition of Shorts and the subsequent rollout of YouTube accounts in October 2022 demonstrate the company’s desire to be viewed as a social media platform.

6. Community Posts

Another example of how the platform encourages user interaction is the Community postings feature on YouTube, which enables creators to add photographs, polls, and GIFs to their Community tab. It has a similar vibe to conventional social media platforms because subscribers can engage with and comment on Community posts.

7. Platform For Influencers

Content producers, often known as YouTubers, have a considerable following and influence because of to the platform’s prominence as an influencer. By creating interesting and specialised stuff on a variety of topics, from gaming and beauty to lifestyle and education, they cultivate devoted fan following. These influencers, who have millions of followers and viewers, help firms market their products by influencing trends, promoting their goods, and providing sincere recommendations.

8. An advertisement platform

You can target consumers as they browse the platform’s content by using YouTube advertisements, which are managed by Google’s ad network. They can be used in a variety of places, including the sidebar of a YouTube website, the beginning and midway of videos, and more.

Types of social media

Mainly there are four catagories

1. Networking
2. Communicative
3. Video-sharing
4. Social discussion

1. Networking platforms of social media

This type of socal media platforms mainly contact people and build relationships with each other. The example of networking platforms is LinkedIn.

2. Communicative platforms of social media

These platforms allow people to discuss and communicate the problems or on any topic they want. Example of this platform is Facebook, twitter etc.

3. Video-sharing platforms of social media

As from the form this type of platforms help people to promote things through visual representation. TikTok, snapchat etc lies is this category.

4. Social discussion platforms of social media

These sites are very useful for discussing the topics more deeply with professionals like quora, reddit etc.

In which category of social media YouTube falls?

Now according to all reasons stated above it is confirmed that YouTube is a type of social media because it offer almost every feature that is also available in other social media sites. In more precise YouTube mainly falls under the video sharing category of social media because the main thing about is that is promotes almost every information form creator to viewers through videos either through shorts or long video.

Conclusion

Community, content sharing, and social engagement are all present on YouTube, which is frequently referred to be a social media platform. Users set up accounts, join channels, and participate in conversations through comments, likes, and shares. The platform’s recommendation algorithms encourage social discovery, while live streaming and community features allow producers and their fans to communicate in real time. With a focus on user-generated video content, YouTube connects millions of users worldwide and acts as a hub for entertainment, learning, and different communities. This makes it a dynamic and interactive social media network.