 Interactivity: new media allow dialogue or interaction between the

individual and a computer program.

 Ubiquity and de-locatedness: new media is present wherever there
is hardware and connectivity.
 Accessible to individual users as senders or receivers.
 Hypertextuality: new media can connect one format of information
with other formats and information sources through hyperlinks.
 Multimediality: new media can contain various types of media
formats on a single platform such as when a website features video,
music, as well as texts.

Social Media, a subset of the new media has dominated the mass media
landscape in recent years. These are Internet-based applications that build on the
ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and
exchange of user-generated content (Kaplan and Haenlin, 2010). These may be
classified into six types, namely:
 Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and
Instagram
 Collaborative projects such as Wikepedia
 Content communities such as Youtube
 Virtual game worlds such as World of Warcraft or Defense of
the Ancient 2 (DOTA 2)
 Virtual social worlds such as Second Life
 Technologies such as blogs, email, instant messaging, music-
sharing, crowdsourcing.
In its report “State of the Social Media,” the media research firm Nielsens
provides data showing the power of social media over consumer behavior both online
and offline. Internet users, the data shows, spend more time in the social media than
any other site. Indeed, with the steady rise in the penetration of information and
communication technology in developing countries such as Indonesia and the
Philippines, social life in these countries are increasingly influenced by social media.
REVISED KNOWLEDGE: Actual answer to the process questions/ focus
questions
1. What are the distinctive features of the new media?
The distinctive features of the new media are; interactivity, ubiquity,
accessible to individual users as senders or receivers, mass and personal
communication, hypertextuality, and mutimediality.
2. In what ways is the social media an important aspect of contemporary life?
Social media uses many online platforms like Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube,
email, and the like. Social life of many people are influenced by social media.
Other people uses like for instance, Facebook not just for entertainment but as a
means of income generating platform. Many of the features of Facebook like the
messenger are useful especially in sending and receiving messages for free.