Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media use web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues. They support the democratization of knowledge and information and transform people from content consumers to content producers. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of 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". Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (consumer generated media) (CGM). Social media utilization is believed to be a driving force in defining the current period as the Attention Age.

Social media have been modernized to reach consumers through the internet. Social media have become appealing to big and small businesses. Credible brands are utilizing social media to reach customers and to build or maintain reputation. As social media continue to grow, the ability to reach more consumers globally has also increased. Twitter, for example has expanded its global reach to Japan, Indonesia, and Mexico, among others. This means that brands are now able to advertise in multiple languages and therefore reach a broader range of consumers. Social media have become the new "tool" for effective business marketing and sales. Popular networking sites including Myspace, Facebook and Twitter are social media most commonly used for socialization and connecting friends, relatives, and employees.

Social media can be said to have three components: #Concept (art, information, or meme). #Media (physical, electronic, or verbal). #Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print).

Common forms of social media; * Concepts, slogans, and statements with a high memory retention quotient, that excite others to repeat. * Grass-Roots direct action information dissemination such as public speaking, installations, performance, and demonstrations. * Electronic media with sharing, syndication, or search algorithm technologies (includes internet and mobile devices). * Print media, designed to be re-distributed.