Technology

Social Media Portal - Technology

What

Technology companies listed in the Social Media Portal (SMP) Landscape encompasses a range of providers who build networks, websites, applications (apps), widgets, tools and similar for brands, organisations and social networks themselves. Such companies could be considered the backbone of the social internet as they keep abreast of advancements in technology (if they are not pioneering them) in order to pass the benefits on to the end user.

Background

Some of the significant developments in the growth of social media are led by advancements in technology. Such as the innovation behind Real Simple Syndication (RSS) in early 2000 which made podcasting possible and keeping up with blogs manageable.

For social software that powers parts or whole websites have many common features, although the technology behind them may be vastly different. This type of software, often called collaborative software, allows users to share content (such as text, video, audio and images) and interact with one another through discussion boards, instant messenger, networks and similar.

Other social technology enables brands, organisations and individuals to track and monitor what is happening on the social web, and their individual properties. Worth particular mention here is the growth of social media monitoring tools and web analytics companies. The first traditional media monitoring service Romeike was launched in London in 1852, the service is now part of Cision and the first online monitoring service was launched in 1992 called WebClipping. However, many of the traditional press cutting services were slow to recognise online media and thusly technology has spawned new social media and online reputation management companies that claim to monitor social networks, blogs, discussion boards and more.

Developments

Upcoming developments in the social space include real time collaboration tools that incorporate email, chat, word processing, bug tracking, file sharing, blog publishing, microblogging tools and more. 28 May 2009 saw Google announce the coming arrival of its new collaboration and communication tool, Google Wave announced to be launched in the last quarter of 2009. Microsoft Corporation has also been developing collaborative software called Office 14, which brings Office applications like Word and Excel to the browser.

These developments are made possible by the development of a new computing technology called Cloud computing. Cloud computing is a virtual and scalable service hosted over the internet, enabling most commonly businesses but sometimes individuals to host applications and data on a server that can be accessed through a web browser. Online retail company Amazon played an integral role in the development of cloud computing, launching Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2005. In January 2008, Amazon partnered with Facebook to enable Facebook application developers to host their applications on AWS in a scalable manner, so that their hosting could grow organically with the popularity of the application.

Other social software technologies eligible to enter the Technology section of the Social Media Portal (SMP) Landscape include organisations that provide software that support social sites (such as content management system [CMS] companies), blog publishing companies, application and widget developers and more.

The benefits of adding your technology to SMP

Display the organisations in the landscape that you provide technology too
Connect with potential stakeholders, media and publishers
Better communicate your service to your audience
Connect with potential stakeholders, media and researchers raising your visibility
Update your stakeholders and target audiences with case studies, events, press releases and/or whitepapers about your software or technology
Differentiate your approach, products, service and/or technology from your competitors
Submit news scoops about your resource through SMP to be considered for social media news
List other assets of what your resource possesses that relate to the social media Landscape and demonstrate the other relationships that it has
Share your expertise through opinion and thought leadership articles published on the SMP site reaching your audiences

Does your technology power social media properties?

Become part of the SMP Landscape by adding your technology.