This is online media with a participatory or interactive element. To participate users often need to "sign in" and create a user profile in order to be visible within the online community.
- a news site with a place for readers to comment on each story
- a customer forum where buyers of the same product can trade tips and opinion: large companies (Amazon, XBox360), small companies (37Signals,)
- an online chat room where teenagers (or jobseekers, or pensioners) can network with each other: Bebo, MySpace, LinkedIn
- an online gaming community where users interact as gaming avatars, for example SecondLife (recently colonized by various brands)
- a company blog, usually written by employees (Fiskars, Dell, Patagonia, Innocent Drinks ) or consumer champions MoneySavingExpert.com
Social media marketing works when you align your product/service and the demographic of the social media site/activity.
