Bagaimana jelaskan pengertian media sosial?

So when people ask to jelaskan pengertian media sosial, the answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think. There’s actually a lot of confusion about what exactly counts as social media these days.

pengertian media sosial

What we’re talking about here

Media sosial – or social media in English – refers to digital platforms where users create and share content. But that’s the textbook definition. In practice? It gets messy. Really messy.

LinkedIn started as a job networking site. Now people post memes there. Is that social media? Facebook was for college students. Then it became for everyone. Then for your parents. The definition keeps shifting based on how people actually use these things, not what the companies intended.

The technical side (sort of)

Most definitions you’ll find say social media needs these components:

User-generated content (UGC)
Social interaction between users
Community building features
Profile pages or user identities

But here’s where it gets interesting. YouTube has all of these. So does Wikipedia technically. Are they social media? Some experts say yes, some say no. The research community hasn’t fully agreed on this yet.

Real-world usage patterns

According to data from Pew Research Center, about 72% of American adults use at least one social media platform as of 2021. That number varies dramatically by age group – 84% for ages 18-29, compared to 45% for those 65+. But these statistics don’t actually help us jelaskan pengertian media sosial any better, they just show how widespread it is.

The platforms themselves don’t always agree on what category they’re in. Twitter (now X) calls itself a “microblogging” service. Instagram positions itself as a photo-sharing app. TikTok describes itself as an entertainment platform. Yet we group them all under “social media.”

When platforms blur together

Here’s something that confuses the definition even more – convergence. Instagram added Stories (copied from Snapchat). Facebook added Reels (copied from TikTok). LinkedIn added video features. Everyone’s copying everyone else. So when we try to jelaskan pengertian media sosial by listing specific features, those features are now everywhere.

Some researchers prefer to use the term “social network sites” (SNS) instead. Boyd and Ellison defined SNS in 2007 as web-based services that allow individuals to:

Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system
Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection
View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system

But even that definition has problems now. What about platforms where you don’t have a profile? What about anonymous posting sites? Reddit, for instance.

Business perspectives vs user perspectives

From a marketing standpoint, companies define social media differently than users do. Marketers focus on “earned media” and “engagement metrics.” They care about reach, impressions, conversion rates. That’s not how regular people think about it at all.

Users typically define social media by what they do on it:

Keeping in touch with friends
Following news and events
Entertainment and killing time
Self-expression
Finding communities with shared interests

Neither perspective fully captures what media sosial actually is.

The algorithm problem

Modern social media isn’t even social anymore, in many cases. Your feed on Instagram or TikTok is mostly content from strangers, served by an algorithm. You’re not interacting with your social network – you’re consuming content chosen by machine learning. Does that still count as “social” media?

Some academics argue we need a new category: “algorithmic media” or “recommendation platforms.” But that terminology hasn’t caught on outside academic circles.

Historical context matters

When we jelaskan pengertian media sosial, we can’t ignore where it came from. Early social media like Six Degrees (1997) and Friendster (2002) were primarily about connecting people you already knew in real life. That was the “social” part.

MySpace changed things by letting users customize their pages and discover new music. Facebook initially required a .edu email address – it was for college students only. The expansion to the general public in 2006 fundamentally changed what Facebook was.

The shift from desktop to mobile-first platforms (Instagram, Snapchat) changed user behavior again. Now we have platforms that exist only on phones. Different form factor, different usage patterns, different definition requirements.

Geographic variations

The definition also varies by region. In China, WeChat does everything – messaging, payments, news, e-commerce. Is it social media? A super-app? Both? Neither?

In Russia, VKontakte dominates. In Japan, LINE is essential. In Latin America, WhatsApp is often more important than Facebook. Each region has different dominant platforms and different usage norms.

Academic definitions (they disagree too)

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) defined 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.”

Kietzmann et al. (2011) proposed a framework with seven functional blocks: identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups. But not all platforms have all seven blocks.

Carr and Hayes (2015) tried again: “Social media are Internet-based channels that allow users to opportunistically interact and selectively self-present, either in real-time or asynchronously, with both broad and narrow audiences who derive value from user-generated content and the perception of interaction with others.”

That’s a mouthful. And it still doesn’t cover everything.

What about newer platforms?

Discord started for gamers. Now it’s used by book clubs, study groups, and crypto communities. Clubhouse was audio-only social networking. BeReal forces authentic, unfiltered moments. Are these all social media? They’re certainly social. They’re certainly media.

The metaverse platforms (VRChat, Horizon Worlds) add another layer of confusion. Virtual reality social spaces – still social media? Or something new?

Trying to pin down a working definition

If we absolutely have to jelaskan pengertian media sosial in one paragraph (which is hard), here’s an attempt:

Social media encompasses digital platforms and applications that facilitate user-generated content creation, sharing, and interaction within networked communities, characterized by user profiles or identities, social connections, and participatory culture, though specific features and functions vary widely across platforms and continue to evolve.

But honestly? That definition will probably be outdated in two years. Maybe less.

Why the definition matters

Understanding what media sosial actually is affects:

Regulation and policy (different rules for different platform types)
Research methodologies (what to include in studies)
Digital literacy education (what to teach)
Business strategies (how to market)
User privacy and safety (what protections apply)

The FCC, FTC, and other regulatory bodies struggle with this too. If you can’t define what something is, how do you regulate it? Section 230 protections in the US apply to “interactive computer services” – a broader category that includes but isn’t limited to social media.

The mental health angle

Public health researchers need clear definitions to study effects. Are we measuring “social media use” or “screen time”? Those aren’t the same. Passive scrolling vs active engagement produces different outcomes. But if we can’t agree on what platforms count as social media, comparing studies becomes difficult.

Some research lumps YouTube in with Facebook and Instagram. Other studies exclude it. That inconsistency makes the meta-analyses unreliable.

Platform self-identification

It’s worth noting that platforms sometimes resist being called “social media.” When testifying before Congress, TikTok executives emphasized they’re an “entertainment platform.” This isn’t just semantics – different classifications mean different legal liabilities and regulatory requirements.

YouTube doesn’t really market itself as social media. Google Search results appear in your feed. Is Google Search social media now? Of course not. But where’s the line?

User creation vs user interaction

One proposed distinction: if the primary value comes from user-created content, it’s social media. If the primary value comes from professionally-created content, it’s not.

By that logic:

Instagram = social media (mostly user content)
YouTube = unclear (mix of user and professional)
Netflix = not social media (professional content only)
Medium = unclear (semi-professional user content)

But this breaks down too. Instagram now serves tons of professional creator content. Netflix has interactive features and social watching. The boundaries blur.

So what’s the answer?

When someone asks you to jelaskan pengertian media sosial, the honest answer is: it depends on your context and purpose. For a high school presentation? Keep it simple – platforms where people connect and share. For academic research? Use established scholarly definitions and cite them. For policy discussions? Might need multiple definitions for different use cases.

The term itself – “social media” – was only coined around 2004-2005. Before that, people said “Web 2.0” or “social networking sites.” Language evolves. Technology evolves faster. Definitions struggle to keep up.

What we can say for certain: social media involves digital communication technologies that enable social interaction and content sharing at scale. Everything else? Debatable.

Additional considerations:

The definition question becomes even more complex when we consider:

Messaging apps with broadcast channels (Telegram, WhatsApp Status)
Collaborative tools with social features (Notion, Figma)
Gaming platforms with social elements (Fortnite, Roblox)
Dating apps (Tinder, Bumble)
Review sites (Yelp, TripAdvisor)

Each has social components but may or may not be “social media” depending on your definition.

The bottom line: jelaskan pengertian media sosial requires acknowledging that there’s no single universally-accepted definition. The concept is fluid, contested, and context-dependent. And that’s okay. We can still discuss, study, and regulate these platforms even without perfect definitional clarity.

Sometimes in tech and society, we have to work with fuzzy categories. “Social media” is one of them.