conversations and community

Social media primarily refers to collaborative tools for sharing and discussing information among people within an online community of interest. It refers to activities that integrate technology, communications and online social interaction, and the publication of multimedia content -- text, pictures, audio and video. Social media is sometimes called user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).

Featured Site: Social Media Club - Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells started Social Media Club (SMC) in July 2006 to help people find all the relevant communities of interest in which they want to participate. SMC has the goals of sharing best practices, establishing ethics and standards, and promoting media literacy around the emerging area of Social Media.

AcidPlanet - ACIDplanet.com is the multimedia site for music, video and unique artists. It's home to a growing online community of individual digital musicians and videographers.

Kompoz - Kompoz.com is a social workspace for musicians and songwriters. Got an idea for a song? Record a track. Upload it. Then invite others to add drums, bass, vocals or anything else.

GetYourGrooveOn - GetYourGooveOn.com is the site to send your songs to your friends, get feedback from friends and other songwriters, then create a private song vault.

Plugola - Plugo.la is an online social music community for independent music artists and their fans -- providing an interactive, social platform for digital music or video distribution, and promotion.

ccMixter - ccMixter.org is a collaborative community music remixing site, featuring remixes and samples licensed under Creative Commons licenses. Download, sample, cut-up and share.

Cherrypeel - Cherrypeel.com is a community where music fans have the power to decide what is worth listening to. This works well for lesser known artists, as the community votes on the quality of the song -- not media hype or name recognition.

Stereofame - Stereofame.com is the world's anti-label. Their goal is to be the primary enabler between the artists and the people, so that artists and fans can deal with each other directly -- one on one -- without the middleman.

OurStage - OurStage.com is a brand new way for the world to discover the best new music -- and for the industry to discover the best new artists. OurStage uses the work and the wisdom of the broader Internet community to rank from best to worst.

MixMatchMusic - MixMatchMusic.com is the new music community created by musicians, for and about musicians. They created an environment where musicians easily collaborate online and profit from their art.

Jamglue - Jamglue.com allows artists to open up their content to fans in a way that not only allows for positive interaction and creation, but also maintains the commercial interests of the artists at hand.

Indaba Music - IndabaMusic.com is an international community of musicians, music professionals, and fans exploring the creative possibilities of making music with people in different places.

MovieHatch - MovieHatch.com throws open the doors and makes it possible for anyone to get in. Pitch your movie or TV show idea and let the masses give you thumbs up or down. At MovieHatch, the public decides what they want to see.

IFC Media Lab - Media Lab Studios, an independent film studio focusing on web and on-air content development and financing, is offering development deals to the brightest and best filmmakers out there.

Shooting People - ShootingPeople.org is a community of 37,000+ filmmakers who share their resources, skills and experience -- a catalyst for change, growth and innovation.

Internet Film Community - inetfilm.com was built to showcase the artistry of independent filmmakers.

IndieFilms - IndieFilms.com is a community from marketing and distribution to an ever growing and rabid group of fans looking for entertainment that's as diverse as the usual multi-plex offerings are bland.

London Film School - The LFS is the oldest-established international school of film technique in the world. LFS from the outset fostered a broad, craft-based culture of excellence with students from more than 80 countries.