While to many people Social Media Multimedia may mean nothing ore than Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, to most of those with business websites it means much more. Products and goods can be sold online, relationships with clients and prospective customers can be built up too. And the possibilities of effective global advertising are there for all to see.

When we think about Social Media Multimedia we are reminded of sites like Flickr and Youtube Anyone can easily upload their favorite photographs
or
videos and everyone else in the world can easily find it and view it.  A web owner can promote his or her own brand and add the personal touch whilst doing so.

So let’s take a closer look at these Social Media Multimedia tools. Photo sharing tools allow a person to upload and post pictures and photographs online in order to share them with others, Some of the best known Photo sharing sites are Flickr, Kodak, EasyShare Gallery, Photobucket, SmugMug  and  Zooomr. Mnay of these Social Multimedia sites provide multiple views such as thumbnails, slideshows and online organization tools. One can also classify photos into albums and add captions, tags and comments to them.

Photo sharing, a vital part of Social Multimedia can be done from the web and personal computers as well as from portable devices like camera phones. These Social Media Multimedia tools can also help you automatically transfer photos, to photo sharing sites and photoblogs as you take them. In fact the site’s cameras will be equipped with wireless networking and similar sharing functionalities.

Video sharing is another popular Social Media Multimedia tool. Just like photo sharing, with video sharing, one can upload and share videos on video sharing websites like Youtube where viewers can watch them and comment on them. They can also share them with other users and embed them on their own websites and blogs as well. Many companies create video content that promotes their brands and products and share it on such video sharing websites like YouTube. As most users are concerned with space they find these Social Multimedia sites very convenient. They can save on or completely eliminate costs and whereas they might not normally have the skills to upload a video and stream or embed it, they can now do it with a web browser. Social Media Multimedia services also allow for Mobile Web video hosting.

The next big thing to climb on the Social Multimedia tool bandwagon is livecasting. Similar to podcasting, you can however, in this situation go on the air live and your livecast can be either only audio or full video. Viewers of a livecast and the host can chat amongst themselves, after which the show can be embedded on a blog and an archive can be created. Just think about it- Anyone can  have more than their 5 minutes of fame which can now be saved for posterity. Ustream.tv, Justin.tv  are two more of these Social Multimedia sites

Music download e-commerce was well known even before the term social multimedia was coined. In the first few years there was plenty of illegal downloading leading to innumerable lawsuits. Now however, users can safely enjoy their audio and music downloads thanks to devices like Apple’s iPOD and legal sites like iTunes, download.com and eMusic. It goes without saying that such sites are excellent means of Social Media Multimedia marketing.

So while the critics  may say that there aren’t enough filters for finding the best content, there are information overloads and social networking overloads and anonymity can lead to  polarization and intolerance, Social Media Multimedia can, besides increasing one’s   business, foster feelings of community, connecting and sharing and …buying!