'New media' is easier defined by example than by definition. New media include sites such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Wikipedia, Hulu, YouTube, Second Life, Blogger, Delicious (social bookmarking), and Google Maps. Simply put, new media can be any website or online tool that might have existed in some other form in 'reality,' but is now more user-oriented and perhaps user-controlled. It is important to stress that the user create or otherwise influence the content for it to be widely considered 'new media.' The comparison can easily be drawn between analog TV and YouTube, for instance. Viewers of YouTube can comment, rate, suggest, video reply, and make their own videos, whereas viewers of analog TV can do little to interact with fellow viewers. An awareness permeates users of new media; they often understand the concept without the ability to fully explain it. For example, someone who used an entire (physical) library of encyclopedias when she was younger now uses Wikipedia and even updates pages that fall within her interests. This internet user is aware how much encyclopedias have evolved and can thus strongly identify with the term 'new media.'
'New media' is loosely defined, but easily understood and identified in a culture where up-to-the-second information is critical to its advancement. This is evidenced on sites like Twitter, where users essentially answer the question "What are you doing?" as frequently as they wish. Other 'Twitterers' will receive updates on their Twitter homepages; and if they so desire, Twitterers receive text messages every time someone they are 'following' updates his or her status.
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