What is social software
Social software is a broad term used to describe software-based tools that facilitate interaction and collaboration. Social software connects people together intellectually and makes it possible to share and evolve ideas. Social software is not bound just by what features the tool provides, but also by social conventions and etiquette on how to use it appropriately. Such software includes email, Usenet, IRC, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, NNTP, folksonomy, and virtual online communities.
While email, IRC, and instant message applications are becoming increasingly common, there are other emerging tools like weblogs and wikis that are changing how people communicate, especially by allowing many-to-many interactions. In other words, the concept of social software isn't new. However, in recent times more sophisticated tools are emerging. Social software is now being used to support situtations that so far allowed one-to-many relations only.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Social software".
