Do you consider yourself a Creator, Critic, Joiner, Spectator or Conversationalist? In a recently published Ad Age article, Josh Bernoff provided a chart that defined each of these levels of social media participation. According to North American Technographics Empowerment Online Survey, seventy percent of U.S. adults online are categorized as Spectators — they read blogs or tweets, listen to podcasts, or watch video from other users at least once a month. Less than one in four adult online users are categorized as Creators — those who publish a blog or web pages, upload original videos, audio or music, or write and post articles or stories.

Why are 3 out of 4 online users passively absorbing the content that 1 in 4 is providing? Perhaps it’s because an overwhelming 3 out of 4 of us really don’t understand what social networking is all about.

If 10 people were sitting around a table, how many would be able to define even one of the social media terms? How many of them would just say, “Whatever”?

Knowledge is power. And it gives you — and your business — the ability to express yourself (and your brand).  So here we go.

Twitter - a microblogging service. Messages on Twitter – known as Tweets – are limited to 140 characters. Your business might use Twitter to share coupons, or alert customers of special events and sales.

Text – to send a text message from one cell phone to another. Again, businesses use this to keep in touch with their customers — texting special offers.

Podcast – a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication.

RSS feed – Really Simple Syndication; a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. These feeds come directly to your email inbox or iGoogle screen and keep you updated on whatever topics you choose to follow.

Share – share a post, status update, video, music or article with friends through the social network of your choice.

To get the most out of social media, use Merriam-Webster’s “old-fashioned” definition of sharing — partake of, use, experience, occupy, or enjoy with others.