Social media Definition and 28 Threads

Social media are interactive technologies that allow the creation or sharing/exchange of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the broad variety of stand-alone and built-in social-media services currently available, there are some common features:
Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.
User-generated content—such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions—is the lifeblood of social media.
Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social-media organization.
Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.Users usually access social media services via web-based apps on desktops and laptops, or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets). As users engage with these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, participate, and modify user-generated content or self-curated content posted online. Additionally, social media are used to document memories; learn about and explore things; advertise oneself; and form friendships along with the growth of ideas from the creation of blogs, podcasts, videos, and gaming sites. This changing relationship between human and technology is the focus of the emerging field of technoself studies.

Some of the most popular social media websites, with over 100 million registered users, include Facebook (and its associated Facebook Messenger), TikTok, WeChat, Instagram, QZone, Weibo, Twitter, Tumblr, Baidu Tieba, and LinkedIn. Depending on interpretation, other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services include: YouTube, QQ, Quora, Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, Snapchat, Pinterest, Viber, Reddit, Discord, VK, Microsoft Teams, and more. Wikis are examples of collaborative content creation.
Social media outlets differ from traditional media (e.g., print magazines and newspapers, and TV and radio broadcasting) in a variety of ways, including quality, reach, frequency, usability, immediacy, and permanence. Additionally, social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system, i.e., many sources to many receivers, while traditional media outlets operate under a monologic transmission model (i.e., one source to many receivers). For instance, a newspaper is delivered to many subscribers and a radio station broadcasts the same programs to an entire city.Since the dramatic expansion of the Internet, digital media or digital rhetoric can be used to represent or identify a culture. Studying how the rhetoric that exists in the digital environment has become a crucial new process for many scholars.
Observers have noted a wide range of positive and negative impacts of social media use. Social media can help to improve an individual's sense of connectedness with real or online communities and can be an effective communication (or marketing) tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties, and governments. Observers have also seen that there has been a rise in social movements using social media as a tool for communicating and organizing in times of political unrest.

View More On Wikipedia.org
  1. DaveC426913

    Social Media Missing Persons posts

    I see these posts several times a week on Facebook. "Our [somebody] is missing." It always seems to be some teen or 20-something girl, and the attached picture is invariably a professional portrait of a beautiful young woman. I hate to be a cynic, and I would never say anything negative, but I...
  2. DaveC426913

    Social Media content creation glitches

    Is see this frequently on Facebook (which is the only social media I frequent). To be clear, what we are seeing here is a Facebook post, but it is a post that is a graphical image - a capture of a block of text (which could have just as easily been just textual content). Nothing untoward so...
  3. DaveC426913

    The logic of social media clickbait

    Its easy to look at any social media behavior and facetiously think its developed by idiots, but I wonder if there is a purpose to it that is not so idiotic. I speak mostly of Facebook baiting - articles that promise all the funniest cartoons, or all the best wardrobe malfunctions or all the...
  4. A

    Any tips for creating physics social media content?

    I've collected a few starting points (below) but would love to hear from anyone who has their own account! I know TikTok is super popular so any advice on that, in particular, would be greatly appreciated! Thank you. https://www.iop.org/strategy/limit-less/social-media/good-practice-guide...
  5. dlgoff

    Shutting Down Social Media to Prevent Destruction in Schools?

    In my opinion social media sites that are creating destruction at schools, etc. should be shut down. I know, I know ... Free speech is the problem for not shutting them down, but still, we don't need what these sites are doing with our youth. Any thoughts or comments? see, for example...
  6. Melbourne Guy

    Wondering about Australian anti-trolling laws for social media

    News just in: Australia will introduce legislation requiring social media companies to reveal anonymous users who post defamatory comments. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46751 has generally allowed US-based internet companies to avoid consequences for user posted content, and...
  7. S

    Other "Social Media" as part of background checking

    This idea makes me curious based on the topic, https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/security-clearance-required-when-applying-for-jobs-related-to-math-and-physics.991084/ , post number 9. (No, not that one. See below!) How could an employer view any candidate who either claims to have no...
  8. Adesh

    How to make your ideas reach people?

    First of all I apologize if this kind of questions are not allowed here. I sometimes get some thoughts, ideas on some social issues around me and I discuss those ideas with people whom I know personally. Then I thought of spreading it more so I started making my own Youtube videos and started...
  9. collinsmark

    Manipulating Social Media (and combating such disinformation)

    Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day just finished his 3 part series about social media manipulation, and efforts to combat it. Videos below. Part 1: Manipulating the YouTube! algorithm Part 2: Manipulating the Twitter platform Part 3: Manipulating you on Facebook
  10. ISamson

    What is the most popular social media? Poll

    Please vote what social media accounts you have and use in my poll. I was always interested in what social media is the most popular, and want to experiment in the small community of PF. You can choose multiple from: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp, Youtube, Google+, Pinterest...
  11. T

    How do I send social media posts to someone's school?

    Hi, So this person on social media harasses people with the ad hominem personal attacks. I am one of many of this person's victims. I already have multiple screenshots of this person's unethical and illegal behavior and I already made him lose his internship position at a company. I want to...
  12. scottdave

    Netiquette Core Rules: Taking Analytics Modeling Course from Georgia Tech

    I am taking an online course on Analytics Modeling from Georgia Tech. The introductory section included a link to a list of core Netiquette Rules, which I find pretty useful.
  13. B

    I "Banana clock shapes" puzzle on social media

    I looked for an answer to this question other places but found none. There is a puzzle going around that people are getting the answer wrong to. No surprise there. According to the proofs I found for it on the internet, my assumptions were true and I did arrive at the right answer (38...
  14. binbagsss

    Do the reviewers of PhD applications look at social media profiles?

    It affects job prospects these days I would have though though it'd have a much less impact on phd prospects? Can it make someone reject you? thanks
  15. Michael27

    Statistics on social media bot use and detection

    I am currently doing some research on the impact of social media bots. I am looking into the social and cultural aspects of bot use in social media. The technology I have under wraps but I do not have much information on the social aspect and impact of bot use. I also like to find some...
  16. ComplexVar89

    How Do You Handle a Crackpot in Rational Discourse Groups?

    You know someone's a crackpot when you're at an undergraduate level and you can still see how wrong they are. Like, using basic terminology incorrectly and everything. The whole works. It's facepalm-worthy. How do you deal with that? I mean, I can't just ignore it when this person is...
  17. H

    Is Social Media Forcing Us to Conform?

    It was when I first used Facebook that I realized how out of step I was with normal human psychology. People like this? When I found out Facebook was colluding with the government in spying I deleted my account. Facebook made this so difficult to do that I had to read a New York Times...
  18. E

    Social Networking vs Social Media?

    Hey guys, I was given a task which is to present how social media works. After hours of preparing materials, I realized that the materials I've prepared are on how social networks work. Then I started to Google to understand the difference between Social Media and Social Network. However...
  19. Greg Bernhardt

    Social media affects public opinion

    How Twitter shapes public opinion http://phys.org/news/2014-03-twitter-opinion.html This is a big problem with misinformation especially in politics and sciences. People with agendas and money can be damaging.
  20. Evo

    How social media can ruin your chances

    As always, you should be careful of what you post online. This is a good article about how an increasing number of colleges as well as employers are searching social media of students and prospective employees...
  21. Greg Bernhardt

    What social media sites do you use?

    Which do you use the most? Multiple choice, pick your top three.
  22. Ivan Seeking

    Is the economic foundation of social media in jeopardy?

    Given the rather unimpressive public debut of Facebook, and the negative attitude towards Facebook that was evident in some of investment experts I heard, another story in the news, brought to my attention by George Will, on This Week, suggests a potentially serious problem for social media: GM...
  23. Evo

    News Violent Flash Mobs organized through social media

    We discussed this yesterday in chat. http://news.yahoo.com/london-rioters-battle-police-shooting-protest-054921704.html It seems the riot was fueled by social media, people that had no interest in what happened came in from other areas. Looks like a new trend in mobs and riots caused or...
  24. M

    News US spy operation that manipulates social media

    US spy operation that manipulates social media Critics are likely to complain that it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives...
  25. Greg Bernhardt

    Social Media Changing the Way People Communicate

    Gratuitous self-promotion alert! *I was quoted in this Sunday’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune for an article about the changing nature of communication in the social media era. *As I’ve discussed here before, I do think that the nature of discourse has changed and ever-present social media are one of...
  26. Greg Bernhardt

    Can Social Media Be Used to Help Prevent/Solve Crimes?

    I love Sundays. *I sleep in, listen to NPR’s Weekend Edition while making breakfast and catch up on my Facebook news feed from the weekend exploits of my friends. *Pretty relaxing, that is until Liane began a story about a burglar who stole someone’s computer and then posted a picture of himself...
Back
Top