Social media
Interactive platforms for creating, sharing, and networking content.
Social media are new media technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing, and aggregation of content among virtual communities and networks. These interactive platforms, accessed via web-based or mobile applications, allow individuals, communities, businesses, and organizations to share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated or self-curated content. Common features include user-generated content such as text posts, comments, digital photos, videos, and data from online interactions, as well as service-specific profiles maintained by the social media organization. The term "social" highlights that these platforms enable communal activity, helping people connect, build networks, share memories, form friendships, learn, and promote people, companies, products, or ideas. Social media can also be used to consume, publish, or share news.
Social media outlets differ from traditional media like newspapers, TV, and radio in several ways, including quality, reach, frequency, usability, relevancy, and permanence. Unlike traditional media’s one-to-many transmission model, social media operates in a dialogic many-to-many system. The history of social media traces back to early computing: the PLATO system in the 1960s offered message forums, instant messaging, online chat rooms, and crowdsourced newspapers. ARPANET, which evolved into the Internet in the 1990s, enabled non-government communication, while Usenet in 1980 became the first open social media app. Bulletin board systems (BBS) emerged in the late 1970s and proliferated through the 1980s and early 1990s, with message forums as their signature feature. The World Wide Web, created in 1991, led to an explosion of blogs, list servers, and email services, with message forums migrating to the web as Internet forums. These text-based systems later expanded to include images and video in the 21st century.
Social media has been criticized for negative impacts on children and teenagers, including exposure to inappropriate content, sleep and attention problems, and mental health issues. It has also been criticized for worsening political polarization and undermining democracy, exacerbated by platform capture by vested interests. Algorithms that track user engagement tend to favor content spurring negative emotions like anger and outrage, and most online misinformation originates from a small minority of "supe
- field
- Digital communication and networking
- known_for
- Enabling user-generated content, social networking, and viral information sharing
- key_feature
- Dialogic transmission (many sources to many receivers)
- global_users_2023
- 4.76 billion (59% of global population)
Lore & Background
Social media platforms are characterized by user-generated content, including text posts, comments, digital photos, videos, and data from online interactions. They provide service-specific profiles maintained by the organization and enable users to create and share content while participating in social networking. These interactive systems connect a user’s profile with others, fostering online social networks. Access occurs through web-based or mobile applications, allowing individuals, communities, businesses, and organizations to share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-curated content. Common uses include sharing memories, forming friendships, building communities, learning, and promoting people, companies, products, or ideas. Social media also serves to consume, publish, or share news. Unlike traditional media, which operates as a one-source-to-many-receivers broadcast model, social media uses a dialogic transmission system where many sources reach many receivers. Early forms emerged with the PLATO system, which offered message forums, instant messaging, online chat rooms, crowdsourced newspapers, and access controls. The first open social media app, Usenet, appeared in 1980. Electronic bulletin board systems (BBSs) became widespread in the 1980s and early 1990s, with message forums as their signature feature. The World Wide Web’s creation in 1991 led to blogs, list servers, email services, and web-based forums. These text-based systems later expanded to include images and video. Social media has been criticized for negative impacts on children and teenagers, including exposure to inappropriate content, sleep and attention problems, and feelings of exclusion. It has also been blamed for worsening political polarization and undermining democracy, with algorithms that prioritize content spurring anger and outrage. Most online misinformation originates from a small minority of “superspreaders,” but social media amplifies their reach.
Reader's Guide
Social media represents a fundamental shift from traditional media's monologic model (one source to many receivers) to a dialogic system (many sources to many receivers). This transformation has enabled unprecedented user participation in content creation, sharing, and networking. However, social media has drawn significant criticism for negative impacts on children and teenagers, including exposure to inappropriate content, sleep and attention problems, and mental health issues. It has also been criticized for worsening political polarization and undermining democracy, with journalist Maria Ressa calling it 'toxic sludge' for increasing distrust. Algorithms that prioritize engagement tend to favor content spurring negative emotions like anger and outrage, and most online misinformation originates from a small minority of 'superspreaders' amplified by social media. Despite these concerns, social media remains integral to modern life, used to share memories, form friendships, build communities, learn, and promote people, companies, products, and ideas.
Did You Know?
- Social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system (many sources to many receivers), while traditional media operate under a monologic model (one source to many receivers).
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is Social media?
Social media refers to a class of digital platforms that let individuals produce, distribute, and gather content within online communities. Rather than a one-way broadcast model, these tools enable people to interact with one another as both creators and audiences.
What is the key feature that sets Social media apart from older media?
Its defining trait is dialogic transmission, meaning information flows from many sources to many receivers simultaneously. This many-to-many structure replaces the traditional one-to-many broadcast model.
How many people use Social media platforms?
As of 2023, roughly 4.76 billion people worldwide—about 59 percent of the global population—use social media in some form. That makes it one of the most widely adopted communication technologies in history.
What is Social media most known for?
It is best recognized for empowering everyday users to generate their own content, build social networks, and spread information virally across the internet. These capabilities have reshaped how news, culture, and conversation travel globally.
Which broader field does Social media fall under?
Social media sits squarely within the domain of digital communication and networking. It functions as an interactive layer where people create, share, and connect through online platforms.
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