Social media

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Examines how social media platforms impact communication and society.

What are the common features of social media?

Quote: "Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications."

What type of content is the lifeblood of social media?

Quote: "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."

How do users create and maintain profiles on social media platforms?

Quote: "Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization."

How does social media help in the development of online social networks?

Quote: "Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups."

How can social media be viewed in relation to human networks?

Quote: "As such, social media can be viewed as online facilitators or enhancers of human networks—webs of individuals who enhance social connectivity."

How do users access social media services?

Quote: "Users usually access social media services through web-based apps on desktops or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets)."

What activities can be performed on social media platforms?

Quote: "Users engage with these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms in which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, participate, and modify user-generated or self-curated content posted online."

What are some purposes of using social media?

Quote: "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."

Mention some popular social media websites.

Quote: "Some of the most popular social media websites include Twitter, Facebook (and its associated Messenger), WeChat, ShareChat, Instagram, QZone, Weibo, VK, Tumblr, Baidu Tieba, and LinkedIn."

How do social media outlets differ from traditional media?

Quote: "Social media outlets differ from traditional media in many ways, including quality, reach, frequency, usability, relevancy, and permanence."

How do social media outlets operate in terms of transmission?

Quote: "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)."

What can the study of digital rhetoric represent?

Quote: "Since the dramatic expansion of the Internet, digital media or digital rhetoric can be used to represent or identify a culture."

How can social media improve an individual's sense of connectedness?

Quote: "Social media can help to improve an individual's sense of connectedness with real or online communities."

Who can benefit from using social media as a communication tool?

Quote: "Social media can be an effective communication (or marketing) tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties, and governments."

How is social media utilized in times of political unrest?

Quote: "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."

What purpose can social media serve regarding news?

Quote: "Social media can also be used to read or share news, whether it is true or false."