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The Evolution of Social Media: How Did It Begin, and Where Could It Go Next?

May 28, 2020 

Table of Contents

• A Brief History of Social Media ○ The Launch of Social Sites

Social Media: End Users and Businesses

How marketing pros utilize social media.

• What’s Next For Social Media

The evolution of social media has been fueled by the human impulse to communicate and by advances in digital technology. It is a story about establishing and nurturing personal connections at scale.

According to Merriam-Webster , social media is defined as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos).” The 2019 Pew Research Center report on social media use in the United States showed that 72% of American adults use some form of social media. In 2005, the year after Facebook went live, that number was 5%.

What follows is an examination of the origins of social media, its relatively rapid growth as a sociological and commercial force, and the change it has brought to the marketing world.

A Brief History of Social Media

In less than a generation, social media has evolved from direct electronic information exchange, to virtual gathering place, to retail platform, to vital 21st-century marketing tool.

How did it begin? How has social media affected the lives of billions of people? How have businesses adapted to the digital consumer lifestyle? How do marketing professionals use social media? It’s all part of the story of social media’s ongoing evolution.

Pre-internet Roots

In a sense, social media began on May 24, 1844, with a series of electronic dots and dashes tapped out by hand on a telegraph machine.

The first electronic message from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., proved Samuel Morse understood the historic ramifications of his scientific achievement: “What hath God wrought?” he wrote.

A recent article in The Washington Post , “ Before Twitter and Facebook, There Was Morse Code: Remembering Social Media’s True Inventor ,” details the history and relevance of Morse code, complete with early versions of today’s “OMG” and “LOL.”

While the roots of digital communication run deep, most contemporary accounts of the modern origins of today’s internet and social media point to the emergence in 1969 of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network — the ARPANET.

This early digital network, created by the United States Department of Defense, allowed scientists at four interconnected universities to share software, hardware, and other data.

In 1987, the direct precursor to today’s internet came into being when the National Science Foundation launched a more robust, nationwide digital network known as the NSFNET . A decade later, in 1997, the first true social media platform was launched.

The Launch of Social Sites

In the 1980s and ’90s, according to “ The History of Social Networking ” on the technology news site Digital Trends, the internet’s growth enabled the introduction of online communication services such as CompuServe, America Online, and Prodigy. They introduced users to digital communication through email, bulletin board messaging, and real-time online chatting.

This gave rise to the earliest social media networks, beginning with the short-lived Six Degrees profile uploading service in 1997.

This service was followed in 2001 by Friendster. These rudimentary platforms attracted millions of users and enabled email address registration and basic online networking.

Weblogs, or blogs, another early form of digital social communication, began to gain popularity with the 1999 launch of the LiveJournal publishing site. This coincided with the launch of the Blogger publishing platform by the tech company Pyra Labs, which was purchased by Google in 2003 .

In 2002, LinkedIn was founded as a networking site for career-minded professionals. By 2020, it had grown to more than 675 million users worldwide. It remains the social media site of choice for job seekers as well as human resources managers searching for qualified candidates.

Two other major forays into social media collapsed after a burst of initial success. In 2003, Myspace launched. By 2006, it was the most visited website on the planet, spurred by users’ ability to share new music directly on their profile pages.

By 2008, it was eclipsed by Facebook. In 2011, Myspace was purchased by musician Justin Timberlake for $35 million, but it has since become a social media afterthought .

Google’s attempt to elbow its way into the social media landscape, Google+ , launched in 2012. A rocky existence came to an end in 2018, after the private information of nearly 500,000 Google+ users was compromised by a data security breach.

Back To Top

Modern Social Media Outlets

Today’s social media landscape is populated by a suite of services that jockey for the attention of more than 5 billion mobile device users worldwide . Here is an overview of the most prominent social media networks of 2020:

Launched in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, it has nearly 1.7 billion users — including 69% of U.S. adults, according to Pew Research .

• HubSpot: Facebook Marketing

Launched in 2005 by Massachusetts 20-somethings Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian as a news-sharing platform, its 300 million users have transformed Reddit into a combination news aggregation/social commentary site. Its popularity is based on the ability to “up-vote” and “down-vote” user posts.

• Social Media Examiner: How to Market on Reddit: A Guide for Businesses 

Founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and others as a microblogging site, by 2020, 22% of U.S. adults were Twitter users, according to Pew Research .

• Hootsuite: Twitter Marketing: The Complete Guide for Business

Founded in 2010 by Stanford graduate Kevin Systrom as a photo-sharing site and purchased by Facebook in 2012, Instagram has more than 1 billion users worldwide.

• HubSpot: Instagram Marketing: The Ultimate Guide

Founded in 2010 by iPhone app developer Ben Silbermann as a visual “pin board,” Pinterest became a publicly traded company in 2019 and has more than 335 million active monthly users.

• Sprout Social: Your 5-Step Pinterest Marketing Guide

Founded in 2011 by a trio of Stanford students — Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy — this video-sharing service introduced the concept of “stories,” or serialized short videos, and “filters,” run for informative digital effects, often based on location.

• Hootsuite: Snapchat for Business

Founded in 2016 by Chinese tech company ByteDance, this short-form video-sharing site was merged with the U.S.-based mobile app Musical.ly in 2018 and became popular with American teens and young adults. As of early 2020, it had more than 800 million users worldwide.

• Business Insider: TikTok Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

What began as a desktop or laptop experience shifted to mobile phones and tablets as cellular service expanded; the capabilities of cellular phones expanded, turning them into “smartphones”; and high-speed wireless internet became more readily available in homes, businesses, and public spaces.

With the advent of social media apps that could run on smartphones, end users could take their communities with them wherever they went.

Businesses took advantage of this new consumer mobility by serving their customers new, simpler methods of interacting — and new ways of buying goods and services.

The End-User Experience

At first, social media existed to help end users connect digitally with friends, colleagues, family members, and like-minded individuals they might never have met in person. Desktop access to bulletin board services such as CompuServe and Prodigy made it easier to grow free online communities without ever leaving the house.

The invention of the smartphone liberated social media from the desktop and laptop computer. Apple’s first iPhone, launched by Steve Jobs in 2007, helped shift the focus of online community building to mobile. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media services thrived in the mobile app environment.

Technological improvements — specifically, powerful in-phone cameras — shifted the focus of mobile apps to video and images. In addition to written messages, end users could now broadcast in real time.

Instagram, in particular, became the app of choice for social media users interested in travel, entertainment, fashion, and other visually oriented topics.

The Business Experience

As social media companies grew their user bases into the hundreds of millions, the business applications of Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms began to take shape. Social media companies had access to some of the richest trackable user data ever conceived.

A recent article on IAS Insider, “ The Evolution of Social Media Advertising ,” sums it up: “Users don’t just log in and browse, they tell the platforms their name, and where they live, what they like and who they know, painting the most vivid picture currently possible for marketers looking to target specific consumers.”

Facebook began to place ads on its platform as early as 2006. Twitter enabled ads in 2010. LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok all have attempted to monetize their services through various forms of sponsored advertising.

In addition to placing ads on social media platforms, companies discovered the potential utility of cultivating an active, engaged social media presence. Whereas social media advertising must be paid for, the act of creating and sharing informative or entertaining content on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms is an attempt by brands to grow an audience organically, in other words, without paying for it directly.

According to HubSpot’s “ Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate Guide ,” companies use organic social media marketing to:

• Increase brand awareness
• Generate leads and increase conversions
• Develop and nurture relationships with customers
• Learn from competitors

The combination of advertising, or paid social media marketing, and organic social media outreach evolved into the digital marketing specialty known as social media marketing.

• Sprout Social: How to Build Your Social Media Marketing Strategy for 2020
• Forbes: How Social Media Can Move Your Business Forward
• Social Media Examiner: The Guide for Social Media Marketing for Businesses

As the ability to reach consumers expanded thanks to social media, marketing professionals quickly adapted. Social media’s evolution provided measurement tools that gave marketing professionals unprecedented access to valuable, actionable data about consumers’ demographics, buying habits, and more.

With marketers no longer limited to traditional forms of media — TV, radio, print, mail, billboards, magazines, etc. — the social media marketing industry was born.

Taking Advantage of Social Media’s Popularity

The most efficient way to take advantage of social media’s popularity is to leverage existing audiences. To that end, digital marketers engage social media “influencers” to share messaging and product offers with their followers.

According to an article on Sprout Social’s website, “ What Is Influencer Marketing: How to Develop Your Strategy ,” influencer marketing is defined as “a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers — individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche.”

These social media influencers spend time building trust with their audiences. With more than 3.2 billion social media users worldwide, finding influencers whose audiences fall into the company’s niche of consumers helps cut through the noise by targeting specific potential buyers.

While influencers provide companies a layer of built-in consumer trust, social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn provide in-depth analytics that allow digital marketers to target specific demographic groups with ads. This can be useful for building brand awareness among potential long-term customers, as well as for generating leads for specific products or services.

• Influencer Marketing Hub: What is an Influencer?
• Social Media Today: 4 Influencer Marketing Trends That Will Dominate in 2020
• Influencer Marketing Hub: The State of Influencer Marketing 2020: Benchmark Report

The Importance of Engagement and Integration

Social media engagement consists of the various ways users respond to a post. This can include comments, follows, shares (retweets on Twitter), and clicks on a shared link. All of these actions are measurable thanks to analytics provided by the social media platforms (Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, LinkedIn Page Analytics, etc.).

Each of these engagements presents an opportunity for marketers to influence a customer or group of customers. For example, a company that monitors its Twitter feed in real time — either through an automated service or in person — is positioned to respond quickly to a customer’s request or comment.

In addition, data that reveals users’ habits over time can be integrated into a long-term social media strategy. For example, Facebook Insights shows when users are most active on the platform. This information can be used to determine when is the best time to post new content, giving it a better chance to be seen.

Another way marketers use social media is to monitor cultural trends and, if applicable, incorporate brand-specific concepts that build on those trends to entice customers to engage with the company’s content.

Personifying the Company

Another Sprout Social article, “ 5 Actionable Strategies for Social Media Branding ,” provides guidelines for how social media can be used to develop a company’s public “voice.” The bottom line when it comes to social media branding is authenticity. Today’s savvy digital consumers expect a robust and “real” personality from brands. Sprout Social’s tactical advice includes:

• Develop and use consistent visual branding across all social media platforms
• Use a tone that reflects the brand’s public persona
• Cater to marketing personas based on social media metrics

Companies that fail to develop a consistent, engaging social media presence are not taking full advantage of the marketing tools available in today’s competitive marketplace.

The Future of Social Media

What happens next in social media almost certainly will be shaped by the evolving business model, as well as by advances in storytelling technology. How will mega platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and others make money? How will end users adapt? How will businesses spread their messages and use social media to build audiences? The answers to these questions will determine the next stage of social media’s evolution.

Premium Social Media Services

What does the future hold for social media? According to a recent article in Entrepreneur , “ 11 Ways Social Media Will Evolve in the Future ,” consumers will gravitate toward services that allow them to:

• Personalize content at a granular level
• Reduce the amount of vitriol and conflict commonly found on public social media feeds
• Increase focus on protecting privacy
• Take greater advantage of the utility of mobile devices
• Focus more on community building

This could mean a movement toward paid subscription services on social media, according to Entrepreneur . The challenge for marketing professionals will be to meet the shifting demands of social media users while maintaining an authentic brand voice.

Social Media Video

Another growing point of emphasis for social media in the future, according to Entrepreneur , will be video content. Video marketing already has a substantial presence in the U.S., where it is a $135 billion industry in 2020 , according to Social Media Today.

According to HubSpot’s “ The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2020 ,” video became the No. 1 form of media used in content marketing in 2019, surpassing blogs and e-books for the first time. Video’s prominence as a marketing tool is expected to continue to grow, based on the latest information in Wyzowl’s “ The State of Video Marketing in 2020 [New Data] .”

This survey found that 88% of marketers received positive returns on investment through video. Perhaps most significantly, 59% of marketers who said they had not previously used video intended to do so in 2020 and beyond.

What’s Next for Social Media?

The future of social media is limited only by the imagination of its stakeholders. The brief history of the industry has proven that the rapid change — advances in technology, more-strident financial demands, shifting cultural dynamics — will transform the current social media landscape.

Will Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other major platforms go the way of Google+ and MySpace? Will the entrepreneurial heirs of Twitter creator Biz Stone and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg build on the success of their predecessors? Can social media maintain its relevance as technology evolves?

Human beings are social creatures. Commerce is driven by human interaction. These two facts will continue to shape the evolution of social media into the next decade and beyond.

Recommended Reading

How to Become a Social Media Manager

What Can You Do with a Marketing Degree?

Why Should You Major in Marketing?

Digital Trends, “The History of Social Networking

Encyclopedia Britannica , Myspace

Entrepreneur , “11 Ways Social Media Will Evolve in the Future

Forbes , “How Social Media Can Move Your Business Forward

The Guardian , “Google Buys Blogger Web Service

HubSpot, “Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate Guide

HubSpot, “The State of Video Marketing in 2020 (New Data)

IAS Insider, “The Evolution of Social Media Advertising

LiveJournal, About LiveJournal

Maryville University, “How to Become a Social Media Manager

National Science Foundation, “NSF and the Birth of the Internet

Pew Research Center, 10 Facts About Americans and Twitter

Pew Research Center, Smartphone Ownership Is Growing Rapidly Around the World, but Not Always Equally

Pew Research Center, Social Media Fact Sheet

Social Media Today, The History of Social Media

Social Media Today, Video Marketing Statistics for 2020

Sprout Social, “5 Actionable Strategies for Social Media Branding

Sprout Social, “What Is Influencer Marketing: How to Develop Your Strategy

Statista, Percentage of U.S. Population with a Social Media Profile from 2008 to 2019

Statista, Pinterest — Statistics & Facts

TheStreet, “History of Snapchat: Timeline and Facts

TechCrunch, “Looking Back at Google+

Infographic Sources

CNBC, “Digital Ad Revenue In The US Surpassed $100 Billion For The First Time In 2018

IAB / PricewaterhouseCoopers, “IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: 2018 Full Year Results

Pew Research Center, “10 Facts About Americans and Facebook

Pew Research Center, “Share of U.S. Adults Using Social Media, Including Facebook, Is Mostly Unchanged Since 2018

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The Evolution of Social Media

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The rise of social media

Social media sites are used by more than two-thirds of internet users. how has social media grown over time.

This article is an archived version of an article published in 2019. Due to data availability, the article and charts will not be updated.

Facebook, the largest social media platform in the world, had 2.4 billion users in 2019. Other social media platforms, including YouTube and WhatsApp, also had over one billion users each.

These numbers are huge – in 2019, there were 7.7 billion people worldwide, with at least 3.5 billion online . This means social media platforms were used by one in three people worldwide and more than two-thirds of all Internet users.

Social media has changed the world. The rapid and vast adoption of these technologies is changing how we find partners , access information from the news, and organize to demand political change .

Who uses social media? When did the rise of social media start, and how has the number of users changed over time? Here we answer these and other key questions to understand the history of social media worldwide.

We begin with an outline of key trends and conclude with a perspective on the social media adoption rate relative to other modern communication technologies.

Social media started in the early 2000s

MySpace was the first social media site to reach a million monthly active users – it achieved this milestone around 2004. This is arguably the beginning of social media as we know it. 1

In the chart, we plot monthly active users across various platforms since 2004.

Some large social media sites, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit, have been around for ten or more years, but others are much newer.

TikTok, for example, launched in September 2016, and by mid-2018, it had already reached half a billion users. To put this in perspective: TikTok gained, on average, about 20 million new users per month over this period.

The data also shows rapid changes in the opposite direction. Once-dominant platforms have disappeared. In 2008, Hi5, MySpace, and Friendster were close competitors to Facebook, yet by 2012 they had virtually no market share. The case of MySpace is remarkable, considering that in 2006 it temporarily surpassed Google as the most visited website in the US.

Most social media platforms that survived the last decade have shifted significantly in what they offer users. Twitter, for example, didn’t allow users to upload videos or images initially. Since 2011 this has been possible, and today, more than 50% of the content viewed on Twitter includes images and videos.

Facebook dominated the social media market for a decade, but five other platforms also have more than half a billion users

With 2.3 billion users, Facebook was the most popular social media platform in 2019. YouTube, Instagram, and WeChat followed, with over a billion users. Tumblr and TikTok came next, with over half a billion users.

The bar chart shows a ranking of the top social media platforms.

Some social media sites are particularly popular among specific population groups

The aggregate numbers mask a great deal of heterogeneity across platforms. Some social media sites are much more popular than others among specific population groups.

In general, young people are more likely to use social media than older people. But some platforms are much more popular among younger people. This is shown in the chart where we plot the breakdown of social media use by age group in the US.

For Snapchat and Instagram, the ‘age gradient’ is exceptionally steep – the popularity of these platforms drops much faster with age. Most people under 25 use Snapchat (73%), while only 3% of people over 65 use it.

Since these platforms are relatively new, it’s hard to know how much of this age gradient results from a “cohort effect”. In other words: it’s unclear whether today’s young people will continue using Snapchat as they age. If they do, the age gradient will narrow.

Let’s now look at gender differences.

This chart shows the percentage of men and women that used different platforms in the US in 2021—the diagonal line marks parity. Sites above the diagonal line are more popular among women, and those below are more popular among men.

For some platforms, the gender differences are substantial. The share of women who used Pinterest was 3 times as high as that of men using this platform. For Reddit, it was the other way around: the share of men was twice as high.

In rich countries, almost all young people use social media

From a back-of-the-envelope calculation, we know that if Facebook had 2.3 billion users in 2019, then at least 30% of the world was using social media. 2 This is just an average – usage rates were much higher for some world regions, specifically for some population groups.

Young people tend to use social media more frequently. In fact, in rich countries where access to the Internet is nearly universal , the vast majority of young adults use it.

Our chart shows the proportion of people aged 16 to 24 who used social networks across various countries. As we can see, the average for the OECD is close to 90%.

If today’s young adults continue using social media throughout their lives, then it’s likely that social media will continue growing rapidly as Internet adoption expands throughout lower-income countries .

The rise of social media in rich countries has come together with an increase in the amount of time spent online

The increase in social media use over the last decade has, of course, come together with a large increase in the amount of time people spend online.

In the US, adults spend more than 6 hours daily on digital media (apps and websites accessed through mobile phones, tablets, computers, and other connected devices such as game consoles). As the chart shows, this growth has been driven almost entirely by additional time spent on smartphones and tablets. 3

According to a survey from the Pew Research Center, adults aged 18 to 29 in the US are more likely to get news indirectly via social media than directly from print newspapers or news sites. They also report being online “almost constantly” . 4

Evidence shows that in other rich countries, people also spend many hours per day online. The following chart shows how many hours young people spend online across various rich countries. As we can see, the average for the OECD is more than 4 hours per day; in some countries, the average is above 6 hours per day.

Some perspective on how fast and profound these rapid changes are

The percentage of US adults who use social media increased from 5% in 2005 to 79% in 2019. Even on a global stage, the speed of diffusion is striking: Facebook surged from covering around 1.5% of the world population in 2008 to around 30% in 2018. 5

How does this compare to the diffusion of other communication technologies in today's everyday life?

The following chart provides some perspective.

Social media’s growth in the US is comparable – in speed and, to some extent, reach – to most modern communication-enabling technologies, including computers, smartphones, and the Internet.

The rise of social media is an extraordinary example of how quickly and drastically social behaviors can change: Something that is today part of the everyday life of one-third of the world population was unthinkable less than a generation ago.

Rapid changes like those brought about by social media always spark fears about possible negative effects. Specifically, in the context of social media, a key question is whether these new communication technologies are harming our mental health – this is an important question and we cover the evidence in another article on Our World in Data.

There were, of course, earlier, much smaller predecessors of social networking websites. The first recognizable social media site, in the format we know today, was Six Degrees – a platform created in 1997 that enabled users to upload a profile and make friends with other users. At the core, the features that define a social media platform are (i) profiles for users, (ii) the ability for users to upload content constantly, and (iii) the ability for users to discuss content and connect with other users.

To be precise, Facebook had 2.3 billion ‘active users.’ There may be some discrepancies between the number of ‘active users’ and the number of people since one person could, in theory, maintain multiple accounts. In practice, these discrepancies are likely small because most social media platforms, including Facebook, have policies and checks to avoid multiple accounts per person.

Digital media contrasts with print media (including books, newspapers, and magazines) and other traditional or analog media (including TV, movies, and radio).

According to the survey from Pew Research, 36% of adults 18 to 29 in the US say they ‘often get news via social media,’ which is higher than the share saying they ‘often get news via other platforms,’ such as news sites, TV, radio or print newspapers. From the same survey, we also know that 48% of adults 18 to 29 say they go online almost constantly, and 46% say they go online multiple times daily.

The US social media adoption data is here . Regarding Facebook’s global numbers: In 2018, Facebook had 2.26 billion users, and in 2008 it had 100 million; the world population in 2008 was 6.8 billion, and in 2018 it was 7.63 billion (you can check the population data here .)

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Twenty-Five Years of Social Media: A Review of Social Media Applications and Definitions from 1994 to 2019

Thomas aichner.

1 Department of Business Administration, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy.

Matthias Grünfelder

2 Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria.

Oswin Maurer

3 Faculty of Economics and Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.

Deni Jegeni

In this article, the authors present the results from a structured review of the literature, identifying and analyzing the most quoted and dominant definitions of social media (SM) and alternative terms that were used between 1994 and 2019 to identify their major applications. Similarities and differences in the definitions are highlighted to provide guidelines for researchers and managers who use results from previous research to further study SM or to find practical applications. In other words, when reading an article about SM, it is essential to understand how the researchers defined SM and how results from articles that use different definitions can be compared. This article is intended to act as a guideline for readers of those articles.

Introduction

The term “social media” (SM) was first used in 1994 on a Tokyo online media environment, called Matisse. 1 It was in these early days of the commercial Internet that the first SM platforms were developed and launched. Over time, both the number of SM platforms and the number of active SM users have increased significantly, making it one of the most important applications of the Internet.

With a similarly fast pace, businesses have moved their marketing interests toward SM platforms. The presence of both businesses and users on SM has further led to a shift in how companies interact with their customers, who are additionally no longer limited to a passive role in their relationship with a company. 2 Customers give feedback, ask questions, and expect quick and customized answers to their specific problems. In addition, customers post text, pictures, and videos. Managers came to the understanding that the brand transition to SM ultimately involves a re-casting of the customer relationship, where the customer has become an ally or an enemy, not an audience. 3

In research, SM is generally used as an umbrella term that describes a variety of online platforms, including blogs, business networks, collaborative projects, enterprise social networks (SN), forums, microblogs, photo sharing, products review, social bookmarking, social gaming, SN, video sharing, and virtual worlds. 4 Given this broad spectrum of SM platforms, the applications of SM are quite diverse and not limited to sharing holiday snapshots or advertising and promotion.

As of January 2020, there are more than 110,000 publications that have the term “social media” in their title. Over the past 25 years in which these works were published, countless researchers have formulated quite varying definitions of SM—sometimes using alternative terms. In this period, the perceptions and understanding of what SM is, what it includes, and what it represents have also varied considerably. This can make it difficult for both researchers and companies to interpret and apply research findings; for example , when referring to SM in general, rather than referring to a specific type of SM, such as SN. It can be problematic to quote previous research that was carried out exclusively on one SM platform as being generalizable to SM, or to refer to results from research that defined SM as being more or less inclusive in terms of which platforms qualify as SM and which do not.

Major Applications of SM

This section serves as the background of SM functions, rather than how the definition has changed. It provides a general, although not comprehensive, overview of some of the most important applications of SM over the past two and a half decades. This is important, as it highlights that SM cover a broad variety of scopes with specific functions and applications that can differ greatly between the different types of SM. Consequently, also the purpose and the users' perceived value of using SM varies. From a research perspective, this section serves as a foundation for classifying and discussing the SM definitions that are presented in the following chapters.

Socializing with friends and family

Although not all SM platforms are specifically designed to facilitate socialization between its users, it may be considered one of the most apparent commonalities of all types of SM. 4 Sometimes referred to as online communities, these SM platforms are valuable given that people often do not perceive a difference between virtual friends and real friends, as long as they feel supported and belong to a community of like-minded individuals. 5 The SM helps to strengthen relationships through the sharing of important life events in the form of status updates, photos, etc., reinforcing at the same time their in-person encounters as well. 6

The SM has also become a common tool for communication in families. A study conducted by Sponcil and Gitimu 7 showed that for 91.7 percent of students the main reason for using SM is communicating with family and friends. In addition, 50 percent of the students communicated with their family and friends every day, and another 40 percent at least a few days a week. Williams and Merten 8 suggest that by using SM in everyday life, people strengthen the relationships with family. Especially in relation to globalization and constant migration, it has become a vital tool for maintaining contact within migrant families. The need for transnational communication between family members and the people they left behind is of great importance. 9

Romance and flirting

Several studies suggest that SM significantly influences the romantic aspects of life. Aside from facilitating human interaction, communication technologies are also shaping and defining our relationships. 10 It has been shown that SM is important in the starting phases of a relationship and has a significant influence on the relationship of many couples in the long run. 11 The SM can help when starting a romantic relationship, for example , contacting a crush through SM can have special benefits for introverts, who otherwise would avoid face-to-face contact and would otherwise communicate less. 7 Moreover, in some cases, online dating is preferable to live dating, as it gives the same feeling and allows users to avoid unnecessary discomforts. 11 Finally, rejection on SM is less painful compared with face-to-face rejection. 10 Further, users can contemplate their responses and do not have to worry about their physical appearance while conversing/chatting online, making it a less stressful environment to flirt with people on SM than face-to-face conversations. 12

Interacting with companies and brands

It is estimated that close to 100 percent of larger companies (both B2C and B2B) are using some sort of SM platform to inform their customers, gather information, receive feedback, provide after-sales service or consultancy, and promote their products or services. The key characteristic that makes SM so relevant for companies is the fact that SM allows for two-way communication between the brand and the customer. 13 Sometimes referred to as “social customer relationship management,” 14 SM can be viewed as an effective tool used to get closer to the customer. However, some studies suggest that what customers seek is somewhat different from what companies offer through SM. 14 Customers are mainly interested in communicating easily and quickly with the company. From a business perspective, the company wants to make sure customers receive the right information in a timely manner, linking the customer closer to the brand and, simultaneously, controlling the flow of information. Successful SM managers understand how an SM platform works and is used by its customers, and they then develop corporate communication tools that fit the behavior of their users. Many researchers highlight the need for customer relationship management to adapt to the rise of SM 2 to efficiently manage relationships with modern, connected, and empowered customers.

Job seeking and professional networking

Another application of SM is to connect job seekers with employers. The vast majority of Fortune 500 companies use LinkedIn for talent acquisition. 15 With more than 660 million users in 2020, it is an important tool for companies searching to expand their talent pool. This pool of individuals is extended, as the nature of SM also allows recruiters to identify and target, apart from active users, talented candidates who are passive or semi-passive and lure them to prospective job positions. 16 In fact, through SM platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, recruiters can post job advertisements to lure potential applicants who are not actively looking for a job. 17 Rather than the costly and time-consuming traditional ways of staffing with interviews and tests, hiring through SM offers recruiters the benefit of free access to prospects' profiles and an instant means of communication. For users, LinkedIn profiles allow them to create an idealized portrait by displaying their skills to recruiters and peers. 18 Indeed, LinkedIn asks members to highlight their relevant skills, promoting their abilities and strengths, urging them to complete their profiles through getting recommendations and praise from peers/colleagues and clients for their performance or skills. 19

Doing business

The SM has a considerable impact on how companies approach clients and vice versa. In addition, SM utilizing SM as a means of understanding and informing customers has become imperative for businesses to remain competitive. The SM providers have created possibilities for companies to improve their internal operations and communicate in new ways with customers, other businesses, and suppliers. 20 At the same time, companies can actively engage customers, encouraging them to become advocates of their brands. 2 This is certainly important, as users can create online customer communities, which potentially add value to the brand beyond just increased sales. 20 The engagement of customers can be beneficial, as they will frequently interact with the brand and share positive word-of-mouth since they have become more emotionally attached to the brand. 21 This electronic word-of-mouth created in SM communities helps consumers in their purchasing decisions. 22 This suggestion is important given that customers are actually more interested in other users' recommendations and word-of-mouth rather than the vendor-created product information. 23

Research questions

Reviewing the existent literature about SM applications inevitably leads to the question of whether the researchers had the same definition in mind when talking about SM, SN, online communities, and the like. It is also apparent that the focus of the researcher's interest has changed over time, and that the time when the research was conducted could have an impact on how the findings should be interpreted. Therefore, the remainder of this article aims at answering the following research questions (RQ):

RQ1: How has the definition of social media changed from 1994 to 2019? RQ2: What are the differences and commonalities in social media definitions from 1994 to 2019?

To answer the two RQ, we decided to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR). Using a multi-step SLR approach as recommended by Tranfield et al. 24 ( Fig. 1 ), we structurally examined the literature between 1994 and 2019 to find all relevant SM definitions to identify the major differences and commonalities.

Structure and process of the systematic literature review.

After identifying 88 potential papers, all the articles were read to find original definitions for SM or related terms. In addition, we used backward and forward snowballing, two methods frequently employed in academic research to find additional relevant sources based on the references used in the original publication (backward snowballing) and searched papers that cited the article (forward snowballing), respectively. 25 In combination with the SLR, the backward snowballing led to the identification of a total number of 21 original definitions, including some definitions that were published in books and conference proceedings, which were not included in the SLR.

In this chapter, we present all major definitions of SM (and synonymous terms) that were formulated from 1994 to 2019 ( Table 1 ). Table 1 further includes details about the source and the number of citations according to Google Scholar as of August 2020.

Social Media Definitions with Author Names, Source, and the Number of Citations As of August 2020

Before we assess the meaning and compare the definitions in terms of the two RQ, a few quantitative results are provided. Analyzing the 21 definitions, we found a lexical density (i.e., the percentage of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs) of 57.5 percent. The most frequently used word with 23 occurrences is “social,” followed by “people” with 12 occurrences, and “virtual,” “content,” “user,” and “network” with 8 occurrences each. In terms of two-word phrases, “social network[s]” (8 occurrences) is followed by “social media” and “social networking” (5 occurrences each), as well as “virtual communities” (VC) (4 occurrences).

Notably, the first formal definition is from 1996 and uses “computer-supported social networks” or “CSSNs,” although the term “SM” was coined about 2 years earlier. Later, researchers used different terms such as “virtual communities,” “social networks,” “social networking services,” “online social network,” “social networking sites,” “social network sites,” and “social media.” Although there are small variations in these terms, they can be classified into three categories: VC, SN, and SM. It is important to mention that all these definitions describe the same concept, but with different terms. Assessing the SM definitions that resulted from the SLR reveals that from 1997 to 2002, VC was the dominant term. In contrast, SN was used over a longer period, but it was dominant from 2005 to 2009. It was only in 2010 that researchers started using predominantly SM. But how did the definitions—independent from their terminology—change?

Throughout the observed period, the role of SM, as an enabler for human interaction as well as an avenue to connect with other users, has been a constant in defining SM. In early definitions, the focus was mainly on people and how people interact, whereas later definitions (after 2010) have largely substituted the term “people” with “user” and placed more focus on generating and sharing content. This changed focus, with regard to both the application of SM and the terminology of people versus user, may also reflect the increasingly important role of anonymity in SM. 47

The role of user-generated content is not reflected in early definitions, whereas it has become a central part of recent definitions. It was Kaplan and Haenlein 38 who first mentioned “creation,” whereas later definitions use terms such as “user-supplied content” and “user-driven platforms” in addition to “user-generated content,” which is the common term used in research and practice today.

Another notable change is that until 2009, several researchers included the common interests that linked people with each other, whereas this link is completely missing in post-2010 definitions. Again, this may be reflected by the fact that in the early days, SM users were mostly close or loosely related friends communicating with each other, whereas in recent years, SM has evolved to a set of media that are also used as a powerful tool by companies, celebrities, and influencers to reach the masses. 48

Finally, although sharing information and content is generally not the central aspect in defining SM, the terminology has changed over time. Until 2010, researchers used “exchange” or “upload,” which were substituted with the term “share” in subsequent years. The underlying meaning, however, remained the same.

Conclusions

About 60,000 articles have cited the SM definitions summarized in this article. Therefore, the value this research provides goes beyond a simple overview of the definitions and major applications of SM in the 25 years, since the term was originally coined. The result is a timeline of SM definitions that helps researchers and practitioners to quickly put the results of previous research in perspective and to avoid time-consuming research of the single definitions in different papers. Why is this necessary? This is because, based on the definition, the results may need to be interpreted in a more or less different way.

One notable result is that, although SM is one of the main research areas in social sciences (and beyond) and its landscape has been changing quickly, only a handful of scholars have made an effort to develop a definition of SM. Although some elements, for example , the fact that SM connects people, are common, the definitions are rather different from each other. The commonalities and differences highlighted in the previous section allow for the division of the definitions into two main streams: those published before 2010 and after 2010. Before 2010, SM was commonly approached as a tool of connectivity for people with common interests. After 2010, the focus changed to creating and sharing user-generated content.

These results are in line with previous research about the evolution of SM literature, which concluded that SM definitions changed over time, namely from platforms for socializing in the past to tools for information aggregation. 45 Similarly, Kapoor et al. 45 found that there was an evolution in SM definitions and a cut in the early 2010. Our research shows that there is no single or commonly accepted definition, but that several definitions have been co-existing and found broad acceptance in literature.

Future SM researchers can use these findings to better compare SM articles and avoid flaws in their theory or methodological design. Especially when comparing the results of empirical studies, it may be critical to consider both when the study was conducted and which SM definition was used as a basis for hypothesis development and data analysis. In addition, this article gives SM researchers the possibility to make an informed choice of which SM definition to use for their studies.

Given the method employed to identify the SM definitions, we are confident that this is the most comprehensive overview that includes all major publications. However, the results may be limited by the original search terms used to identify the papers to be included in the SLR. Although the use of backward snowballing should have helped in minimizing this risk, there may still be some less explicit definitions of SM that were not included in this article. In addition, non-English articles and other gray literature were not considered, which is common criticism in academic research. Future research could also try to identify the differences in how SM is defined by researchers from different scientific backgrounds, for example , marketing versus medicine versus psychology versus anthropology versus engineering versus information technology. It would also be insightful to see whether there are tendencies of certain researchers, for example , from engineering, to base their research on specific definitions rather than on others. For example, if one definition is dominant in engineering but not in medical research, this would imply that interdisciplinary research about SM applications needs to be compared more carefully, as the basic definition differs. Similarly, it would be interesting to link the use of SM definitions to the cultural or national context of where the research was carried out, for example , to identify whether European versus American versus Asian researchers have a generally different understanding of SM and its applications. These possible cultural differences in the definition or selection of an SM definition as a basis for research could be linked to the fact that in different countries and cultural clusters different SM platforms are more or less popular. 49 Overall, our research will help compare findings from SM literature more easily and avoid misinterpretations of past and future research.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Funding Information

This work was supported by the Open Access Publishing Fund of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.

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Why social media has changed the world — and how to fix it

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Are you on social media a lot? When is the last time you checked Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram? Last night? Before breakfast? Five minutes ago?

If so, you are not alone — which is the point, of course. Humans are highly social creatures. Our brains have become wired to process social information, and we usually feel better when we are connected. Social media taps into this tendency.

“Human brains have essentially evolved because of sociality more than any other thing,” says Sinan Aral, an MIT professor and expert in information technology and marketing. “When you develop a population-scale technology that delivers social signals to the tune of trillions per day in real-time, the rise of social media isn’t unexpected. It’s like tossing a lit match into a pool of gasoline.”

The numbers make this clear. In 2005, about 7 percent of American adults used social media. But by 2017, 80 percent of American adults used Facebook alone. About 3.5 billion people on the planet, out of 7.7 billion, are active social media participants. Globally, during a typical day, people post 500 million tweets, share over 10 billion pieces of Facebook content, and watch over a billion hours of YouTube video.

As social media platforms have grown, though, the once-prevalent, gauzy utopian vision of online community has disappeared. Along with the benefits of easy connectivity and increased information, social media has also become a vehicle for disinformation and political attacks from beyond sovereign borders.

“Social media disrupts our elections, our economy, and our health,” says Aral, who is the David Austin Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Now Aral has written a book about it. In “The Hype Machine,” published this month by Currency, a Random House imprint, Aral details why social media platforms have become so successful yet so problematic, and suggests ways to improve them.

As Aral notes, the book covers some of the same territory as “The Social Dilemma,” a documentary that is one of the most popular films on Netflix at the moment. But Aral’s book, as he puts it, "starts where ‘The Social Dilemma’ leaves off and goes one step further to ask: What can we do about it?”

“This machine exists in every facet of our lives,” Aral says. “And the question in the book is, what do we do? How do we achieve the promise of this machine and avoid the peril? We’re at a crossroads. What we do next is essential, so I want to equip people, policymakers, and platforms to help us achieve the good outcomes and avoid the bad outcomes.”

When “engagement” equals anger

“The Hype Machine” draws on Aral’s own research about social networks, as well as other findings, from the cognitive sciences, computer science, business, politics, and more. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, for instance, have found that people obtain bigger hits of dopamine — the chemical in our brains highly bound up with motivation and reward — when their social media posts receive more likes.

At the same time, consider a 2018 MIT study by Soroush Vosoughi, an MIT PhD student and now an assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth College; Deb Roy, MIT professor of media arts and sciences and executive director of the MIT Media Lab; and Aral, who has been studying social networking for 20 years. The three researchers found that on Twitter, from 2006 to 2017, false news stories were 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than true ones. Why? Most likely because false news has greater novelty value compared to the truth, and provokes stronger reactions — especially disgust and surprise.

In this light, the essential tension surrounding social media companies is that their platforms gain audiences and revenue when posts provoke strong emotional responses, often based on dubious content.

“This is a well-designed, well-thought-out machine that has objectives it maximizes,” Aral says. “The business models that run the social-media industrial complex have a lot to do with the outcomes we’re seeing — it’s an attention economy, and businesses want you engaged. How do they get engagement? Well, they give you little dopamine hits, and … get you riled up. That’s why I call it the hype machine. We know strong emotions get us engaged, so [that favors] anger and salacious content.”

From Russia to marketing

“The Hype Machine” explores both the political implications and business dimensions of social media in depth. Certainly social media is fertile terrain for misinformation campaigns. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Russia spread  false information to at least 126 million people on Facebook and another 20 million people on Insta­gram (which Facebook owns), and was responsible for 10 million tweets. About 44 percent of adult Americans visited a false news source in the final weeks of the campaign.

“I think we need to be a lot more vigilant than we are,” says Aral.

We do not know if Russia’s efforts altered the outcome of the 2016 election, Aral says, though they may have been fairly effective. Curiously, it is not clear if the same is true of most U.S. corporate engagement efforts.

As Aral examines, digital advertising on most big U.S. online platforms is often wildly ineffective, with academic studies showing that the “lift” generated by ad campaigns — the extent to which they affect consumer action — has been overstated by a factor of hundreds, in some cases. Simply counting clicks on ads is not enough. Instead, online engagement tends to be more effective among new consumers, and when it is targeted well; in that sense, there is a parallel between good marketing and guerilla social media campaigns.

“The two questions I get asked the most these days,” Aral says, “are, one, did Russia succeed in intervening in our democracy? And two, how do I measure the ROI [return on investment] from marketing investments? As I was writing this book, I realized the answer to those two questions is the same.”

Ideas for improvement

“The Hype Machine” has received praise from many commentators. Foster Provost, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, says it is a “masterful integration of science, business, law, and policy.” Duncan Watts, a university professor at the University of Pennsylvania, says the book is “essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we got here and how we can get somewhere better.”

In that vein, “The Hype Machine” has several detailed suggestions for improving social media. Aral favors automated and user-generated labeling of false news, and limiting revenue-collection that is based on false content. He also calls for firms to help scholars better research the issue of election interference.

Aral believes federal privacy measures could be useful, if we learn from the benefits and missteps of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and a new California law that lets consumers stop some data-sharing and allows people to find out what information companies have stored about them. He does not endorse breaking up Facebook, and suggests instead that the social media economy needs structural reform. He calls for data portability and interoperability, so “consumers would own their identities and could freely switch from one network to another.” Aral believes that without such fundamental changes, new platforms will simply replace the old ones, propelled by the network effects that drive the social-media economy.

“I do not advocate any one silver bullet,” says Aral, who emphasizes that changes in four areas together — money, code, norms, and laws — can alter the trajectory of the social media industry.

But if things continue without change, Aral adds, Facebook and the other social media giants risk substantial civic backlash and user burnout.

“If you get me angry and riled up, I might click more in the short term, but I might also grow really tired and annoyed by how this is making my life miserable, and I might turn you off entirely,” Aral observes. “I mean, that’s why we have a Delete Facebook movement, that’s why we have a Stop Hate for Profit movement. People are pushing back against the short-term vision, and I think we need to embrace this longer-term vision of a healthier communications ecosystem.”

Changing the social media giants can seem like a tall order. Still, Aral says, these firms are not necessarily destined for domination.

“I don’t think this technology or any other technology has some deterministic endpoint,” Aral says. “I want to bring us back to a more practical reality, which is that technology is what we make it, and we are abdicating our responsibility to steer technology toward good and away from bad. That is the path I try to illuminate in this book.”

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Press mentions.

Prof. Sinan Aral’s new book, “The Hype Machine,” has been selected as one of the best books of the year about AI by Wired . Gilad Edelman notes that Aral’s book is “an engagingly written shortcut to expertise on what the likes of Facebook and Twitter are doing to our brains and our society.”

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with Danny Crichton of TechCrunch about his new book, “The Hype Machine,” which explores the future of social media. Aral notes that he believes a starting point “for solving the social media crisis is creating competition in the social media economy.” 

New York Times

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with New York Times editorial board member Greg Bensinger about how social media platforms can reduce the spread of misinformation. “Human-in-the-loop moderation is the right solution,” says Aral. “It’s not a simple silver bullet, but it would give accountability where these companies have in the past blamed software.”

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with Kara Miller of GBH’s Innovation Hub about his research examining the impact of social media on everything from business re-openings during the Covid-19 pandemic to politics.

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with NPR’s Michael Martin about his new book, “The Hype Machine,” which explores the benefits and downfalls posed by social media. “I've been researching social media for 20 years. I've seen its evolution and also the techno utopianism and dystopianism,” says Aral. “I thought it was appropriate to have a book that asks, 'what can we do to really fix the social media morass we find ourselves in?'”

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The Evolution of the Internet and Social Media: A Literature Review

2021, The Evolution of the Internet and Social Media: A Literature Review

This article reviews and analyses factors impacting the evolution of the internet, the web, and social media channels, charting historic trends and highlight recent technological developments. The review comprised a deep search using electronic journal databases. Articles were chosen according to specific criteria with a group of 34 papers and books selected for complete reading and deep analysis. The 34 elements were analysed and processed using NVIVO 12 Pro, enabling the creation of dimensions and categories, codes and nodes, identifying the most frequent words, cluster analysis of the terms, and creating a word cloud based on each word's frequency. The review presents updated information about technological trends, marketing, and chronological elements regarding the evolution of the internet and social media.

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The rise and popularity of Social media technologies has created an interactive and communicative global phenomenon that has enabled billions of users to connect to other individuals to not just Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; but also with media sharing platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. The aim of the research is to provide an overview of the evolution of online social media in order to contribute to current literature for a better understanding of this technological phenomenon. In this context, the study examine questions that help define social media and Web 2.0 applications, the functionalities, characteristics, usage, classifications, the history and development and challenges surrounding social media technologies as well as the value and impact in egovernment services. Based on a number of nationwide surveys of more than 2000 American citizens, the study explored several characteristics of social media use. The results of the quantitative analysis show that there are ...

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Advances in Social Media Research: Past, Present and Future

• Open access
• Published: 06 November 2017
• Volume 20 , pages 531–558, ( 2018 )

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• Kawaljeet Kaur Kapoor 1 ,
• Kuttimani Tamilmani 2 ,
• Nripendra P. Rana 2 ,
• Pushp Patil 2 ,
• Yogesh K. Dwivedi 2 &
• Sridhar Nerur 3  

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Social media comprises communication websites that facilitate relationship forming between users from diverse backgrounds, resulting in a rich social structure. User generated content encourages inquiry and decision-making. Given the relevance of social media to various stakeholders, it has received significant attention from researchers of various fields, including information systems. There exists no comprehensive review that integrates and synthesises the findings of literature on social media. This study discusses the findings of 132 papers (in selected IS journals) on social media and social networking published between 1997 and 2017. Most papers reviewed here examine the behavioural side of social media, investigate the aspect of reviews and recommendations, and study its integration for organizational purposes. Furthermore, many studies have investigated the viability of online communities/social media as a marketing medium, while others have explored various aspects of social media, including the risks associated with its use, the value that it creates, and the negative stigma attached to it within workplaces. The use of social media for information sharing during critical events as well as for seeking and/or rendering help has also been investigated in prior research. Other contexts include political and public administration, and the comparison between traditional and social media. Overall, our study identifies multiple emergent themes in the existing corpus, thereby furthering our understanding of advances in social media research. The integrated view of the extant literature that our study presents can help avoid duplication by future researchers, whilst offering fruitful lines of enquiry to help shape research for this emerging field.

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1 Introduction

Social media allows relationship forming between users from distinct backgrounds, resulting in a tenacious social structure. A prominent output of this structure is the generation of massive amounts of information, offering users exceptional service value proposition. However, a drawback of such information overload is sometimes evident in users’ inability to find credible information of use to them at the time of need. Social media sites are already so deeply embedded in our daily lives that people rely on them for every need, ranging from daily news and updates on critical events to entertainment, connecting with family and friends, reviews and recommendations on products/services and places, fulfilment of emotional needs, workplace management, and keeping up with the latest in hashion, to name but a few.

When we refer to social media, applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram often come to mind. These applications are driven by user-generated content, and are highly influential in a myriad of settings, from purchasing/selling behaviours, entrepreneurship, political issues, to venture capitalism (Greenwood and Gopal 2015 ). As of April 2017, Facebook enjoys the exalted position of being the market leader of the social media world, with 1.97 billion monthly users (Statista 2017 ). In addition to posts, social media sites are bombarded with photo and video uploads, and according to the recent numbers, about 400 million snaps a day have been recorded on Snapchat, with around 9000 photos being shared every second (Lister 2017 ). While 50 million businesses are active on Facebook business pages, two million businesses are using Facebook advertising. Apparently, 88% businesses use Twitter for marketing purposes (Lister 2017 ).

Academics and practitioners have explored and examined the many sides of social media over the past years. Organizations engage in social media mostly with the aim of obtaining feedback from stakeholders (Phang et al. 2015 ). Consumer reviews are another big part of social media, bringing issues of information quality, credibility, and authenticity to the forefront. To a large extent, online communities have been successful in bringing together people with similar interests and goals, making the concept of micro blogging very popular. While most messages exchanged on social media sites are personal statuses or updates on current affairs, some posts are support seeking, where people are looking for assistance and help. Interestingly, these have been recognized as socially exhausting posts that engender social overload, causing other members to experience negative behavioural and psychological consequences, because they feel compelled to respond (Maier et al. 2015a ).

Given the relevance of social media to various stakeholders, and the numerous consequences associated with its use, social media has attracted the attention of researchers from various fields, including information systems. This is evidenced by the large number of scholarly articles that have appeared in various outlets. Researchers have to expend an enormous amount of time and effort in collating, analysing, and synthesising findings from existing works before they embark on a new research project. Given the significant number of studies that have already been published, a comprehensive and systematic review can offer valuable assistance to researchers intending to engage in social medi research. Our literature search suggests that there are reviews on social media in the marketing context (see for example, AlAlwan et al. 2017 ; Dwivedi et al. 2017a ; Dwivedi et al. 2015 ; Ismagilova et al. 2017 ; Kapoor et al. 2016 ; Plume et al. 2016 ). However, there exists no comprehensive review that integrates and synthesises the findings from the articles published in Information Systems journals. Such an endeavour will not only provide a holistic view of the extant research on social media, but will also provide researchers a comprehensive intellectual platform that can be used to pursue fruitful lines of enquiry to help advance research in this rapidly expanding area. To fulfill this goal, this study reviewed relevant articles to elucidate the key thematic areas of research on social media, including its benefits and spill-over effects. The resulting review is expected to serve as a one-stop source, offering insight into what has been accomplished so far in terms of research on social media, what is currently being done, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead. By doing so, this study explores the following aspects of existing research on social media:

How is social media defined in the IS literature?

How has social media literature evolved from a multidisciplinary perspective?

How have social media technologies, applications, practices, and research evolved over the past 20 years?

Which social media issues and themes have already been examined in IS research?

What are the major limitations of extant literature on social media?

The next section of this paper gives a brief overview of the method employed for carrying out the literature search. The succeeding section discusses citation and text analyses of social media publications. Subsequently, we outline the various ways in which scholars have defined social media. This is followed by a section that focuses on the evolution of social media research from an IS perspective. Next, we articulate the major themes emerging from prior research and use them as a backdrop for our review of the literature on social media. The ensuing section discusses our findings, followed by key conclusions and limitations of the study.

2 Literature Search Method

The literature search for this analysis was conducted in the following two phases: (1) keyword-based search and analysis to explore the overall evolution of social media literature; and (2) manual search across specific IS journals to understand the emerging IS perspectives on this topic.

2.1 Keywords Based Search and Analysis

In order to gain a deeper understanding of social media, we analyzed relevant abstracts that were downloaded from the Web of Science (WOS) database. Our search terms Footnote 1 yielded a total of 13,177 records, out of which 12,597 unique abstracts were obtained. The analysis of these records was undertaken in two steps. First, we used VOSviewer (Van Eck and Waltman 2011 ) to perform a co-citation analysis of first authors in the downloaded corpus. VOSviewer allows visualization of similarities in publications and authors through an examination of bibliometric networks. Furthermore, we used VOSviewer to analyze words derived from titles and abstracts. Second, we used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) (see Blei 2012 ) to extract key thematic areas latent in the literature on social media. Further details about these analyses and results are presented in section 3 .

2.2 Manual Search and Analysis

Given the inconsistencies in the use of keywords in social media research, a manual search, rather than a keyword-based one, was deemed to be more appropriate for identifying the existing literature on social media. Furthermore, since keywords in the social media literature tend to overlap with topics and/or theories in other related research areas, a keyword search may yield irrelevant articles. For instance, a keyword search for “Social network” returns articles related to social network theories, which are not necessarily part of social media. The articles reviewed in this study are from the following eight Senior Scholars’ Basket of Information Systems journals: European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS); Information Systems Journal (ISJ); Information Systems Research (ISR); Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS); Journal of Information Technology (JIT); Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS); Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS) and Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ)). Along with these eight journals, we have also analysed relevant articles from Information Systems Frontier (ISF) journal. This is because it focuses on examining “new research and development at the interface of information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) from analytical, behavioural, and technological perspectives. It provides a common forum for both frontline industrial developments as well as pioneering academic research”. Footnote 2 ISF enjoys the reputation of a high quality journal across continents. For example, a journal quality ranking by Chartered Association of Business Schools, UK, has given it a three star (high ranking) quality rating, while journal ranking by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) has rated it as an ‘A’ class journal (the second highest quality journal category after A*, which is reserved for premier publications). In light of these observations, it was deemed appropriate to consider articles from ISF along with the aforementioned eight journals.

Relevant articles were then identified and downloaded from each of the target journals by going through their archives. Specifically, all volumes and issues published in these journals between 1997 and 2017 were considered in our analysis. Articles, research notes, introductions, research commentaries, and editorial overviews relevant to social media were downloaded and numbered to prepare an APA style reference list. The first literature search resulted in 181 articles that had some relevance to the social media domain. A closer examination of individual abstracts and full articles led to the elimination of 49 irrelevant articles, thus giving us a total of 132 articles pertinent to the domain of interest (i.e., social media).

3 Citation and Text Analyses of Social Media Publications

3.1 author co-citation analysis (aca).

Author Co-Citation Analysis (ACA) is a bibliometric technique that has been widely used to explicate the conceptual structure of disciplines (for example, see White and Griffith 1981 ; McCain 1984 ; Culnan 1986 ; Nerur et al. 2008 ). The underlying assumption in ACA is that authors who are frequently cited together tend to work on similar concepts. Thus, frequently co-cited authors are likely to cluster together when an ACA is performed. VOSviewer considers only first authors when it performs ACA. Only authors who had 50 or more citations were included in the analysis. Figure  1 shows the results of ACA.

Author clusters from ACA

VOSviewer identified seven distinct clusters:

Cluster 1: Authors in this cluster have contributed to research on Twitter (e.g., Sakaki), social network analysis (e.g., Wasserman), topic modeling (e.g., Blei), sociality and cognition (e.g., Dunbar), sentiment analysis of tweets (e.g., Thelwall), and other related topics.

Cluster 2: Authors in this cluster are well known for their work on technology adoption (e.g., Venkatesh), diffusion of technology (Rogers), culture (Hofstede), theory of planned behavior (Ajzen), marketing/consumer behavior (e.g., Hennig-Thurau), and statistical methods (e.g., Bagozzi, Fornell, Hair).

Cluster 3: This cluster comprises of authors who deal with a variety of issues related to social media (Facebook and Twitter) use. For example, Steinfied and Ellison examined social capital across Facebook; Kuss studied online/social networking addiction (e.g., gaming addiction), and Lenhart focused on teens and technology (e.g., mobile internet use), particularly in the use of social media. Other topics include Bandura’s self-efficacy, use and benefits of Twitter by scholars, and personality and social characteristics of Facebook users (e.g., Ross).

Cluster 4: Prominent social theorists/sociologists who have contributed to social capital theory, structuration theory and modern sociological theory are distinguished members of this cluster. These include Bourdieu, Coleman, Giddens, and Habermas. Papacharissi has written about a variety of topics including the exploration of factors that predict Internet use as well as users’ behaviors, identity, sense of community and culture on social media. Tufekci has studied privacy and disclosure on social media, as well as other topics, including how social networking sites such as Facebook might influence one’s decision to participate in protests.

Cluster 5: In this cluster, there is evidence of the influence of Vygotsky’s socio cultural learning theory as well as Lave and Wenger’s work on communities of practice. In addition to his work on collaborative learning, Kirschner has examined the relationship between Facebook and academic performance. Likewise, Selwyn has explored pedagogical and learning engendered by the use of information and computer technologies (ICT).

Cluster 6: This cluster appears to reflect two broad themes. The first is a range of topics related to medical Internet research, broadly referred to as e-health (Eysenbach) or online health (Duggan). Themes in this category include electronic support groups and health in virtual communities (Eysenbach), and policies and healthcare associated with social media, and professionals among medical students and physicians in the use of social media (Chretien, Greysen). The second main thematic area in this cluster deals with scholarship on social media, scholarly communication, and metrics for evaluating impact of articles on the web (e.g., Weller, Bormann, Priem).

Cluster 7: The dominant theme here is the nature and content of communication. In particular, scholars in this cluster have focused on communication and response in the face of crises (Coombs), including image restoration after a controversy (Benoit), analysis and reliability of content (Krippendorff), and the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by government agencies and non-profit organizations to engage stakeholders (Waters).

3.2 Text Analysis of Words in Titles and Abstracts

VOSviewer was used to analyze terms (i.e., words) in the titles and abstracts of our corpus to obtain a two-dimensional map showing proximities of words that are likely to be related based on their co-occurrences. Specifically, VOSviewer relies on the Apache OpenNLP Toolkit to identify noun phrases, and then compares their overall co-occurrence distribution with their distribution across other noun phrases to compute a relevance score (Van Eck and Waltman 2011 ). The intuition is that frequently co-occurring noun phrases with high relevance are likely to unravel a topic or theme that is latent in the corpus. The term map from VOSviewer is shown in Fig.  2 . Only terms that occurred 50 times or more were included. Furthermore, relevance scores computed by VOSviewer for every term were used to select the top 80% that met the threshold.

Term map showing clusters of related words/noun phrases

VOSviewer identified five clusters here. It is evident from the clusters that research on social media has dealt with a broad range of topics, including but not restricted to diffusion of information and opinions, spread of diseases (e.g., influenza), identification of social and emotional health concerns and attendant interventions to deal with them, social media as an influence, the use of social media for marketing purposes, and the implications of social media as a tool for pedagogy (i.e., teaching and learning) and medical practice. These have been summarized in Table  1 .

It must be noted that the topics are broad and don’t reveal the nuances of research areas embodied in the abstracts examined in this study. The next sub-section presents the results of topic modeling, which has the potential to unravel more focused themes embodied in the large corpus that we analyzed.

3.3 Topic Modeling

The fact that our search terms yielded over 12,000 abstracts suggests that scholars are investing increased interest on research issues related to social media. While an informed researcher may have a general idea of the nature of research undertaken so far, it is humanly impossible to discern the thematic structure of all scholarly documents available on social media. Recent advances in topic modeling have made this task relatively easy. Topic modeling relies on algorithms and statistical methods to elicit the topics latent in a large corpus (Blei 2012 ). The term topic refers to a specific and often recognizable theme defined by a cohesive set of words that have a high probability of belonging to that topic. There are several options available for topic modeling: non-negative matrix factorization (NNMF), Latent Semantic Analysis/Indexing (LSA/LSI), and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). In this study, we use LDA, arguably the most widely used topic modeling algorithm. In order to perform topic modeling on a corpus, the researcher has to specify the number of topics to be extracted. In this study, we extracted the top 100 topics reflected in the scholarship on social media. LDA starts with the assumption that each abstract in our study reflects each of these topics to varying degrees (Blei 2012 ). Thus, each abstract has a distribution of the desired 100 topics. The 100 topics that were extracted from our abstracts are shown in Table  2 . The machine learning for language toolkit (MALLET) (McCallum 2002 ) was used for this purpose.

4 Analysis of Social Media Research from an IS Perspective

4.1 how is social media defined in the is literature.

In studying the existing literature on social media, it becomes apparent that the authors in this field have not focussed on defining social media. Of all the studies included in this review, only a handful of studies have come close to defining, or clarifying the concept of social media. For instance, Lundmark et al. ( 2016 , p3) suggest, “social media, as a unique form of communication, integrates multiple sources of legitimacy, and as a result, presents a unique and important context through which to study the topic. Indeed, social media are a means for the dissemination of both internally and externally generated information pertaining to firms, industries, and society in general.” According to Schlagwein and Hu ( 2016 ), social media constitutes internet-based communication and collaboration channels, widely in use since 2005, and, from an IS perspective, social media tools and their surrounding organizational and managerial structures constitute social information systems. Wakefield and Wakefield ( 2016 , p140) describe “social media technologies as an ensemble IS artefact composed of technical, informational, and relational subsystems that interact distinctly according to the context of use.” In their study, they also identify a “recent definition of social media and social networks referring to social media networks as specific types of social media platforms and Internet sites with common attributes such as (1) user profile (2) user access to digital content (3) a user list of relational ties, and (4) user ability to view and traverse relational ties” (Wakefield and Wakefield 2016 ; p144).

In a more relatable and simple definition, Miranda et al. ( 2016 ; p304) explain social media being “mainly conceived of as a medium wherein ordinary people in ordinary social networks (as opposed to professional journalists) can create user-generated news.” A few other authors like Spagnoletti et al. ( 2015 ) and Xu and Zhang ( 2013 ) commonly refer to social media as a set of interned-based technologies/applications, which are aimed at promoting the creation, modification, update and exchange of user-generated content, whilst establishing new links between the content creators themselves. Bharati et al. ( 2014 ; p258) refer to social media as a technology “not focussed on transactions but on collaboration and communication across groups both inside and outside the firm.” Lastly, Tang et al. ( 2012 ; p44) also identify social media as user-generated media, which is a source of “online information created, initiated, circulated, and used by consumers intent on educating each other about products, brands, services, personalities, and issues.”

All of the aforementioned descriptions clearly regard social media as communication tools supported by internet-based technologies for dissemination of information. Most of them acknowledge the high concentration of user generated content across such platforms. Based on our understanding of social media and the aforementioned definitions, we propose the following definition: Social media is made up of various user-driven platforms that facilitate diffusion of compelling content, dialogue creation, and communication to a broader audience. It is essentially a digital space created by the people and for the people, and provides an environment that is conducive for interactions and networking to occur at different levels (for instance, personal, professional, business, marketing, political,and societal) .

4.2 Evolution of Social Media Research in the IS Literature

In the past two decades, various issues related to social media have been examined in line with the rapid evolution of underlying technologies/applications and their appropriation to enable different types of social media usage. An analysis of 132 articles from selected IS journals suggests that publications until 2011 were still examining user-generated content as a new type of online content (Burgess et al. 2011 ). However, in the last six years, research in this field has made tremendous progress, not just in terms of its scope, but also in explicating the highs and lows associated with the use of social media. While it is difficult to pinpoint evolution on a yearly basis, it has been possible to identify the major aspects of social media research that have emerged over time. Publications between 1997 and 2017 have been reviewed here. Interestingly, only one publication of interest to this study (Griffiths and Light 2008 ) was identified between the period 1997 and 2009.

Out of the 132 studies individually reviewed here, about 21 studies examined the behavioural side of social media use. While most of the initial studies (for instance, Massari 2010 ; Garg et al. 2011 ) restricted interest to peer influence and information disclosure willingness (2010–2012), the latter studies (for instance, Gu et al. 2014 ; Krasnova et al. 2015 ) were seen to be more exploratory in examining the positive, dysfunctional, cognitive and affective, heterophily and homophily tendencies of social media users (2012–2016). There were 18 studies investigating the very popular aspect of reviews and recommendations on social networks, with 2013 being a popular year for such studies. Most of these studies (for instance, Hildebrand et al. 2013 ; Zhang and Piramuthu 2016 ) were interested in improving their understanding of the information quality of these reviews and the associated consequences (2010–2016). There were 17 studies (2011–2016) evaluating the integration of social media for varied organizational purposes . While some studies investigated the employee side (e.g., innovativeness, retention, and motivation) of social media use (for instance, Aggarwal et al. 2012 ; Miller and Tucker 2013 ), the others discussed the relationship between social enterprise systems and organizational networking (for instance, Trier and Richter 2015 ; Van Osch and Steinfield 2016 ).

Around 13 publications studied the use of social media as a marketing tool . The early studies here (2010–2013) explored consumer purchase behaviour and firm tactics, such as involving consumers in marketing strategies (for instance, García-Crespo et al. 2010 ; Goh et al. 2013 ). The later studies (2015–2016), however, became more focussed on studying social commerce across networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube (e.g., Chen et al. 2015 ; Sung et al. 2016 ). Ten studies were interested in online communities and blogging (see Singh et al. 2014 ; Dennis et al. 2016 ). These were mostly interested in blogger behaviours, reader retention, online content, contributing capacity, and blog visibility (2011–2016). Nine publications revealed the risks associated with the use of social media. These are either very early studies (2008–2010; for instance, Tow et al. 2010 ) or fairly recent (2014–2016) learning about scamming and farcing issues faced by users. They focus on combating issues of privacy and security, whilst trying to differentiate between fake and authentic online content (for instance, Zhang et al. 2016 ).

Up until 2015, about eight studies analysed the negative stigma attached to using social media at the workplace (for instance, Koch et al. 2013 ). While a couple of studies also revealed the positive side of social media (for instance, Lu et al. 2015 ), most were seen discussing its ill-effects on work outputs, routine performance, and clash of notions in the personal and professional space (for instance, Ali-Hassan et al. 2015 ). About seven studies were interested in exploring the relationship between social media use and value creation (for instance, Luo et al. 2013 ; Barrett et al. 2016 ) in terms of firm equity, customer retention, social position, and firm value (2010–2016). Another seven studies investigated the use of media sites to share and exchange information during natural disasters and critical events (2011–2015). Interestingly, most of the studies documenting this aspect of social media used Twitter data for their analyses (for instance, Oh et al. 2013 ; Lee et al. 2015a ). A very small percentage of studies (five studies) in 2014 and 2015 focussed on analysing the effects of social media posts that were seeking help/support from other social media users (for instance, Spagnoletti et al. 2015 ; Yan et al. 2015a ). Only a handful of studies (five studies), particularly in 2010 and 2016, were examined the use of social media in public administration and political contexts, such as open governance and transparency (for instance, Baur 2017 ; Rosenberger et al. 2017 ). Also, just about three studies (Wattal et al. 2010 ; Dewan and Ramaprasad 2014 ; Miranda et al. 2016 ) dedicated their efforts to comparing traditional media with social media . The last set of studies (2013–2016), around nine in total (for instance, Bharati et al. 2014 ; Chung et al. 2017 ), were identified as those limiting themselves to developing and testing social media constructs in relation to previously established theories and models (technology acceptance model, theory of planned behaviour, and others).

4.3 Literature Synthesis

As outlined in the previous section, social media research is evolving at a fast pace. In reviewing the shortlisted articles, various themes were identified based on the similarities observed across the issues addressed in social media research.

4.3.1 Social Media Use Behaviours and Consequences

Many scholars explore the behavioural side of social media, and interestingly, some find factors that prevent users from continuing its use. Turel and Serenko ( 2012 ) warn against excessive use of social media sites, which can result in strong pathological and maladaptive psychological dependency on social media. In a subsequent study, Turel ( 2015 ) used cognitive theory to reveal that guilt feelings associated with the use of a website can increase discontinuance intentions. Matook et al. ( 2015b ) show that online social networks can be linked with perceived loneliness, which depends on user’s active/passive engagement with social media. Krasnova et al. ( 2015 ) suggest that in response to social information consumption, envy plays a significant role in reducing cognitive and affective wellbeing of a user. However, Maier et al. ( 2015b ) disclose that, while social networking stress creators can increase discontinuance intentions, switching stress-creators and exhaustion (i.e. switching to alternatives) can reduce such intentions. Chang et al. ( 2014 ) find that dissatisfaction and regret, alternative attractiveness, and switching costs affect switching intentions. Xu et al. ( 2014 ) find that dissatisfaction from support and entertainment values, continuity cost and peer influence encourage switching between social networks.

Wakefield and Wakefield ( 2016 ) focus on Facebook and Twitter to show that excitement combined with passion acts as a favourable factor for increased social media engagement. Chiu and Huang ( 2015 ) use media communication theories to show that user gratification from social networking sites positively affects their social media usage intention. In studying virtual investment communities, Gu et al. ( 2014 ) reveal that despite benefits of heterophily, investors are allured by homophily in their interactions. Zeng and Wei ( 2013 ) analyse Flickr data and find that at the time of forming a social tie, members exhibit similar behaviour, which evolves differently later. Shi et al. ( 2014 ) examine retweet relationships and find that those with weak ties have a higher probability of engaging in content sharing. Kreps ( 2010 ) introduces poststructuralist critique to explore how closely an individual’s personality is reflected in their social media profile, such as Facebook.

Chen et al. ( 2014 ) find affective and continuance types of commitments to be good predictors of user behaviours on social media sites. Stieglitz and Dang-Xuan ( 2013 ) examine the relationship between user behaviour and sentiment to conclude that emotional Twitter messages have a higher retweet tendency. Khan and Jarvenpaa ( 2010 ) analyse event creation pages on Facebook to find that the social groups demonstrate differential interactive behaviour prior and post the midpoint of event creation. Chen and Sharma ( 2015 ) disclose that the extent of self-disclosure on social media sites depends on member attitude. Massari ( 2010 ) finds that MySpace users tend to disclose substantial personal details that put them at the risk of security and privacy breach. Xu et al. ( 2016 ) find that one’s image and moral beliefs combined with community policies and peer pressure act as deterrents to aggression on social media. Garg et al. ( 2011 ) measure peer influence in an online music community and find that peers can significantly increase music discovery. Susarla et al. ( 2012 ) examine video and user information dataset from YouTube, and find that the success of a video hugely depends on social interactions, which also determines its impact magnitude.

The review of studies related to this theme suggests that since 2010, IS researchers have focussed on examining the dysfunctional consequences of social media adoption, such as - addiction, stress, information overload, and others. Use behaviour was examined across a variety of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Flickr. Media content, such as picture, video, and tweets have also been explored by the studies in this category.

4.3.2 Reviews and Recommendations on Social Media Sites

A predominant characteristic of social media networks is product/service reviews and recommendations. People are beginning to rely on others’ experiences, for instance, before making a purchase, visiting a place, or searching for accommodation.. Such online reviews complement product/service information. An early study on online travel information found that consumers invest higher trust in reviews published on government/tourism websites in comparison to those on a social media site (Burgess et al. 2011 ). Hwang et al. ( 2011 ) analysed the social bookmarking sites for impact of positive and negative reviews on collective wisdom and found that negative reviews are capable of stabilizing system performance. Dellarocas et al. ( 2010 ) suggest that online forums looking to increase reviews of lesser-known products should make information on previously posted reviews a less prominent feature. Cheung et al. ( 2012 ) empirically tested a consumer review website to conclude that argument quality, review consistency, and source are critical for assessing review credibility.

Chen et al. ( 2011 ) investigate the effect of moderation and reveal that the commentators generate high quality content to build a stronger reputation. Wei et al. ( 2013 ) developed a multi-collaborative filtering trust network algorithm for Web 2.0 with improved accuracy for filtering information based on user preferences and trusted peer users. Luo and Zhang ( 2013 ) refer to user-generated reviews and recommendations as consumer buzz to find that advocacy and consumer attitude can impact firm value. Hildebrand et al. ( 2013 ) use data from a European car manufacturer allowing self-designed products to reveal that feedback from other community members lessens uniqueness whilst increasing dissatisfaction. Centeno et al. ( 2015 ) address the skewed reputation rankings problem in movie ratings by suggesting the use of comparative user opinions. Ma et al. ( 2013 ) analyse data from Yelp to test bias in online reviews and find that frequent and longer reviews successfully combat such biases. Lukyanenko et al. ( 2014 ) demonstrate that participants tend to provide accurate information in classifying a phenomenon at a general level, and higher accuracy where they are allowed free form data. Shi and Whinston ( 2013 ) explore the possible impact of friend check-ins on social media, and find it has no positive effect in generating new user visits.

Goes et al. ( 2014 ) disclose that user popularity results in increased and objective reviews, while numeric ratings turn more varied and negative with it. Matook et al. ( 2015a ) use relationship theories to show that past recommendation experience, closeness, and excessive posting behaviour positively affect trust and person’s intention to act on the made recommendation. Yan et al. ( 2015b ) evaluate revisit intentions for restaurants, and find that food and service quality, price and value, and the atmosphere govern such intentions. Kuan et al. ( 2015 ) analysed Amazon reviews and observed that certain characteristics such as length, readability, valence, extremity, and reviewer credibility are more likely to be recognized. In a different study, Zhang and Piramuthu ( 2016 ) suggest that product/service information on seller’s websites are often limited, and propose a Latent Dirichlet Allocation model to reveal the useful complementary hidden information in customer reviews. In a parallel conversation, Wu and Gaytán 2013 suggest that buyers integrate product price with seller reviews in configuring their willingness to pay.

The review under this theme suggests that studies as early as 2010 focussed on evaluating the authenticity of product and service reviews/recommendations published online. Overall, these studies reveal that the effect of review volume is often moderated by a buyer’s risk attitude. Most studies identify that the combination of consumer’s interest and available reviews helps users choose products/services that offer best value to them.

4.3.3 Social Media and Associated Organizational Impact

Publications have also shown interest in investigating the effects of user-generated content on entrepreneurial behaviour. For instance, Greenwood and Gopal ( 2015 ) find that discourse in both traditional and user-generated media has a notable influence on IT firm founding rates. Lundmark et al. ( 2016 ) reveal that higher usage of Twitter, alongside follower numbers and retweets result in higher levels of under pricing for initial public offerings (IPO). Trier and Richter ( 2015 ) find that online organizational networking has many unbalanced multiplex relationships, mostly comprising of weak ties and temporal change. They attribute the uneven user contribution in social networking sites to discourse drivers and information retrievers. Schlagwein and Hu ( 2016 ) identify collaboration, broadcast, dialogue, sociability, and knowledge management as the social media types that serve varied organizational purposes. Claussen et al. ( 2013 ) study Facebook to conclude that social media networks can exercise management not only by excluding participants, but also by driving softer changes in incentive/reward systems.

Subramaniam and Nandhakumar ( 2013 ) study enterprise system users and find that integrating social media facilitates user interaction that helps embed relationship ties between virtual actors. Another study concerning social features in enterprise systems reveals that business interactions are less social, and highly context specific (Mettler and Winter 2016 ). Van Osch and Steinfield ( 2016 ) showed that the enterprise system user involved in social network posting will show differences in team boundary spanning activities based on their hierarchical position (leadership, team member, etc.). Benthaus et al. ( 2016 ) analyse Twitter data to find that social media management tools have a catalysing effect on employee output as they enrich the user engagement process. Gray et al. ( 2011 ) study the social bookmarking system to find that social diversity of information sources is a good predictor of employee innovativeness. Kuegler et al. ( 2015 ) show that using enterprise social networking within teams strongly influences task performance and employee innovativeness. Leonardi ( 2014 ) reveals that communication visibility increases meta-knowledge between organizations, which results in innovative products and services minus knowledge duplication. Aggarwal et al. ( 2012 ) interestingly reveal positive effects of negative employee posts on an organization’s reputation, given that such posts attract larger audience.

Miranda et al. ( 2015 ) suggest that diffusion of social media is based on an organization’s vision that offers a well-defined range of moves to choose from, with the freedom to improvise. Xu and Zhang ( 2013 ) regard Wikipedia as a social media platform and conclude that it improves information environment in the financial market and the value of information aggregation. Qiu et al. ( 2014 ) study prediction markets to find that users with increased social connections are less likely to invest in information acquisition from external sources. Miller and Tucker ( 2013 ) study the extent of social media managed by firms to report that most firm postings are centred on firm’s achievement and are not necessarily in clients’ interest. In summary, studies reviewed under this theme are focussed on analysing the impact of integrating social media within work roles in organizations. Effective management and utilization of social media is agreed to provoke employee activity, which helps in employee innovativeness, retention, and motivation. Studies also hint against ignoring social media engagement, which can reportedly have a negative impact on a company’s image.

4.3.4 Social Media for Marketing

Social media sites are now a huge part of marketing tactics, and the documented studies are a good showcase of the extent to which social media is being integrated in marketing strategies. García-Crespo et al. ( 2010 ) study the continuous interaction between customers and organizations, as it impacts the social web environment with implications for marketing and new product development. Goh et al. ( 2013 ) study the user and market generated content for engagement in social media brand community to find that it has a positive impact on purchase expenditures. Rishika et al. ( 2013 ) demonstrate how higher social media activity directly correlates with higher participation and customer patronage. Aggarwal and Singh ( 2013 ) find that blogs help managers with their products in the screening stage, and also offer leverage in negotiating better contract terms. Dou et al. ( 2013 ) research optimizing the strength of a network by adjusting the embedded social media features with the right market seeding and pricing strategies.

Oestreicher-Singer and Zalmanson ( 2013 ) reveal that the firms are more viable when they integrate social media in purchase and consumption experience, rather than using it as a substitute for soft online marketing. Lee et al. ( 2015b ) study the importance of social commerce in marketplace to find that Facebook likes increase sales, drive traffic, and introduce socialization in the shopping experience. Xie and Lee ( 2015 ) scan purchase records on Facebook to find that exposure to owned and earned social media activities positively impacts consumers’ likeliness to purchase brands. Chen et al. ( 2015 ) study music sales on MySpace to find that broadcasting, timing and content of the personal message has significant effect on sales. Qiu et al. ( 2015 ) study YouTube data to find that learning and network mechanisms statistically and economically impact video views. Sung et al. ( 2016 ) use Facebook data of universities and colleges across the US to show that people in the same class year or same major tend to form denser groups/networks. In a slightly different study, Oh et al. ( 2016 ) investigate the pricing models for an online newspaper, and find that charging for previously free online content has a disproportionate impact on word of mouth for niche and popular topics/articles. Susarla et al. ( 2016 ) find that social media initiatives succeed when a sustained conversation with likely adopters is maintained.

Studies within this theme focus on the role of community structure and structural patterns in using social media for marketing purposes. For successful social media implementation, it is important to effectively incorporate social computing with content delivery in the digital content industry with growing user population. Most studies identify meaningful conversations with customers as an important attribute of social media marketing. Also, identifying specific customer segments across social media site, for instance, members of a forum/group or organization, helps e-marketers to target specific customers based on demographic patterns and similar interests.

4.3.5 Social Media and Participation in Online Communities

There are many facets to developing and maintaining an online community, and user participation plays an integral role in it. Ray et al. ( 2014 ) identify that user engagement increases user intention to revisit an online community. Singh et al. ( 2014 ) analyse employee blog reading behaviour and show how reader attraction and retention are influenced by textual characteristics that appeal to reader sentiments. Butler and Wang ( 2012 ) find that changing content in an online discussion community affects member dynamics and community responsiveness, both positively and negatively. An early study on participation in online communities finds that different community commitments impact behaviours differently (Bateman et al. 2011 ). Chau and Xu ( 2012 ) develop a framework capable of gathering, extracting, and analyzing blog information that can be applied to any organization, topic, or product/service.

Goes et al. ( 2016 ) study goal setting and status hierarchy theories to find that glory-based incentives motivate users to contribute more user-generated content only before/until the goal is reached, with the contribution dropping significantly later. Khansa et al. ( 2015 ) examine Yahoo! Answers, and find that artefacts like incentives, membership tenure, and habit or past behaviour hugely influence active online participation. Tang et al. ( 2012 ) examine the concept of incentives on social media, particularly YouTube, for content contribution and find that a user is driven to contribute on social media based on their desire for revenue sharing, exposure, and reputation. Zhang and Wang ( 2012 ) use economic and social role theories in a Wikipedia context to show that in a collaborative network, the editor determines the total contribution towards collaborative work. Dennis et al. ( 2016 ) create a theoretical framework for corporate blogs and analyse Fortune 500 companies to find that a blog’s target audience and the alignment of blog content and its management significantly impact the visibility of that blog. Most of the studies under this theme focus on analyzing data on blogs. They highlight the importance of word of mouth, which is closely associated with user satisfaction. It also emerges from these studies that user engagement and consequent satisfaction play parallel and mediating roles within such online communities.

4.3.6 Risks and Concerns with the Use of Social Media

Social media and its associated risks have captured the attention of many authors. A very early study by Griffiths and Light ( 2008 ) focuses on the problem of media convergence, whereby a gaming website includes social media features, putting vulnerable young audience at the risk of scamming. An Australian study suggests that many users are unaware of the potential risks of disclosing personal information on social media site, or consider themselves as low risk targets (Tow et al. 2010 ). Krasnova et al. ( 2010 ) find that the ease of forming and maintaining relationships on an enjoyable social platform motivates users to disclose personal information. Their study shows that user trust in a service/network provider, and privacy control options on a networking site greatly dismiss user perceptions of associated risk. Vishwanath ( 2015 ) finds that farcing attacks on Facebook occur at two levels – victim to phishers with phony profiles and victim to phishers soliciting personal information directly from them.

To combat the privacy problem of photos, videos, and other content posted online, Fogués et al. ( 2014 ) developed a Best Friend Forever tool that automatically distinguishes friends on a user’s profile by assigning individual values based on relationship ties. Zhang et al. ( 2016 ) find that incorporating non-verbal features of reviewers can massively improve the performance of online fake review detection models. Gerlach et al. ( 2015 ) find that user perception of privacy risks has a mediating effect on the relationship between policy monetization and user willingness to share information. Burtch et al. ( 2016 ) analyse a large online crowd funding platform and report that when campaign contributors control/conceal visibility from public display, there is a negative impact on subsequent visitor’s conversion likelihood and average contributions. In a different study, Choi et al. ( 2015 ) find that information dissemination and network commonality has a high impact on individual’s perception of privacy invasion and relationship bonding that impedes transactional and interpersonal avoidances.

Studies reviewed here discuss a social contagion effect of risks associated with social media use. Recent studies (2014–2016) suggest educating audiences about the threats associated with the extent of personal information being disclosed on social media sites. They recommend government agencies to keep the users informed, and the social media sites to control some of their security features. It is necessary to define and control privacy settings across these many existing social networks.

4.3.7 Negative Stigma Attached to Social Media Use

Some studies suggest that there is a negative stigma associated with the use of social media in the workplace. In a typical case study, Koch et al. ( 2012 ) analyze three employee layers in an organization to find that new hires (users of social media sites) showed improved morale and employee engagement, some middle managers (non users) were frustrated and experienced isolation, while the senior execs were wary of social media use. In a contrasting case, Cao et al. ( 2015 ) suggest that social media has the potential to build employees’ social capital to positively influence their knowledge integration. In discussing the impact of social media on organizational life, Koch et al. ( 2013 ) find that conflicts can stem between workplace values and the values these employees ascribe to social media.

In a gender-based study on social network facilitated team collaboration, Shen et al. ( 2010 ) found that the collective intention in men was influenced by positive emotions, attitude and group norms, while the collective participation intention in women was affected by negative emotions and social identity. Huang et al. ( 2015 ) debate the concept of communicational ambidexterity to understand the conflicting demands of managing internal organization communication in contrast to open and distributed social media communication. Wu ( 2013 ) suggests information-rich networks enabled by social media tend to drive job security and employee performance. Lu et al. ( 2015 ) use the social network theory to conclude that structural and cognitive dimensions of social relationships positively impact job performance. Ali-Hassan et al. ( 2015 ) show social and cognitive use of social media has a positive influence on employee performance, while hedonic use of social media leaves a negative impact on routine performance.

These reviewed studies showcase that social networking encourages shared language and trust between employees in a workspace. Another emerging suggestion highlights that organizations should exercise policy, and use socialization and leadership-based mechanisms to counter any problems resulting from differing workplace values. Some of these studies show interest in the cognitive side of social ties that positively nurture social relationships and innovation performance.

4.3.8 Social Media and Value Creation

Studies in the extant literature have particularly focussed on the aspect of value creation within online communities. As Ridings and Wasko ( 2010 ) have observed, an online discussion group/community is a direct product of its social and structural dynamics. Porter et al. ( 2013 ) investigate firm value and find that a sponsor’s efforts are stronger with positive and direct effect on trust building. Luo et al. ( 2013 ) suggest that social media has faster predictive value than conventional online media, and that the embedded metrics like consumer ratings are leading indicators of a firm’s equity. Hu et al. ( 2015 ) develop a formative model with an aggregate online social value construct and identify factors to increase user benefits and satisfaction, ensuring customer retention via continued usage of online services. In a public organization study focussing on social networking system, Karoui et al. ( 2015 ) suggest that differing perceptions of social capital can result in actors adopting differing strategies for holding their social position within an organization. Barrett et al. ( 2016 ) find that value creation in online communities expands beyond the dyadic relationship between a firm and the community to include a more intricate relationship involving stakeholders of a wider ecosystem. Dong and Wu ( 2015 ) use data from Dell and Starbucks and find substantial evidence for online user innovation-enabled implementation increasing firm value. Overall, the studies on social media and value creation emphasize on influence of social and structural interplay on sustainability, which is visible over longitudinal examination of their relationship to one another.

4.3.9 Role of Social Media During Critical/Extreme Events

Certain authors are more interested in micro-blogging used at the time of critical/extreme events. In an attempt to filter real time news/updates from irrelevant personal messages and spam, Cheng et al. ( 2011 ) propose analysis of information diffusion patterns for a large set of micro-blogs that update emergency news. They claim that their approach (using Twitter data) outperforms other benchmark solutions to offer diverse user preferences and customized results during critical events. Cheong and Lee ( 2011 ) use Twitter data to propose a framework that is useful for Homeland Securities and Law enforcement agencies to record and respond to terror situations. Oh et al. ( 2013 ) also study Twitter data from three extreme events to find that information without any clear source is at the top, personal involvement comes second, with anxiety at third place in the list of rumour causing factors during social crisis events. Wang et al. ( 2014 ) affirm that news spreads widely through online portals. They find that news first posted even on a small news portal can be picked and reposted by a major news portal, forming a hotspot event for the news to rapidly spread over the Internet.

Lee et al. ( 2015a ) performed negative binomial analysis of the 2013 Boston marathon tragedy Tweets to find that follower numbers, reaction time, and hash tagging significantly affected the diffusion of Tweets. Oh et al. ( 2015 ) analysed Twitter data from the 2011 Egypt revolution and found that hash tags played a critical role in gathering information and maintaining situational awareness during such politically unstable phases. Ling et al. ( 2015 ) undertake a qualitative study of 2011 Thailand flooding data to conclude that social media can offer a community: structural, resource, and psychological empowerment to achieve collaborative control and collective participation. In summary, studies since 2011 have been particularly examining Twitter data, and have derived significant insights on their positive effect during critical/extreme events.

4.3.10 Social Media for Help/Support

Some users post updates on social media with an aim to seek help/support from online communities. Maier et al. ( 2015a ) find that such posts cause social overload for other users, and the psychological consequences include feelings of exhaustion, low user satisfaction, and high intentions of reducing/stopping the use of social media sites. Yan et al. ( 2015a ) find that healthcare traits of patients help them establish social connections online, which is influenced by their cognitive abilities. Spagnoletti et al. ( 2015 ) develop a user utility model for integrating social media in personalized elderly healthcare that is capable of challenging traditional organizational boundaries to transform the internal and external stakeholder engagement. Yan and Tan ( 2014 ) propose a partially observed Markov decision process model to find sufficient evidence suggesting emotional support is most significant in improving patient health. Kallinikos and Tempini ( 2014 ) study the ups and downs of having a large unsupervised social network based on patient self-reporting for gathering and examining data on patients’ health.

Limited number of studies has been recorded for this theme. These studies are fairly recent suggesting a new emerging trend, where health/support based communities are being formed. The expanse of such communities seems to be largely dependent on the information processing capacity and the range of social ties that the members of such networks can handle. Using social media to bring together people with similar health conditions suggests that informational and social support can have varying influence on patient health.

4.3.11 Public Bodies and Social Media Interaction

User-generated content from social media is becoming one of the important information channels across public administrative bodies and political contexts. Baur ( 2017 ) has developed a MarketMiner framework that massively improves the utilization of multi-source, multi-language social media content, which can be applied to areas such as open government. Rosenberger et al. ( 2017 ) use abstraction-based modelling to conceptualize the data structure, and conclude that wrapping social network application programming interfaces allow mutual integration of most user activities. Gonzalez-Bailon et al. ( 2010 ) show that political discussions in online networks are larger and deeper compared to other networks. Ameripour et al. ( 2010 ) analyse the restricted Iranian social networks, subject to surveillance and censorship to find that Internet conviviality is not an independent variable with deterministic outcomes, but is a technology shaped by economic and political forces. Although, not published in the list of journals included in this review, Kapoor and Dwivedi ( 2015 ) provided a detailed discussion on how social media was used intensively to transform electoral campaigns during India’s last general election. Similar use has also been reported in other contexts (for example, US presidential elections) by other studies.

Except one study (that is, Ameripour et al. 2010 ), the remaining reviewed under this category are very recent (2015–2016). These studies suggest the use of social media for increasing public engagement and transparency. Most of these studies used technical frameworks and modelling techniques to identify communication clusters and structures to derive insights relevant to open government and political campaigns.

4.3.12 Traditional v/s Social Media

Another set of studies investigate the differences between traditional and social media. A very early study by Wattal et al. ( 2010 ) compares the big money tactics for political campaigning with social media campaigning to reveal that Internet and the blogosphere can majorly influence campaigning and election results. Dewan and Ramaprasad ( 2014 ) examine the importance of new and old media within the music industry; they find radio positively and consistently affecting sales of songs and albums, and sales displacement from free online sampling overpowering positive word of mouth on sales. Miranda et al. ( 2016 ) compare traditional and social media to suggest that there are evils associated with the societal benefits of social media, and mass media has a detrimental effect on public discourse.

4.3.13 Testing Pre-Established Models

Some studies in literature restrict focus to pre-established models and relationships for evaluating varied aspects of social media. Fang et al. ( 2013 ) apply social network theories to suggest positive social influence on adoption probabilities. Levina and Arriaga ( 2014 ) use Bourdieu’s theory to explain the role of status markers and external sources in shaping social dynamics. Bharati et al. ( 2014 ) combine institutional theory and organizational innovation, whereby institutional pressures significantly predict absorptive capacity. Kekolahti et al. ( 2015 ) use Bayesian networks to indicate the decrease in perceived importance of communication with increase in age. Chang et al. ( 2015 ) integrate social distance with clustering methods to show shorter social distance results in satisfactory trust. Chung et al. ( 2017 ) employ the Technology Acceptance Model, and find positive effects between traveller readiness and ease of using geo-tagging. Zhao et al. ( 2016 ) use theory of planned behaviour and attribution theory to find that virtual rewards for sharing knowledge online undermine enjoyment. Yu et al. ( 2015 ) use the causation and heuristic theories to find that affect influences self disclosure indirectly by adjusting perceived benefits. Stanko ( 2016 ) employs Innovation Diffusion Theory, and finds that community interaction influences innovations that are used to aid a further innovation.

5 Discussion

In reviewing the publications gathered for this paper, commonalities have been observed in the myriad aspects of social media chosen for investigation. While many studies focussed their attention on understanding the behaviours of social media users, the others examined entrepreneurial participation and firm behaviour. A number of studies have focussed on the content being posted in online communities, several of which report on the repercussions of some of this content being used as an awareness medium during critical events and tragedies. Interesting revelations were made by authors studying the use of social media as a platform to render and/or receive help or support, and its incorporation in the field of healthcare and public administration. Value creation and the ill-effects associated with the use of social media at the workplace were also discussed. Several studies chose to test previously established hypotheses and models, while others compared traditional media with social media. Prior research has also provided insights into how firms have been using social media to market their products and services. These strategies run in parallel with the reviews and recommendations posted by users on social media sites, which have also received considerable attention in the literature. In summary, given that different types of social media platforms are emerging, and different consequences are associated with their use, research in this field will continue to evolve. This is also evidenced by the increased number of publications related to usage and impact over the past five years.

Social media platforms have essentially redefined the ways in which people choose to communicate and collaborate. An online community is a socio-technological space where a sense of communal identity drives engagement, which, in turn, enhances satisfaction (Ray et al. 2014 ). Intriguingly, social media are facilitating the emergence of virtual knowledge communities and self help networks. These web-based arrangements allow medical practice and research to access patient experience on a daily basis, which was not possible earlier. However, since research in this area is still in its early stages, it is difficult to assess the social complexity involved (e.g., stability of a networking platform that brings together patients with medical experts) in the process (Kallinikos and Tempini 2014 ).

Firms are recognizing social media as a prominent indicator of equity value that not only improves short-term performance, but also brings about long-term productivity benefits (Luo et al. 2013 ). The reviewed studies suggest that incorporatin social media in firms increases meta-knowledge (who’s who in an organization and who does what), which helps avoid knowledge duplication and promotes new ways of managing work (Leonardi 2014 ). Active management of social media has been observed to be more effective when those inside rather than outside a firm are engaged (Miller and Tucker 2013 ).

A specific line of research focuses on consumers, who substantially rely on online reviews before making any purchase decision. The research papers reviewed in this study exhibit diversity in studying authenticity of reviews for travel sites, social bookmarking and review sites, movie ratings, car manufacturing, and social media check-ins. Studies concur that there has been an exponential increase in the number of fake reviews, which is severely damaging the credibility of online reviews and putting business values at risk (Zhang et al. 2016 ). Some studies have also empirically identified consumers’ social media participation as a key metric contributing to the profitability of a business (Rishika et al. 2013 ). There evidently exists a direct correlation between consumer engagement on social media sites and their shopping intentions, which makes the issue of legitimate reviews all the more important for businesses and consumers. Although some studies have proposed models and algorithms that claim to filter authentic reviews from the rest, there is no single and straightforward solution reported yet that can fully combat this problem.

The issue of negative posts has received considerable attention in the literature. Prior research suggests that, overall, the impact of negative posts or electronic word of mouth is much higher than the positive ones that increase readership (Aggarwal et al. 2012 ). This problem is also prevalent in organizations. According to the studies reviewed here, organizations either prohibit employees from posting controversial content online, or employees themselves refrain from doing so, fearing negative repercussions. The same employees also share positive posts, and the adverse effect of the few negative posts is offset by positive ones. It is in a firm’s interests to encourage free will enterprise blogging to break down knowledge silos and yield higher employee productivity (Singh et al. 2014 ).

Businesses looking to monetize online content and social search rely heavily on substantial understanding of consumer behaviour in terms of their interaction and participation in social settings (Susarla et al. 2012 ). As consumers gain access to social platforms that offer free content consumption without an obligatory payment, the relationship between sampling and sales becomes all the more important (Dewan and Ramaprasad 2014 ). There is much research supporting the belief that online word of mouth has a critical role to play in a firm’s overall performance, and introducing a pay-wall (for previously free content) can significantly reduce the volume of word of mouth for popular content in comparison to niche content (Oh et al. 2016 ). Determining consumers’ social influence in an online community is of critical interest to managers, who seek to gain some leverage from the potential of social media (Shi et al. 2014 ). Some researchers find it difficult to distinguish social influence from users’ self selection preferences. From an analysis point of view, it then becomes necessary to separate factors affecting user membership in a social network from various types of social influence (Susarla et al. 2012 ).

The findings on the use of social media in emergencies suggests that a general user response in an online community is very different from that during a crisis, as those responses then become more reflexive. It has been observed that in times of crisis, lack of information sources coupled with too many situation reports being shared by the users of a social media platform can precipitate a rumour mill. It thus becomes incumbent on emergency responders to release reliable information, whilst trying to control collective anxiety in the community, to suppress the rumour threads (Oh et al. 2013 ). Furthermore, security concerns are increasingly common with involuntary online exposure on social media, and research on this subject suggests that information dissemination with network commonality affects privacy invasion and user bonding (Choi et al. 2015 ). It has been learnt that an individual’s or firm’s decision to withhold information in the interest of privacy can have both positive and negative effects on their utility (Burtch et al. 2016 ).

In reviewing the 132 publications on social media and social networking, it was observed that many studies relied primarily on social exchange theory, network theory and organization theory. Table  3 , shown below, lists other theories that have been used by at least two publications. There were several other theories that were used by at least once, including social role theory, game theory, structural holes theory, management and commitment theories, institutional theory, deterrence and mitigation theories, and self determination and self categorization theories. It is noteworthy that dominant IS adoption theories such as Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Dwivedi et al. 2017b , c ; Rana et al. 2017 ; Venkatesh et al. 2003 ), Technology Acceptance Model (Davis 1989 ) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (Kapoor et al. 2015 ) are less widely utilised.

In addition, our review of the literature on social media identified dominant research methods employed by scholars. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods were used by most of these studies. Closer scrutiny of the 132 publications reviewed in this study revealed the multitude of techniques applied for gathering data. Quantitative methods employed in these studies mostly adopted analytical techniques and surveys (Table  4 ). On the other hand, publications using qualitative methods mainly used case studies and interviews to gather the required data (Table 4 ). As expected, studies employing mixed methods used a combination of analytical and conceptual techniques, alongside surveys and content analysis (Table 4 ). Table 4 summarizes the various research approaches used by publications in our corpus.

The reviewed publications were also analyzed to determine the nature of the social network that were studied. Precisely 46 websites emerged, with Facebook, online communities, Twitter, Blogs and YouTube being most frequently targeted. Networks analysed by at least two or more studies have been identified in Table  5 . The other networks that received attention from the reviewed publications include Ebay, Flickr, Flixster, Gtalk, microsoft, MSN Space, Patientslikeme, New York Times, TripAdvisor.com , and Boxofficemojo.com . Studies also focussed on websites related to online news, Q&A websites, discussion groups and forums, online radio and television, and medical sites such as Webmd.com .

5.1 Limitations and Future Research Directions

Studies, such as the one by Cheung et al. ( 2012 ), that examine aspects of popular websites, warn against consumer perceptions being under the influence of brand equity of those websites. They recommend exercising caution while generalizing such findings in the context of other websites (Cheung et al. 2012 ). Rosenberger et al. ( 2017 ) identify a similar problem with relying on publicly available data, in that the underlying abstraction makes findings valid only for the specific social media site that was analyzed, whilst significantly restricting its generalizability to other sites. In a similar vein, other studies (Krasnova et al. 2015 ; Khan and Jarvenpaa 2010 ; Tow et al. 2010 ) have acknowledged the limitation of restricting their research to a single social media site, and recommend future researchers to adopt a cross-platform perspective for drawing significant inferences.

Mettler and Winter ( 2016 ) suggest that there is a paucity of studies on Enterprise Social Systems because of its novelty, and urge researchers to fill this void. Turel and Serenko ( 2012 ) identify the lack of conceptualization in the notion of technology addiction; they recognize that the process of defining it is still in the early stages, and is being debated across communities. For researchers interested in examining aspects of Twitter, Cheng et al. ( 2011 ) recommend incorporating the location metric focused on Twitter’s geo location feature allowing users to trace the latitude and longitude of Tweets. Another recommendation for Twitter related studies comes from Benthaus et al. ( 2016 ), where they suggest researchers should study user involvement differently, based on how often users choose to ‘like’ the content of a company. As for use of social media for marketing in firms, the literature has restricted focus to the resulting marketing benefits, with limited evidence supporting the effectiveness of social platforms for enhancing employee communications (Miller and Tucker 2013 ).

For behavioural studies, researchers need to be wary of the fact that motivation for users to adopt social media is different, often contingent on their culture (Chiu and Huang 2015 ; Shen et al. 2010 . It is also important to note that behavioural reactions are susceptible to change over time, and changing habits have a role to play (Chiu and Huang 2015 ). Longitudinal research is thus always expected to offer a better understanding of the research problem when the intended behavioural reactions transfer into behaviour with time (Maier et al. 2015a ). In studying online reviews and recommendations, researchers can assume that these reviews are independent of one another and remain static over time; however, Zhang and Piramuthu ( 2016 ) suggest that this may not be true and future researchers should now concentrate on how this has evolved, and if herding behaviour exists on such online platforms. In studying behaviours, it has also emerged that users develop discontinuance intentions after continuance intentions, with the latter never being completely replaced by the former. Turel ( 2015 ) thus recommends studying the initiation of discontinuance intentions, whilst identifying the factors leading to its dominance and actual discontinuance attempts.

Matook et al. ( 2015a ) identify that there is a need to study the aspect of trust formation between individuals on social media, where no personal relationships exist (unlike sites such as Facebook). Chung et al. ( 2017 ) identify that researchers often associate the use of certain social media with young users (for instance, Maier et al. 2015b ), and fail to study the usage perceptions across various ages (Vishwanath 2015 ). Van Osch and Steinfield ( 2016 ) suggest that future researchers should explore the potential of Enterprise Social Media to gain insights into the tools that support disentanglement of team boundary spanning. Finally, researchers have established that the lifecycle of information and communication technologies tend to be emancipatory in their infancy but eventually evolve into hegemonic tools. They warn social media policymakers to be wary of reproducing this pattern with digital media; the recommendation is to involve more citizens in the development of Internet governance framework, rather than resting decisions with the members of political or economic power (Miranda et al. 2016 ).

6 Conclusions

This paper discusses the findings of 132 publications contributing to the literature on social media. Multiple emergent themes in this body of literature have been identified to enhance understanding of the advances in social media research. By building on empirical findings of previous social media research, many new studies have been successful in theorizing the nature of most social media platforms. User-generated content allows collective understanding, which is a massive machine-human knowledge processing function capable of managing chaotic volumes of information. Some key conclusions relevant to stakeholders, including researchers, have been identified here.

Social media technologies are no longer perceived just as platforms for socialization and congregation, but are being acknowledged for their ability to encourage aggregation.

In reviewing the 132 publications on social media and social networking, it was observed that most studies used social exchange theory, network theory and organization theory to support their studies.

Facebook, online communities, and twitter are the three most popular networks targeted by publications in the field of social media research.

Publications in 2011 were still reporting user-generated content as a new type of online content. However, the last six years have seen tremendous scholarly progression in discussing the many applications of social networking, highlighting the highs and lows associated with its use.

Majority of the publications reviewed in this study are focussed on behavioural side of social media, reviews, and integration of social media for marketing and organizational purposes.

Many publications in the year 2013 concentrated their efforts in investigating the very popular aspect of reviews and recommendations on social networks.

Publications have become more focussed on studying social commerce across networking sites, particularly, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and so on between 2015 and 2016.

Publications have not shown much interest in support-seeking posts and negative stigma attached to social media use after the year 2015.

Most studies unanimously acknowledge social media for its information sharing and information exchange capabilities, with a focussed group of studies recognizing its effectiveness during natural disasters and critical events.

Almost all publications studying information sharing during natural disasters and critical events focus on Twitter data.

Publications on administration and political contexts were particularly found in 2010 and 2016, with no interest expressed in these contexts between 2011 and 2015.

With information systems now expanding beyond organizational peripheries to become a part of the larger societal context, it is important for strategic information systems research to delve into the competitive setting of dynamic social systems. Online communities are introducing extrinsic rewards that do not limit users’ intrinsic motivations. Research on such communities should expand to study the interplay between extrinisic and intrinsic rewards, particularly in terms of their ability to cultivate and sustain users’ intrinsic motivations. From an organizational perspective, research on social media should move past the conventional dyadic view of the relationship between an online community and a firm, and focus on reconceptualising online users as an ecosystem of stakeholders. Social media has re-established the dynamics between organizations, employees, and consumers. Given the rise in number of publications focussing on workplace setting since 2014, future researchers should aim to analyze stakeholders’ potential in adopting social media tools to successfully accomplish their work goals. As for the limitations of this collective review, publications reviewed here were limited to only nine journals. This potentially means studies with significant contributions to social media literature published in other journals have been overlooked. Future researchers can look to overcome such exclusions and focus on the overall review of literature on social media platforms. Future reviews may focus on reviewing articles published in a larger number of IS journals related to a specific type of social media (i.e. social networking sites, blogs), or specific issues related to social media use, such as information load, stress, and impact on productivity. Despite these limitations, our study provides a comprehensive and robust intellectual framework for social media research that would be of value to adacemics and practitioners alike.

TITLE: (“Social Media” or “social networking” or “facebook” or “linkedin” or “instagram” or “twitter”)

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Essay on Social Media – Evolution & Impact on Society

Introduction:.

Social media has become an integral part of modern society, revolutionizing the way people communicate, interact, and share information. With platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, individuals can connect instantly across the globe, transcending geographical barriers. However, the pervasive influence of social media extends far beyond mere communication; it has transformed various aspects of human interaction, culture, business, and even politics. This essay explores the evolution, significance, and impact of social media on society.

Evolution of Social Media:

The roots of social media can be traced back to the early days of the internet with platforms like Six Degrees, which allowed users to create profiles and connect with others. However, it wasn’t until the emergence of platforms like MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn in the early 2000s that social media began to gain widespread popularity. These platforms offered users new ways to communicate, share content, and build online communities.

The Rise of Social Networking:

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter quickly became dominant forces in the realm of social media. They facilitated connections between individuals, enabling them to share updates, photos, and thoughts in real-time. These platforms also introduced concepts like “likes,” “shares,” and “retweets,” which became integral to measuring popularity and engagement.

Visual Content and Influence:

The evolution of smartphones and high-speed internet paved the way for the rise of visual-centric platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. These platforms emphasized visual content such as photos and videos, allowing users to share moments of their lives in a more immersive way. Influencers, individuals who amassed large followings, emerged as prominent figures, shaping trends and influencing consumer behavior.

The Impact of Social Media on Society:

Social media has had a profound impact on various aspects of society, including:

• Communication: Social media has democratized communication, allowing individuals to connect with others regardless of geographical distance. However, concerns have arisen regarding the quality of communication, with some arguing that online interactions lack depth and nuance.
• Relationships: Social media has altered the dynamics of personal relationships, enabling individuals to maintain connections with friends and family members across the globe. However, it has also been associated with feelings of loneliness, jealousy, and inadequacy, as users compare their lives to curated portrayals on social media.
• Culture and Identity: Social media has influenced cultural trends and the formation of identity, shaping how individuals express themselves and interact with others. It has also facilitated the rise of online subcultures and communities based on shared interests and identities.
• Business and Marketing: Social media has transformed the landscape of marketing and advertising, providing businesses with new avenues to reach and engage with consumers. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer targeted advertising options, allowing businesses to tailor their messaging to specific demographics.
• Politics and Activism: Social media has become a powerful tool for political communication, enabling politicians to connect with constituents and mobilize supporters. It has also played a role in political activism, facilitating movements such as the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter.

Conclusion:

Social media has become an indispensable part of modern society, reshaping the way people communicate, interact, and engage with the world around them. While it offers numerous benefits, including increased connectivity and access to information, it also presents challenges such as privacy concerns, online harassment, and the spread of misinformation. As social media continues to evolve, it is essential to critically examine its impact on society and strive to harness its potential for positive change.

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Social Media Essay: A Comprehensive Guide

• Emily Scott

In an age when one tweet can start a global conversation and an Instagram picture may change trends, it's amazing to realize that the typical person spends about 2 hours and 31 minutes every day on social media sites. That's more than 900 hours a year spent scrolling, enjoying, and sharing in the huge digital world. As we grow more enmeshed in the fabric of online communities, the need of understanding and communicating the dynamics of social media through the written word, particularly in a social media essay, becomes clearer. So, why begin on the adventure of writing an essay about this common feature of modern life? 

Social Media Essay Introduction

In this post, we'll look at how to write an essay on social media and why these narratives exist, as well as a variety of other interesting topics. From the heartbeat of internet relationships to the rhythm of good narrative, we'll walk you through the process, giving tips on structure, technique, and the creative soul that distinguishes each essay. And whether you're seeking assistance or wondering 

Why Write a Social Media Essay

In a world filled with hashtags, filters, and the continual hum of notifications, sitting down to write an essay about social media may appear as out of place as a cassette tape in a streaming era. However, there's something strangely cathartic, almost rebellious, about pausing in the midst of 280-character wisdom to delve deeper into the why of our digital existence.

So, what exactly is a social media essay, and why would you write one? It's more than just a test of intellectual curiosity. It's a personal trip, a meditative break in the never-ending scroll. While writing the essay, we get the ability to articulate the intangible, to give life to the pixels that dance across our screens. It's an opportunity to make sense of the chaos, find meaning in the memes, and, perhaps, learn a little more about ourselves in this digital wilderness.

Let's be honest: our online lives revolve around memes, viral challenges, and meticulously edited selfies. So, why bother wrestling with words and paragraphs in a world when brevity reigns supreme? The solution lies in the art of unraveling the digital fabric that surrounds us.

There's something magical in articulating the dance between the sublime and the banal that happens within the limits of our screens. An article serves as a lens, focusing our attention on the nuances of social media dynamics, such as internal jokes that become global phenomena, the ripple effect of a well-timed retweet, and the quiet conversations that occur in the comment sections.

6 Key Tips for Writing a Social Media Essay

Now that we've embarked on a journey of writing essays about the digital landscape, it's only fair to arm ourselves with a few reliable tools. Consider these guidelines to be your compass, guiding you through the sometimes turbulent, often unforeseen waters of writing a social media essay.

Define your angle : Choose a specific aspect of social media to focus on. Will you explore its impact on education, mental health, political discourse, or something else entirely? Having a clear angle will guide your research and make your essay more cohesive.

Research like a pro : Don't just rely on personal anecdotes or opinions. Dig into academic journals, credible news sources, and relevant statistics to support your arguments. Consider interviewing experts or everyday users of social media to gain diverse perspectives.

Strike a balance : Acknowledge both the positive and negative impacts of social media. Avoid portraying it as a simple "good" or "bad" phenomenon. Show your critical thinking skills by presenting a nuanced discussion of its complexities.

Engage your audience : Use vivid language, relatable examples, and even humor (if appropriate) to keep your reader hooked. Remember, you're competing with the constant distractions of social media itself, so make your essay engaging and thought-provoking.

Support your claims : Every point you make should be backed up with evidence. This could include factual data, quotes from experts, or personal stories that illustrate your arguments. Use relevant and credible sources to strengthen your essay's credibility.

Conclude with a bang : Don't just summarize your points. Offer a thoughtful conclusion that ties everything together and leaves your reader with something to ponder. Perhaps propose solutions to identified problems or suggest areas for further research.

Social Media Essay Topics

In the huge world of social media, where every like and share adds to the digital story, selecting the proper social media essay titles and topics becomes an important compass for inquiry. Let's look at thought-provoking themes that will not only hold your interest but also spark thoughtful discussions about the complexities of our linked world.

Individual & Identity:

The impact of social media on self-esteem and body image.

How social media shapes our sense of identity and belonging.

The rise of "fake personas" and the concept of online authenticity.

Social media and the pressure to conform to unrealistic beauty standards.

The impact of social media on mental health and anxiety.

Society & Culture:

The role of social media in spreading misinformation and propaganda.

The rise of "echo chambers" and political polarization.

How social media influences social movements and activism.

The influence of social media on conventional media and journalism.

The ethics of data gathering and privacy issues on social networking.

Business & Marketing:

The effectiveness of social media marketing for businesses and brands.

The development of influencer marketing and its effects on consumer behavior.

Social media advertising presents both obstacles and opportunity.

The ethical considerations of targeted advertising and data use.

The future of social media and its role in the global economy.

Specific Platforms:

The unique impact of specific platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc.

The evolution of social media platforms and their changing features.

The impact of social media on specific demographics like teenagers, young adults, or seniors.

The ethical concerns and controversies surrounding specific platforms.

The future of specific platforms and their potential impact on society.

If these subjects sparked your attention, you'll probably find persuasive essay ideas to be just as fascinating! Dive into our post to discover a selection of possibilities that can catch your interest and inspire your next writing project.

Wrapping Up

As our university essay writing service professionals wrap up this post, we've explored the emotional intricacies, societal reflections, and transformative potentials buried in our digital narratives. An article on social media offers a glimpse into the delicate dance of our online lives, encouraging introspection, empathy, and knowledge of other stories. Allow your articles to honestly reflect, sparking discussions that deepen our collective experience in this ever-changing digital universe.

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6 facts about americans and tiktok.

Increasing shares of U.S. adults are turning to the short-form video sharing platform TikTok in general and for news .

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to better understand Americans’ use and perceptions of TikTok. The data for this analysis comes from several Center surveys conducted in 2023.

More information about the surveys and their methodologies, including the sample sizes and field dates, can be found at the links in the text.

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This is the latest analysis in Pew Research Center’s ongoing investigation of the state of news, information and journalism in the digital age, a research program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

This analysis draws from several Pew Research Center reports on Americans’ use of and attitudes about social media, based on surveys conducted in 2023. For more information, read:

Americans’ Social Media Use

How u.s. adults use tiktok.

• Social Media and News Fact Sheet
• Teens, Social Media and Technology 2023

At the same time, some Americans have concerns about the Chinese-owned platform’s approach to data privacy and its potential impact on national security. Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill that, if passed in the Senate and signed into law, would restrict TikTok’s ability to operate in the United States.

Here are six key facts about Americans and TikTok, drawn from Pew Research Center surveys.

A third of U.S. adults – including a majority of adults under 30 – use TikTok. Around six-in-ten U.S. adults under 30 (62%) say they use TikTok, compared with 39% of those ages 30 to 49, 24% of those 50 to 64, and 10% of those 65 and older.

In a 2023 Center survey , TikTok stood out from other platforms we asked about for the rapid growth of its user base. Just two years earlier, 21% of U.S. adults used the platform.

A majority of U.S. teens use TikTok. About six-in-ten teens ages 13 to 17 (63%) say they use the platform. More than half of teens (58%) use it daily, including 17% who say they’re on it “almost constantly.”

A higher share of teen girls than teen boys say they use TikTok almost constantly (22% vs. 12%). Hispanic teens also stand out: Around a third (32%) say they’re on TikTok almost constantly, compared with 20% of Black teens and 10% of White teens.

In fall 2023, support for a U.S. TikTok ban had declined. Around four-in-ten Americans (38%) said that they would support the U.S. government banning TikTok, down from 50% in March 2023. A slightly smaller share (27%) said they would oppose a ban, while 35% were not sure. This question was asked before the House of Representatives passed the bill that could ban the app.

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents were far more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to support a TikTok ban (50% vs. 29%), but support had declined across both parties since earlier in the year.

Adults under 30 were less likely to support a ban than their older counterparts. About three-in-ten adults under 30 (29%) supported a ban, compared with 36% of those ages 30 to 49, 39% of those ages 50 to 64, and 49% of those ages 65 and older.

In a separate fall 2023 survey, only 18% of U.S. teens said they supported a ban. 

A relatively small share of users produce most of TikTok’s content. About half of U.S. adult TikTok users (52%) have ever posted a video on the platform. In fact, of all the TikTok content posted by American adults, 98% of publicly accessible videos come from the most active 25% of users .

Those who have posted TikTok content are more active on the site overall. These users follow more accounts, have more followers and are more likely to have filled out an account bio.

Although younger U.S. adults are more likely to use TikTok, their posting behaviors don’t look much different from those of older age groups.

About four-in-ten U.S. TikTok users (43%) say they regularly get news there. While news consumption on other social media sites has declined or remained stagnant in recent years, the share of U.S. TikTok users who get news on the site has doubled since 2020, when 22% got news there.

Related: Social Media and News Fact Sheet

TikTok news consumers are especially likely to be:

• Young. The vast majority of U.S. adults who regularly get news on TikTok are under 50: 44% are ages 18 to 29 and 38% are 30 to 49. Just 4% of TikTok news consumers are ages 65 and older.
• Women. A majority of regular TikTok news consumers in the U.S. are women (58%), while 39% are men. These gender differences are similar to those among news consumers on Instagram and Facebook.
• Democrats. Six-in-ten regular news consumers on TikTok are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents, while a third are Republicans or GOP leaners.
• Hispanic or Black. Three-in-ten regular TikTok news users in the U.S. are Hispanic, while 19% are Black. Both shares are higher than these groups’ share of the adult population. Around four-in-ten (39%) TikTok news consumers are White, although this group makes up 59% of U.S. adults overall .

A majority of Americans (59%) see TikTok as a major or minor threat to U.S. national security, including 29% who see the app as a major threat. Our May 2023 survey also found that opinions vary across several groups:

• About four-in-ten Republicans (41%) see TikTok as a major threat to national security, compared with 19% of Democrats.
• Older adults are more likely to see TikTok as a major threat: 46% of Americans ages 65 and older say this, compared with 13% of those ages 18 to 29.
• U.S. adults who do not use TikTok are far more likely than TikTok users to believe TikTok is a major threat (36% vs. 9%).

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About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Is humanity a passing phase in evolution of intelligence and civilisation?

Living Computers: Replicators, Information Processing, and the Evolution of Life

• By Alvis Brazma
• April 2 nd 2024

“The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication…”

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy (1979)

“I think it’s quite conceivable that humanity is just a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence.”

Geoffrey Hinton (2023)

In light of the recent spectacular developments in artificial intelligence (AI), questions are now being asked about whether AI could present a danger to humanity. Can AI take over from us? Is humanity a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence and civilisation? Let’s look at these questions from the long-term evolutionary perspective.

Life has existed on Earth for more than three billion years, humanity for less than 0.01% of this time, and civilisation for even less. A billion years from now, our Sun will start expanding and the Earth will soon become too hot for life. Thus, evolutionarily, life on our planet is already reaching old age, while human civilisation has just been born. Can AI help our civilisation to outlast the habitable Solar system and, possibly, life itself, as we know it presently?

Defining life is not easy, but few will disagree that an essential feature of life is its ability to process information. Every animal brain does this, every living cell does this, and even more fundamentally, evolution is continuously processing information residing in the entire collection of genomes on Earth, via the genetic algorithm of Darwin’s survival of the fittest. There is no life without information.

It can be argued that until very recently on the evolutionary timescale, i.e. until human language evolved, most information that existed on Earth and was durable enough to last for more than a generation, was recorded in DNA or in some other polymer molecules. The emergence of human language changed this; with language, information started accumulating in other media, such as clay tablets, paper, or computer memory chips. Most likely, information is now growing faster in the world’s libraries and computer clouds than in the DNA of all genomes of all species.

We can refer to this “new” information as cultural information as opposed to the genetic information of DNA. Cultural information is the basis of a civilisation; genetic information is the basis of life underpinning it. Thus, if genetic information got too damaged, life, cultural information, and civilisation itself would disappear soon. But could this change in the future? There is no civilisation without cultural information, but can there be a civilisation without genetic information? Can our civilisation outlast the Solar system in the form of AI? Or will genetic information always be needed to underpin any civilisation?

For now, AI exists only as information in computer hardware, built and maintained by humans. For AI to exist autonomously, it would need to “break out” of the “information world” of bits and bytes into the physical world of atoms and molecules. AI would need robots maintaining and repairing the hardware on which it is run, recycling the materials from which this hardware is built, and mining for replacement ones. Moreover, this artificial robot/computer “ecosystem” would not only have to maintain itself, but as the environment changes, would also have to change and adapt.

Life, as we know it, has been evolving for billions of years. It has evolved to process information and materials by zillions of nano-scale molecular “machines” all working in parallel, competing as well as backing each other up, maintaining themselves and the ecosystem supporting them. The total complexity of this machinery, also called the biosphere, is mindboggling. In DNA, one bit of information takes less than 50 atoms. Given the atomic nature of physical matter, every part in life’s machinery is as miniature as possible in principle. Can AI achieve such a complexity, robustness, and adaptability by alternative means and without DNA?

Although this is hard to imagine, cultural evolution has produced tools not known to biological evolution. We can now record information as electron density distribution in a silicon crystal at 3 nm scale. Information can be processed much faster in a computer chip than in a living cell. Human brains contain about 10 11 neurons each, which probably is close to the limit how many neurons a single biological brain can contain. Though this is more than computer hardware currently offers to AI, for future AI systems, this is not a limit. Moreover, humans have to communicate information among each other via the bottleneck of language; computers do not have such a limitation.

Where does this all leave us? Will the first two phases in the evolution of life—information mostly confined to DNA, and then information “breaking out” of the DNA harness but still underpinned by information in DNA, be followed by the third phase? Will information and its processing outside living organisms become robust enough to survive and thrive without the underpinning DNA? Will our civilisation be able to outlast the Solar system, and if so, will this happen with or without DNA?

To get to that point, our civilisation first needs to survive its infancy. For now, AI cannot exist without humans. For now, AI can only take over from us if we help it to do so. And indeed, among all the envisioned threats of AI, the most realistic one seems to be deception and spread of misinformation. In other words, corrupting information. Stopping this trend is our biggest near-term challenge.

Feature image by Daniel Falcão via Unsplash .

Alvis Brazma is a Senior Scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) - European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), Cambridge, UK. He has worked in the discipline of bioinformatics-the science looking at biology from the perspective of information-from its very earliest days. He has published over 150 scientific papers on a wide range of subjects, from computer science to biology (and the links between the two), including in the highest impact journals such as Nature and Science, and has been cited almost 50,000 times.

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Cerianne Robertson Named 2024-26 George Gerbner Postdoctoral Fellow

At USC Annenberg, Robertson has studied media narratives and discourses that sustain power relations, particularly for cites and sports mega-events.

By Gillian Duffalo

Cerianne Robertson has been named the 2024-26 George Gerbner Postdoctoral Fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Her appointment will begin September 1, 2024.  

The George Gerbner Fellowship, named in honor of the school’s second dean, is awarded in alternate years to a graduate of Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication or USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The faculty of the opposite school selects the recipient from the group of applicants.

Robertson will earn her Ph.D. in Communication in May 2024 after completing her dissertation, “The Stadium and the Community: Refusal, Resistance, and Negotiation Around Los Angeles’ Olympic Stadiums.”  

Her research investigates the politics of stadium-centered development in Los Angeles in the context of the region’s preparations to host the Olympics in 2028. At USC, she received the Haynes Lindley Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for 2022-2023 and the Annenberg Graduate School Fellowship for 2023-2024. 

Prior to beginning her doctoral work at Annenberg, Robertson completed a master’s degree in Sociology at the University of Cambridge, where her thesis also related to the Olympics: “Contesting the media event: Alternative media at the Rio 2016 Olympics.” She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies from Harvard University.

Robertson focuses on how power is formed, networked, wielded, and challenged in contests over cities’ futures. She researches spectacular urban development projects and sports mega-events, as well as everyday struggles for survival and dignity.  

Her work has appeared in academic journals such as International Journal of Communication, Journal of Urban Technology, Interface, and Communication & Sport. She has been invited to write book chapters that have been published in Oxford University Press and Routledge.

She has worked in the United States, South Africa, Botswana, Germany, and Brazil. Her academic service includes ad hoc reviews for the Journal of Urban Affairs and International Journal of Communication. In May 2022, she co-organized a panel at the International Communication Association conference, “Olympics, Media, Discourse, and Power.” She has also presented at other conferences including those for the American Association of Geographers, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, and American Sociological Association.

• Attitudes & Persuasion
• Media Effects

Research Areas

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2024 Ethics Essay Contest winners announced

Claire Martino , a junior from New Berlin, Wis., majoring in applied mathematics and data science, is the winner of the 2024 Ethics Essay Contest for the essay "Artificial Intelligence Could Probably Write This Essay Better than Me."

The second place entry was from Morgan J. Janes , a junior from Rock Island, Ill., majoring in biology, for the essay "The Relevant History and Medical and Ethical Future Viability of Xenotransplantation."

Third place went to Alyssa Scudder , a senior from Lee, Ill., majoring in biology, for the essay "The Ethicality of Gene Alteration in Human Embryos."

Dr. Dan Lee announced the winners on behalf of the board of directors of the Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics, sponsor of the contest. The winner will receive an award of $100, the second-place winner an award of $50, and the third-place winner an award of $25.

Honorable mentions went to Grace Palmer , a senior art and accounting double major from Galesburg, Ill., for the essay "The Ethiopian Coffee Trade: Is Positive Change Brewing?" and Sarah Marrs , a sophomore from Carpentersville, Ill., majoring in political science and women, gender and sexuality studies, for the essay "Dating Apps as an Outlet to Promote Sexual Autonomy among Disabled Individuals: an Intersectional Approach to Change."

The winning essays will be published in Augustana Digital Commons .

The Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics was established to enrich the teaching-learning experiences for students by providing greater opportunities for them to meet and interact with community leaders and to encourage discussions of issues of ethical significance through campus programs and community outreach.

Dr. Lee, whose teaching responsibilities since joining the Augustana faculty in 1974 have included courses in ethics, serves as the center's director.

If you have news, send it to [email protected] ! We love hearing about the achievements of our alumni, students and faculty.

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Angel Reese Bids Farewell to LSU, College Basketball With Heartfelt Video Essay

• Author: Karl Rasmussen

In this story:

Angel Reese announced Wednesday morning that she intends to enter the 2024 WNBA draft following LSU's season-ending defeat against Caitlin Clark and Iowa in Monday's Elite Eight .

Shortly after her announcement, Reese bid farewell to the Tigers and all of her fans across the country on a more personal level, sharing a heartfelt video essay to her social media accounts. In the video, Reese thanked her supporters and expressed her gratitude to those who helped her along her journey.

"I'm leaving college with everything I've ever wanted," Reese said. "A degree. A national championship. And this platform I could have never imagined. This is for the girls that look like me, that's going to speak up on what they believe in, it's unapologetically you. To grow up in sports and have an impact on what's coming next.

"This was a difficult decision, but I trust the next chapter because I know the author. Bayou Barbie, out."

Grateful for these last four years and excited for this next chapter. #BAYOUBARBIEOUT pic.twitter.com/EvkzUW08JV — Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) April 3, 2024

Reese played two seasons at LSU after transferring from the University of Maryland. With the Tigers, she racked up a multitude of accolades and won a national championship last season, vaulting herself into the national spotlight in the process. Across 69 games for LSU, Reese averaged 20.9 points and 14.4 rebounds.

After wrapping up a legendary college career and bidding an emotional farewell to her fans, Reese has officially declared her intention to enter the WNBA draft, where she projects as a first-round pick in what figures to be a loaded draft class.

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Trump's social media company loses billions in value as stock price swings wildly

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: April 3, 2024 / 6:14 PM EDT / CBS News

Former President Donald Trump's fledgling media business is losing its sheen among investors a week after going public, with a sharp reversal in the company's stock price lopping $4 billion off its value.

Monday's plunge in Trump Media & Technology Group's shares, which debuted on the Nasdaq Composite Index on March 25 under the ticker "DJT" (after the former president's initials), comes as it disclosed mounting losses in a  regulatory filing . The company also noted that its accountant had issued a warning that its losses "raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern."

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, whose primary asset is the Truth Social platform, tumbled 21% on Monday, closing at $48.66, or below its opening price last Monday of $49.90 per share. It also represents a 39% plunge from the stock's high of $79.38 on March 26.  

Since then, the stock has whipsawed, rallying 6% on Tuesday, but then dipping 5.4% on Wednesday, when it closed at $48.81, again below its opening price when Trump Media went public last week.

Still, the stock also remains higher than before a deal that took Trump's media company public last week. The shares had previously traded under the name Digital World Acquisition Corp., a shell company designed to take Truth Social public. Even after Monday's dip, the stock has surged 179% this year.

As of the close of trading on Tuesday, Trump, who owns 57% of the newly public company, has lost $2.5 billion — at least on paper — because of the stock slide. His stake is now worth $3.8 billion, down from $6.3 billion at the stock's peak last week.

Worth more than Harley-Davidson

To be sure, Trump Media continues to maintain a heady market capitalization for a business that's in the red and that booked just $4.1 million in revenue last year. Even after Monday's stock plunge, the business is worth $6.7 billion, making it more valuable than companies like Bausch & Lomb, Alcoa Corp. or Harley-Davidson, all of which have annual revenue in the billions. 

Trump Media's soaring valuation has prompted comparisons with so-called "meme" stocks like GameStop, which typically attract individual investors based on social media buzz, rather than the tried-and-true yardsticks relied on by institutional investors, such as profitability and revenue growth. 

Yet Truth Social has positioned itself as an alternative to more established tech giants such as Meta's Facebook, which also endured losses in its early years. 

"GameStop was the meme stock of a lifetime, but Trump Media has put it to shame," Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told the Associated Press last week. 

Despite the attention around Trump Media's debut on the public market, it's not giving a much of a boost to Truth Social, according to Similarweb. The web analytics firm found that traffic from daily active users of the platform fell 23% last week. 

"Even during the peak of excitement over the IPO (plus the release of a Trump-branded Bible), usage was less than 1% higher than the previous week," Similarweb said in a new report.

Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes: No debt

In a statement  on Tuesday, Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes said Truth Social "has no debt and over $200 million in the bank, opening numerous possibilities for expanding and enhancing our platform."

But details about Trump Media's finances show that the company's revenue is far lower than other social media platforms. On Monday, the company said it booked $4.1 million in revenue last year, compared with $1.5 million in the year-earlier period. 

That means Trump Media had about $750,000 in revenue in the fourth quarter, as the company had previously disclosed sales of $3.38 million for the first nine months of 2023. By comparison, Reddit, another money-losing tech company that recently went public, booked $804 million in revenue last year.

Trump Media & Technology Group also posted a loss of $58 million in 2023, compared with a profit of $50 million in the prior year. 

Additionally, it noted that its accountant flagged that the company's losses raise doubts about its ability to continue operating. Such a warning, however, reflects the company's current situation; the company could grow its user base, revenue and reverse its losses, putting it on a more stable path. 

Trump's stake locked up

Trump stands to make billions from his majority stake in Truth Social's parent company, a windfall that comes at an opportune time for the former president given mounting financial pressures . 

Even so, Trump is unable to access the stock, at least for now. That's because Trump and other company executives are subject to a so-called "lock-up" provision that bars them from selling the stock for at least six months. Such provisions are common in IPOs as a way to keep insiders from dumping shares immediately after a company goes public.

"Trump cannot sell his stock in the company for six months, making it difficult to translate Truth Social's value into liquid cash that can be spent on the campaign," Europa Group analysts said in a report. "That outlook could change over the coming months, particularly if Trump obtains the waiver or can find a lender willing to accept shares in Trump Media as collateral."

Many of the investors in DJT appear to be small investors who want to show their support for the former president by buying shares in the company. On Truth Social, some of these shareholders posted rebuttals about the stock decline, blaming short sellers, or people who make bets that a stock will decline. 

Others predicted that Trump Media's shares will soon rebound, while others blamed the stock decline on the former president's detractors. "They don't like President @realDonaldTrump and his policies, especially his creation, Truth Social, so they are trying to destroy his company, DJT," one supporter on a DJT group on Truth Social wrote. 

• Donald Trump
• Truth Social

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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