2 Social media have been linked to highly significant political events, such as the Arab Spring revolution, as well as to widespread societal trends, including the shortening of individuals’ attention spans and the decline of print news media. 2, 8 In addition, each day 100 million active Twitter users send more than 65 million tweets, and two billion videos are viewed on YouTube.
2, 8 In 2012, Facebook users exceeded one billion people worldwide, a number that represents one-seventh of the world’s population. 5, 11 The use of social media is prevalent across all ages and professions and is pervasive around the world. 5, 11 In the U.S., the proportion of adults using social media has increased from 8% to 72% since 2005. Participation in social media by the general public has increased sharply over the past nine years. Virtual reality and gaming environments (Second Life) Knowledge/information aggregation (Wikipedia) Social networking (Facebook, MySpace, Google Plus, Twitter)Ĭontent production (blogs and microblogs ) 19 They may include blogs, social networks, video- and photo-sharing sites, wikis, or a myriad of other media, which can be grouped by purpose, serving functions such as: 4, 7, 8 Social media sites provide a variety of features that serve different purposes for the individual user. 2 – 6 Social media are also referred to as “Web 2.0” or “social networking.” 5 The term generally refers to Internet-based tools that allow individuals and communities to gather and communicate to share information, ideas, personal messages, images, and other content and, in some cases, to collaborate with other users in real time. The definition of “social media” is broad and constantly evolving.