Title: Social media - Wikipedia
Headings: Social media
Social media
Contents
History of social media
Definition and features
Mobile social media
Elements and function
Viral content
Main article: Viral phenomenon
Bots
Main article: Internet bot
New social media technology
Main article: Software patent
Platform convergence
Statistics on usage and membership
Most popular social networking services
Usage
Use at the organizational level
Governments
Governments may use social media to (for example):
Law enforcement and investigations
Government Reputation Management
Businesses
Social media marketing
Politics
Hiring
Science
Academia
School admissions
Court cases
Use by individuals
As a news source
As a social tool
As a self-presentational tool
As a health behavior change and reinforcement tool
Impacts on users
Effects on individual and collective memory
Negative interpersonal interactions
Further information: Cyberbullying
Social comparison
Sleep disturbance
Emotional effects
Social impacts
Disparity
Political polarization
Stereotyping
Effects on youth communication
Criticism, debate and controversy
Trustworthiness and reliability
Data harvesting and data mining
Critique of activism
Ownership of content
Privacy
Criticism of commercialization
Debate over addiction
Debate over use in academic settings
Censorship by governments
Decentralization and open standards
Deplatforming
Reproduction of class distinctions
Use by extremist groups
2021 Storming of the United States Capitol Building
Deceased users
Guidelines for users who have died, by platform
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Content: Studying how the rhetoric that exists in the digital environment has become a crucial new process for many scholars. Observers have noted a wide range of positive and negative impacts of social media use. Social media can help to improve an individual's sense of connectedness with real or online communities and can be an effective communication (or marketing) tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties, and governments. Observers have also seen that there has been a rise in social movements using social media as a tool for communicating and organizing in times of political unrest. Contents
1
History of social media
1.1
Early computing
1.1.1
Data compression
1.2
Development of social-media platforms
2
Definition and features
2.1
Mobile social media
2.2
Elements and function
2.2.1
Viral content
2.2.2
Bots
2.2.3
New social media technology
2.3
Platform convergence
3
Statistics on usage and membership
3.1
Most popular social networking services
3.2
Usage
4
Use at the organizational level
4.1
Governments
4.1.1
Law enforcement and investigations
4.1.2
Government Reputation Management
4.2
Businesses
4.2.1
Social media marketing
4.3
Politics
4.4
Hiring
4.5
Science
4.6
Academia
4.7
School admissions
4.8
Court cases
5
Use by individuals
5.1
As a news source
5.2
As a social tool
5.3
As a self-presentational tool
5.4
As a health behavior change and reinforcement tool
6
Impacts on users
6.1
Effects on individual and collective memory
6.2
Negative interpersonal interactions
6.3
Social comparison
6.4
Sleep disturbance
6.5
Emotional effects
7
Social impacts
7.1
Disparity
7.2
Political polarization
7.3
Stereotyping
7.4
Effects on youth communication
8
Criticism, debate and controversy
8.1
Trustworthiness and reliability
8.1.1
Data harvesting and data mining
8.2
Critique of activism
8.3
Ownership of content
8.4
Privacy
8.5
Criticism of commercialization
8.6
Debate over addiction
8.7
Debate over use in academic settings
8.8
Censorship by governments
8.9
Decentralization and open standards
8.10
Deplatforming
8.11
Reproduction of class distinctions
8.12
Use by extremist groups
8.12.1
2021 Storming of the United States Capitol Building
9
Deceased users
10
See also
11
References
12
Further reading
13
External links
History of social media
Definition and features
The idea that social media are defined simply by their ability to bring people together has been seen as too broad, as this would suggest that fundamentally different technologies like the telegraph and telephone are also social media. The terminology is unclear, with some early researchers referring to social media as social networks or social networking services in the mid 2000s. A more recent paper from 2015 reviewed the prominent literature in the area and identified four common features unique to then-current social media services: Social media are Web 2.0 Internet-based applications. User-generated content (UGC) is the lifeblood of the social media organism. Users create service-specific profiles for the site or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.