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An image of social media statistics over the years.

Social media are interactive technologies that allow the creation or sharing and exchanging of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While multiple challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the broad variety of stand-alone and built-in social-media services currently available, there are some common features:

Social media are interactive web Internet-based applications. User-generated content, such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions—is the livelihood of social media. Users create service (delete -) specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social (delete -) media organization. Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those from other individuals or groups. Users usually access social media services through web-based apps on desktops and laptops or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets). As users engage with these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms (delete through) which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, participate, and modify user-generated content or self-curated content posted online. Additionally, social media is used to document memories; learn about and explore things; advertise oneself; and form friendships along with the growth of ideas from the creation of blogs, podcasts, videos, and gaming sites. This changing relationship between human and technology is the focus of the emerging field of technological studies.[1]

Some of the most popular social media websites, with over 100 million registered users, include Facebook (and its associated Facebook Messenger), TikTok, WeChat, Instagram, QZone, Weibo, Twitter, Tumblr, Baidu Tieba, and LinkedIn. Depending on interpretation, other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services include: YouTube, QQ, Quora, Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, Snapchat, Pinterest, Viber, Reddit, Discord, VK, Microsoft Teams, and more. Wiki (add ') s are examples of collaborative content creation.

Many social media outlets differ from traditional media (e.g., print magazines and newspapers, (delete and) TV and radio broadcasting) in a variety of ways, including quality, reach, frequency, usability, relevancy, and permanence. Additionally, social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system. For example, many sources to many receivers, while traditional media outlets operate under a transmission model (i.e., one source to many receivers). For instance, a newspaper is delivered to many subscribers and a radio station broadcasts the same programs to an entire city.

Mobile social media refers to the use of social media on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Mobile social media are (delete a) useful applications of mobile marketing because the creation, exchange, and circulation of user-generated content can assist companies with marketing research, communication, and relationship development.[2] Mobile social media differ from others because they incorporate the current location of the user (location-sensitivity) or the time delay between sending and receiving messages (delete time-sensitivity).

There has been rapid growth in the number of U.S. patent applications that cover new technologies that are related to social media, and the number of them that are published has been growing rapidly over the past five years. As of 2020, there are over 5000 published patent applications in the United States. As many as 7000 applications may be currently on file including those that have not been published yet; however, only slightly over 100 of these applications have issued as patents, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents, i.e., patents that outline and claim new methods of doing business.

Mobile social media

Social media promotes users to share content with others and display content in order to enhance a particular brand or product[3]. Social media allows people to be creative and share interesting ideas with their followers or fans. Certain social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are places where users share specific political or sports content. Many reporters and journalists produce updates and information on sports and political news. It can truly give users pertinent and necessary information to stay up to date on relevant news stories and topics.

Usage

In June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a nationally representative survey by Cartoon Network and the Cyberbullying Research Center surveyed American's tweens (ages 9–12) found that the most popular overall application in the past year was YouTube (67%). (In general, as age increased, the tweens were more likely to have used major social media apps and games.) Similarly, a nationally representative survey by Common Sense Media conducted in 2020 of Americans ages 13–18 found that YouTube was also the most popular social media service (used by 86% of 13- to 18-year-old Americans in the past year). As children grow older, they utilize certain social media services on a frequent basis and often use the application YouTube to consume content. The use of social media certainly increases as people grow older and it has become a customary thing to have an Instagram and Twitter account.

Sleep disturbance edit

According to a study released in 2017 by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, the link between sleep disturbance and the use of social media was clear. It concluded that blue light had a part to play—and how often they logged on, rather than time spent on social media sites, was a higher predictor of disturbed sleep, suggesting "an obsessive 'checking'". Using a phone to look at social media before bed has become a popular trend among teenagers and this has led to a lack of sleep and inability to stay awake during school. Social media applications curate content that encourages users to keep scrolling to the point where they lose track of time.[4] The strong relationship of social media use and sleep disturbance has significant clinical ramifications for young adults' health and well-being. In a recent study, we have learned that people in the highest quartile for social media use per week report the most sleep disturbance. The median number of minutes of social media use per day is 61 minutes.

Emotional effects

A third emotional effect is the "fear of missing out" (FOMO), which is defined as the "pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent." FOMO has been classified by some as a form of social anxiety. It is associated with checking updates on friends' activities on social media. Some speculate that checking updates on friends' activities on social media may be associated with negative influences on people's psychological health and well-being because it could contribute to negative mood and depressed feelings. Looking at friends' stories or posts on various social media applications can lead users to feel left out and become upset because they are not having as fun as others. This is a very common issue between teen users of certain apps, and it continues to affect their personal well-being.[5]

  1. ^ Dennis, Amy (July 5, 2017). "5 Social Media Outlets Ruling the World". Nice Branding Agency. Retrieved October 10, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Williams, Raymond (1972). The Technology and the Society. Hanover, N.H. pp. 291–300.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Nikolinakou, Angeliki (January 2020). ""Do human values matter for promoting brands on social media? How social media users' values influence valuable brand‐related activities such as sharing, content creation, and reviews"". Retrieved November 14, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Levenson, Jessica (April 2016). "The association between social media use and sleep disturbance among young adults". Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals. 85: 36–41. {{cite journal}}: Check |url= value (help)
  5. ^ Roberts, James (July 26, 2019). "The Social Media Party: Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), Social Media Intensity, Connection, and Well-Being". International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction. 36: 386–392. {{cite journal}}: Check |url= value (help)