Social Media: Defining, Developing, and Divining

Abstract

What is a social medium, and how may one moderate, isolate, and influence communicative processes within? Although scholars assume an inherent understanding of social media based on extant technology, there is no commonly accepted definition of what social media are, both functionally and theoretically, within communication studies. Given this lack of understanding, cogent theorizing regarding the uses and effects of social media has been limited. This work first draws on extant definitions of social media and subcategories (e.g., social network sites) from public relations, information technology, and management scholarship, as well as the popular press, to develop a definition of social media precise enough to embody these technologies yet robust enough to remain applicable in 2035. It then broadly explores emerging developments in the features, uses, and users of social media for which future theories will need to account. Finally, it divines and prioritizes challenges that may not yet be apparent to theorizing communication processes with and in mercurial social media. We address how social media may uniquely isolate and test communicative principles to advance our understanding of human–human and human–computer interaction. In all, this article provides a common framework to ground and facilitate future communication scholarship and beyond.

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