Popularity, Social Media and

The definition of popularity is context-specific: For young people, it is more related to accruing and maintaining social status than it is to being liked by the broadest number of peers. The act of being popular involves a variety of aggressive, risk-taking, and heteronormative practices and behaviors. For those young people born after the millennium, who do not perceive a great difference between being online and offline, the practice of being popular occurs across both spheres. It is important to consider how social media creates a space for peer popularity to be enacted and how it is distinct from offline behaviors. This entry examines the development of social media in the early 2000s, how it impacted popularity (e.g., by creating metrics to measure popularity), and ...