Social Media

Broad Definitions and Usage

Social media is an umbrella term that refers to a broad array of Internet-based computer programs and applications that invite user-generated content and audience participation, enable direct peer connection and networking, and offer a highly customizable information stream. The term social media comprises other, more specific concepts, such as Web 2.0 and social network sites (SNSs).

“Web 2.0” refers to the development of Internet-based applications that run in a Web browser, use of programming language that allows for dynamic in-browser interaction without hitting “reload,” and user-generated content. SNSs are Web sites on which users create profiles and articulate connections with other users. Notable social media include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Yelp, and Wikipedia.

The mid-2000s saw an explosion in the usage and influence of social media. The 2005 sale of MySpace for $580 million to News Corp., a large transnational media conglomerate, was an early sign that the commercial mass media landscape would change as a result of the influence of social media. Facebook, which opened to the public in 2006, claimed more than 900 million users per month worldwide as of April 2012. Other important historical events that highlight the growing influence of social media in the late 2000s and early 2010s include the 2008 presidential campaigns, during which Barack Obama announced his running mate over text message directly to Obama Web site subscribers before contacting members of the press, as well as the 2010 to 2011 Arab-world revolutions collectively known as the “Arab Spring,” which relied heavily on information dispersal over social media in the face of state-controlled traditional media.

Some of the earliest forms of social media were devoted to people of color. BlackPlanet, Asian Avenue, and MiGente in the early 2000s served as networking, dating, and community issues sites for minority populations. Since then, people of color have actively cultivated a presence on social media that takes advantage of their participatory qualities and democratizing potential. In contrast to traditional media, which require huge resources to produce and distribute to a wide audience, social media have a very low barrier to entry coupled with the potential for massive visibility. This has enabled a wider diversity of people to gain large followings over social media than via traditional media such as television or film, where people of color are often relegated to bit parts and stereotypical portrayals. Asian Americans, for example, claimed four of the top 20 YouTube channels in 2012, with comedian Ryan Higa alternating between the number one and number two most-subscribed channels on YouTube that year, with over 4 million subscribers. Michelle Phan, whose YouTube channel is devoted to beauty and makeup tips, was the most-subscribed-to woman on YouTube in 2012, with 1.5 million followers.

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