Introduction to Social Media – Foundational Concepts

Lecturer & Context

• Speaker: Cameron McTurnan

  • Lecturer, UniSA Creative

  • Expertise: Public Relations, Professional Communication, Social Media

• Video focus: Social media use in contemporary society

• Pedagogical aim: Set the conceptual ground-work for the rest of the course

Guiding Questions of the Lecture

• $Q_1$ — What is social media?

  • Definitions, descriptive elements, historical evolution over the last $\approx 15$ years

• $Q_2$ — How do people use social media? (Previewed; developed in later videos)

  • Platform choice, user-generated content, Australian demographic patterns, social models

• $Q_3$ — What effects does social media have on society? (Previewed)

  • Interconnectivity, politics & activism, entertainment & celebrity culture

  • Negative externalities: disinformation, fake news, impacts on personal wellbeing

Warm-Up Reflection: “Explain Social Media on a Train”

• Likely ingredients of a layperson definition:

  • “Communication”

  • “Technology / mobile phones”

  • “Internet” or “online” component

• Sets up the complexity and plurality of possible definitions

Key Academic Definitions

• Boyd & Ellison (2007)

  • “Web-based systems that allow individuals to …”

  1. Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system

  2. Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection

  3. View & traverse their list of connections and those made by others

  • Strengths: Highlights platforms + network architecture

  • Limitation: Silent on user-generated content

• Safko (date not specified)

  • “Activities, practices and behavior among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge & opinions using conversational media.”

  • Conversational media = web apps enabling easy content transmission (text, pictures, video, audio)

  • Strength: Centers content creation & sharing

  • Limitation: Omits explicit networking mechanism

• Luttrell & Wallace (recent)

  • “Forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages & other content via the social sphere.”

  • Strengths: Synthesizes network + content; broad enough to future-proof the term

  • Does not anchor the definition to any specific platform (Facebook, TikTok, etc.)

Comparative Insights

• Boyd & Ellison ⟶ stresses platform architecture & social graphs

• Safko ⟶ stresses behavioral & content dimensions

• Luttrell & Wallace ⟶ merges both, yielding a holistic definition

• Pedagogical takeaway:

  • Social media = human element (communication, community)

  • Social media platforms / SNS = technological venues that facilitate it

Key Terminology

• Social Networking Sites (SNS): Technology platforms (e.g.
  Facebook, Twitter) that operationalize social media interactions.

• Traditional (Old) Media: Pre-Internet mass communication channels—postal service, radio, television, print.

• New Media: Any medium that exists on the World Wide Web—websites, virtual worlds, video games, social media.

• Web $2.0$: Design philosophy (late $1990s$ – early $2000s$) enabling interactive, user-generated, networked content.

Historical Evolution

• Popular myth: Social media “starts” with Facebook (founded $02/2004$)

  • Reality: Earlier antecedents & broader technological context

• All media could be labelled “social,” but definitions requiring an online component exclude postal service, etc.

• Social media nests inside new media within the wider media ecosystem

Web $2.0$ Paradigm Shift

• Pre-2.0 websites resembled one-way broadcast models; users were largely passive receivers

• Web $2.0$ innovations:

  • Dynamic page generation, comment systems, profile creation, APIs

  • Enabled robust content creation + social networking on standard websites

• Scholarly consensus (van Dijk et al.): Social media as we know it germinates in this technological moment

Case Study: MySpace & the Life-Cycle of Platforms

• MySpace = first SNS to secure a massive user base

  • Functioned as proof-of-concept for large-scale social networking

  • Drove mainstream awareness of social media

• Subsequent platform trajectories:

  • Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram ⟶ ubiquity, cultural dominance

  • MySpace ⟶ steep decline; ironically requests Facebook login today

  • Varying fortunes illustrate the volatile ecology of online communication tools

Macro-Level Observations

• Platform rise & fall provides insight into:

  • Technological innovation cycles

  • User migration patterns

  • Commercial viability & monetization models

  • Cultural trends & generational preferences

• What once seemed permanent (MySpace) can become obsolete; Facebook’s present dominance is similarly provisional

Forward-Looking Questions for Students

• In $\approx 20$ years, what will the social media landscape look like?

  • Which socio-technical factors (legislation, business models, cultural shifts, emergent tech like AR/VR) will shape it?

  • How will issues previewed in $Q_3$ (political influence, mental health, disinformation) evolve?

• Personal reflection: “What is your place in that future networked society?”

Ethical & Societal Implications (Preview)

• Positive potentials:

  • Enhanced interconnectivity & community building

  • Political mobilization & activism

  • Creative expression & entertainment economies

• Risks & challenges:

  • Spread of fake news / disinformation

  • Privacy erosion & data commodification

  • Psychological impacts on wellbeing (addiction, comparison culture)

Numerical & Chronological References (for quick revision)

• Facebook founded: $(02/2004)$

• Web $2.0$ period: late $1990s$ – early $2000s$

• Approximate time span since rise of major SNS: $\sim 15$ years

This set of notes captures the lecture’s foundational concepts, key examples, historical context, and forward-thinking prompts, offering a stand-alone reference for deeper study in subsequent course modules.