Social Media Resources
“Social media impacts on the way in which we think, experience, and practice ‘online media’. It is no longer merely a form of teen socializing – it has become an integral part of everyday life. In turn, this influences how we reflect and engage with friends, family, colleagues and politics.” (Hinton, Sam and Larissa Hjorth. Understanding Social Media. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2013.)
Here’s a brief description of three resources from SAGE Knowledge that address social media. SAGE Knowledge can be found on the main Online Resources page of the State Library under Stats & Government. To view these books, paste the DOI into the SAGE Knowledge search bar.
Social Media: A Critical Introduction
Now more than ever, we need critical knowledge that helps us to navigate the controversies and contradictions of this complex digital media landscape. Only then can we make informed judgements about what's happening in our media world, and why. Showing the reader how to ask the right kinds of questions about social media, Christian Fuchs takes us on a journey across social media, delving deep into case studies on Google, Facebook, Twitter, WikiLeaks and Wikipedia. The result lays bare the structures and power relations at the heart of our media landscape. This book is the essential, critical guide for all students of media studies and sociology. Readers will never look at social media the same way again.
Cite:
Fuchs, Christian. Social Media: A Critical Introduction. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2014. doi: 10.4135/9781446270066.
Understanding Social Media provides a critical and timely conceptual toolbox for navigating the evolution and practices of social media. This book reflects upon the differences between SNSs and social media and how the rise in devices such as smartphones and locative media services such as Facebook Places, Google Maps, and Foursquare are changing the fabric of social media. As an aid to understanding, key concepts in each chapter are illustrated by case studies to give real-world examples of theory in action. Social media is currently transforming the definitions of both ‘social’ and ‘media’.
Cite:
Hinton, Sam and Larissa Hjorth. Understanding Social Media. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2013. doi: 10.4135/9781446270189.
The Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics explores how the rise of social media is altering politics both in the United States and in key moments, movements, and places around the world. Electronic voting, Internet campaigning, proliferating political use of tweeting and texting, blogging and vlogging, online polling and Facebook “friends” all hawking their favorite candidate, issue, or policy point: For better and for worse, electronica has infiltrated the American political process in a way that, some argue, actually re-shapes it. This is the case despite three bedrock realities about the political use of social media, which are that (1) it gets more sophisticated, nuanced, and potentially invasive almost constantly; (2) it is increasingly ubiquitous; and (3) we do not know nearly as much about it as we would like. In a time when social media are revolutionizing and galvanizing politics in the United States and around the world, this encyclopedia is a must-have reference.
This three-volume A-to-Z encyclopedia set includes 600 short essays on high-interest topics that explore social media's impact on politics. For example, the entry “Arab Spring” (http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452244723.n26) includes See Also entries that link to other entries such as North Africa, Citizen Journalism, and Hacktivism. Further Readings direct the reader to relevant books, speeches, articles and web sites. A collection of world renowned scholars have written entries in a clear and accessible style that invites readers to explore the use of social media by political candidates in this country, as well as the use of social media in protests overseas.
Cite:
Harvey, Kerric, ed. Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics. 3 vols. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2014. doi: 10.4135/9781452244723