ABSTRACT
Introduction The rapid evolution of social media in recent years has demonstrated that the web is no longer merely a passive information resource, but a gateway for conversational online interaction. As highlighted by Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), social media can be defi ned in technical terms as ‘a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content’ or in the social context of ‘engaging others in open and active conversation’.
