ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines strengths and challenges of extant social media research, identifying key topics and problem issues in users’ behavior and political engagement literature. In the beginning, we provide a brief historical overview of existing social media platforms, communication patterns, and users’ practices on social media. In the second section, we compare research agendas and current findings in applied social media inquiries and summarize social media’s effect on politics, business, and society. In conclusion, we set an agenda for further research, focusing particularly on the growing role of social media in contentious politics in Russia.
