ABSTRACT
This first chapter considers the object of study which is our main interest, social media, and its relationship to other forms of computer-mediated communication. We discuss the scope of the term “social media,” defining this as Internet-based sites and services that promote social interaction between participants. The chapter focuses on the characteristics of these sites, which relate to “social” interactions, and how these relate to other characteristics associated with technology or “media.” The chapter places social media in the chronological development of other Internet genres and the development of social media across national contexts. It argues that the affordances of social media are best understood as developing from and overlapping with earlier forms of communication.
