Social Media

Usage and Impact

By (author) Hana S. Noor Al-Deen, John Allen Hendricks Stephen F. Austin State U

Publication date:

10 November 2011

Length of book:

328 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

241x161mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739167298

Within the past ten years, social media such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, and others have grown at a tremendous rate, enlisting an astronomical number of users. Social media have inevitably become an integral part of the contemporary classroom, of advertising and public relations industries, of political campaigning, and of numerous other aspects of our daily existence.

Social Media: Usage and Impact, edited by Hana S. Noor Al-Deen and John Allen Hendricks, provides a comprehensive and scholarly analysis of social media. Designed as a reader for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level courses, this volume explores the emerging role and impact of social media as they evolve. The contributors examine the implementation and effect of social media in various environments, including educational settings, strategic communication (often considered to be a merging of advertising and public relations), politics, and legal and ethical issues. All chapters constitute original research while using varied research methodologies for analyzing and presenting information about social media.

Social Media: Usage and Impact is a tremendous source for educators, practitioners (such as those in advertising, PR, and media industries), and librarians, among others. This collection is an essential resource for any media technology course. With the rapid proliferation and adoption of social media, it is a juggernaut that must be addressed in the higher education curriculum and research.
This excellent edited book smartly moves the literature about social media past the wow-gee-whiz/technology-love-fest stage that has accompanied the emergence of these new means of communication. It gives a good 360-view of why social media are important, including who uses them, and how and why they use them. It also covers legal and ethical issues raised by social media, a crucial set of concerns that come to the fore as these media grow in adoption, usage, and influence. Communication students will find in this book a thoughtful and rich perspective on activities they take for granted and accept uncritically.