Understanding Social Media

Exploring questions of both exploitation and empowerment, Understanding Social Media provides a critical conceptual toolbox for navigating the evolution and practices of social media.

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Exploring questions of both exploitation and empowerment, Understanding Social Media provides a critical conceptual toolbox for navigating the evolution and practices of social media.


Taking an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach, it explores the key themes and concepts, going beyond specific platforms to show you how to place social media more critically within the changing media landscape.



Updated throughout, the Second Edition of this bestselling text includes new and expanded discussions of:




Qualitative and quantitative approaches to researching social media
Datafication and algorithmic cultures
Surveillance, privacy and intimacy
The rise of apps and platforms, and how they shape our experiences
Sharing economies and social media publics
The increasing importance of visual economies
AR, VR and social media play
Death and digital legacy


Tying theory to the real world with a range of contemporary case studies throughout, it is essential reading for students and researchers of social media, digital media, digital culture, and the creative and cultural industries.