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Cited by 1,295

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 78 of the 78 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Social Media: Defining, Developing, and Divining

Carr, Caleb T., Hayes, Rebecca A.·2015·Atlantic Journal of Communication

Abstract

What is a social medium, and how may one moderate, isolate, and influence communicative processes within? Although scholars assume an inherent understanding of social media based on extant technology, there is no commonly accepted definition of what social media are, both functionally and theoretically, within communication studies. Given this lack of understanding, cogent theorizing regarding the uses and effects of social media has been limited. This work first draws on extant definitions of social media and subcategories (e.g., social network sites) from public relations, information technology, and management scholarship, as well as the popular press, to develop a definition of social media precise enough to embody these technologies yet robust enough to remain applicable in 2035. It then broadly explores emerging developments in the features, uses, and users of social media for which future theories will need to account. Finally, it divines and prioritizes challenges that may not yet be apparent to theorizing communication processes with and in mercurial social media. We address how social media may uniquely isolate and test communicative principles to advance our understanding of human–human and human–computer interaction. In all, this article provides a common framework to ground and facilitate future communication scholarship and beyond.

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Show all 78 references

Research works printed but not linked: 16

  1. Berners-Lee T., 2001, Scientific American, 29
  2. Carr C. T., 2013, It's getting more complicated: Facebook users' political participation in the 2012 election.
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  5. DiMicco J. M., 2008, Research on the use of social software in the workplace.
  6. Hayes R., Journal of Promotion Management.
  7. Kent M. L., 2010, Handbook of public relations, 643
  8. Lewis B. K., 2010, Public Relations Journal, 4, 1
  9. Lochrie M., 2011, Mobile phones as second screen for TV, enabling inter-audience interaction., 10.1145/2071423.2071513 · doi:10.1145/2071423.2071513
  10. Lueck J. A., Journal of Marketing Communications.
  11. O'Reilly T., 2005, O'Reilly Media.
  12. O'Sullivan P. B., 2005, Masspersonal communication: Rethinking the mass interpersonal divide.
  13. Pearce K., 2014, Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 22, 39
  14. Walther J. B., 2010, The networked self, 17
  15. Williams D., The perils and promise of large-scale data extraction
  16. Yovcheva Z., 2012, e-Review of Tourism Research, 10, 63

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Metadata

Authors
Carr, C. T., & Hayes, R. A.
Venue
Atlantic Journal of Communication
Published
2015-01
Volume
23
Issue
1
Pages
46-65
ISSN
  • 1545-6870 (ISSN-L)
  • 1545-6889
OpenAlex
W2138156863
Cited by
1,295
References
78
FWCI
34.92
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Social Media: Defining, Developing, and Divining. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1080/15456870.2015.972282
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Carr, C. T., & Hayes, R. A. (2015). Social Media: Defining, Developing, and Divining. Atlantic Journal of Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2015.972282

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