Page 4 - Selling Fantasies
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1.3 Social Media
Social media is an important aspect of the online experience, and far more contemporary
studies focus on social media instead of 'the internet' as a whole (Hopkins, 2017). Social Media
is a collection of Internet-based apps that are formed on the ideological and technological basis
of Web 2.0 and allow for the production and exchange of User Generated Content (Kaplan &
Haenlein, 2010) & (Hopkins, 2017). Another way to put it is that social media is “Internet-
based, disentranced, and persistent channels of mass personal communication facilitating
perceptions of interactions among users, deriving value primarily from user-generated content”
(Carr & Hayes, 2015) (Hopkins, 2017).
Table 1 Contemporary Examples Derived from Carr and Hayes' Definition of Social Media
Source: (Carr & Hayes, 2015) & (Hopkins, 2017)
2.2 Social Media Marketing
a- Contextualization
conventional media such as TV, radio, and journals had already become outdated when
Websites began to gain societal relevance, even if they (newer ones) were still occasionally
seen as online reproductions of the older media. Websites remained expensive, sophisticated,
and were considered to be complicated tools for communication, however they still provided
marketers with new ways to reach and communicate with customers. Eventually, the
field rapidly changed with the introduction of Social Media, which piqued people's attention
by providing new features (Gillin, 2007). The dictionary Merriam Webster, defines social
media as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and
microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas,
personal messages, and other content. Social media allows anyone to share opinions or
information with the same weight as journalists and same influence as experts. Social media
platforms are designed to facilitate the sharing of material; they might take the shape of blogs,
social networks, or forums among others. With the shift of sender and receiver functions in
traditional communication practices, these platforms began a liberation of information,
allowing the public more power to share content and information.
3|Page
Social media is an important aspect of the online experience, and far more contemporary
studies focus on social media instead of 'the internet' as a whole (Hopkins, 2017). Social Media
is a collection of Internet-based apps that are formed on the ideological and technological basis
of Web 2.0 and allow for the production and exchange of User Generated Content (Kaplan &
Haenlein, 2010) & (Hopkins, 2017). Another way to put it is that social media is “Internet-
based, disentranced, and persistent channels of mass personal communication facilitating
perceptions of interactions among users, deriving value primarily from user-generated content”
(Carr & Hayes, 2015) (Hopkins, 2017).
Table 1 Contemporary Examples Derived from Carr and Hayes' Definition of Social Media
Source: (Carr & Hayes, 2015) & (Hopkins, 2017)
2.2 Social Media Marketing
a- Contextualization
conventional media such as TV, radio, and journals had already become outdated when
Websites began to gain societal relevance, even if they (newer ones) were still occasionally
seen as online reproductions of the older media. Websites remained expensive, sophisticated,
and were considered to be complicated tools for communication, however they still provided
marketers with new ways to reach and communicate with customers. Eventually, the
field rapidly changed with the introduction of Social Media, which piqued people's attention
by providing new features (Gillin, 2007). The dictionary Merriam Webster, defines social
media as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and
microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas,
personal messages, and other content. Social media allows anyone to share opinions or
information with the same weight as journalists and same influence as experts. Social media
platforms are designed to facilitate the sharing of material; they might take the shape of blogs,
social networks, or forums among others. With the shift of sender and receiver functions in
traditional communication practices, these platforms began a liberation of information,
allowing the public more power to share content and information.
3|Page
