Information, Interactivity, and Social Media.

The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual theoretical framework to the term “social” in a social media context. This is done by exploring the relationship between three central terms in a social media environment: information, interactivity, and sociability. We suggest a model that describes...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atlantic Journal of Communication Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 19 - 31
Main Authors: Ariel, Yaron, Avidar, Ruth
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jan-Mar2015
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual theoretical framework to the term “social” in a social media context. This is done by exploring the relationship between three central terms in a social media environment: information, interactivity, and sociability. We suggest a model that describes the relations between these terms in a social media context. As the model suggests, information is the basic unit of a communication process, but social media users are the ones that decide whether and how much information to share, and when and whether to comment on a social media platform. Hence, not solely the technological features of a platform determine its level of interactivity and sociability, but the actual performances of its users.