Social Media

Tamara Kunić, VERN University, Croatia
kunic.tamara@gmail.com

Anna Baczkowska, University of Gdansk, Poland
anna.baczkowska@ug.edu.pl

Social media are digital platforms that enable interactive communication and user-generated content creation. Rooted in Web 2.0 technologies, they have transformed communication from linear, one-way messaging to dynamic, participatory exchange. Social media include a wide variety of tools and applications such as blogs, forums, social networking sites (SNS), microblogs (e.g., X), media-sharing services (e.g., YouTube, Instagram), and instant messaging platforms (e.g., WhatsApp, Skype). These technologies facilitate rapid dissemination of information and support the formation of digital communities.

Social media are distinguished by interactivity, real-time feedback, and the convergence of producer and consumer roles in the figure of the ‘prosumer’. Users not only consume media but also actively contribute by posting, commenting, and sharing. Communication is multidirectional and often public, which increases the visibility and potential virality of messages.

A core aspect of social media is algorithmic content curation, which personalises user experience while shaping exposure to information, potentially reinforcing filter bubbles and echo chambers. These algorithmic dynamics, combined with the speed of communication, influence how opinions form, evolve, and spread online. Emotionally charged content tends to achieve greater engagement, which has significant implications for political discourse, misinformation, and polarisation.

From a pragmatic perspective, social media reshape language use and discourse practices. They introduce new registers, abbreviated forms, memes, and multimodal strategies. In opinion research, social media serve as rich data sources for analysing public sentiment, discourse dynamics, and digital activism.

Keywords: digital platforms, social media, user-generated content

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