Social Media

What the resources cover

This page is mostly mind maps. Many of them trace how social networking developed. They name early services such as Six Degrees, Friendster, MySpace and Orkut, and they look at precursors like usernets, bulletin boards and instant messaging. Other maps look at Facebook, YouTube earnings, Instagram and the culture of connectivity.

A second group looks at effects. You will find notes on social media and teens, maps on whether social media is addictive, and material on the documentary The Social Dilemma. A few items are more academic, such as the map on moderation and community culture.

Where to start

1. Begin with the mind map on social networking, which lists many early platforms in one place.
2. Move to the maps on the development of social networking to see the order in which they appeared.
3. Read the notes titled Social media and teens for the arguments about benefits.
4. Finish with the maps on What Facebook Knows and moderation if you want a more critical angle.

Using maps, notes and the quiz together

Read a map first to get the overall shape of a topic. Then turn to a note to see the same ideas in sentences. The page has a small set of flashcards, including a deck on affordances and hashtags, which is useful for checking key terms. There is also one quiz, Taylor Swift and Pharrell Williams Online Media, if you want to test yourself on a case study.

Because many maps share a title, such as Social Media, open a few and compare. Different authors stress different things, and that comparison is a good way to spot gaps in your own understanding.

Where this unit sits

Social Media is a unit in Media studies, within the strand Media, Society and Culture. It suits school students and university students, and teachers can use the maps and slides as ready-made starting points.

Choose one mind map today, read it through, and then sketch your own version from memory.