The Social Media Handbook

Book excerpt: The Social Media Handbook explores how social media are changing disciplinary understandings of the internet and our everyday lives. In addition to person-to-person social networking services like Facebook and Twitter, this volume considers a broad range of networked information services that support in-depth social interaction, community formation, and collaboration in the Web 2.0 era. Rather than considering social media in terms of specific technologies, the chapters in this book engage topics across a range of research, techniques, practices, culture and society, and theories. These broader topics—including community, gender, fandom, disability, and journalism—are entryways through which students and faculty can explore ways of thinking about social media and find new paradigms for analysis. Contributors:Axel Bruns, Francesca Coppa, Katie Ellis, Gerard Goggin, Alexander Halavais, Andrew Herman, Jeremy Hunsinger, Angus Johnston, Alice Marwick, Safiya Umoja Noble, Zizi Papacharissi, Toni Sant, Theresa Senft