Social Media

'''What is social media? 

As highlighted, the idea behind Social Media is far from ground-breaking. Nevertheless, there seems to be confusion among managers and academic researchers alike as to what exactly should be included under this term. Different references have different definition of what is social media and what is not? To clarify, in (Kaplan and Haenlien, 2010) the authors define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on ideological and technological foundation of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content."

Social media features 

Social media applications support interaction, which make these applications different compare to conventional software applications. The interaction produced features shared among Social media applications that can be represented as the following:  ·          Connectedness  Social media based on idea of making the society as much closer as possible .This principle is achieved due to the ability of making people connect together. <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Conversation  <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Social media allow people to have a chat and talk freely <span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">. <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Community  <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Communities are formed very fast and let the individuals share their interest smoothly. <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Participation and Openness  <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Breaking the line between user and media is done through allowing people feedback and participate on subjects of their interest what so called the SLATES and 4RC features <span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: AR-AE;">. These features may be further decomposed into sub-features.

<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Types of Social media <span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Software that enable extends, or derives added value from human social behavior are social media applications. These social media applications are categorized to a certain types according to their functionality and the way how they interact with individuals. The most commonly-used types of social media in government can be summarized as the following: <span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Social Networks <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> - <span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Users can interact by adding friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups and having discussions on different subjects (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn).

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Collaborative projects <span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">- allow groups of people to work together to create online content. Two types of collaborative projects can be particularly useful for undergraduate research: Wikis and Social Bookmarking. Wikis are essentially collaborative websites while <span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; text-underline: none;"> Social Bookmarking<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> allows users to collect and rank online content.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; line-height: 15.75pt; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Content communities- <span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Services allow sharing media like photos and videos and commenting on them (e.g. <span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; text-underline: none;"> YouTube<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> and  <span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; text-underline: none;"> Flickr<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">).

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Virtual social world- <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">a computer generated world which consists of any physical attribute that someone would like to create. (e.g. Second life).

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; line-height: 15.75pt; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Social Bookmarking Sites  <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">– sites that provide services to manage links, save and organize. Moreover they have the ability to “tag” links provided by user. The most knowing ones are  <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; text-underline: none;"> blink list<span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> and  <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; text-underline: none;"> Stumble Upon<span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">.

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left; line-height: 15.75pt; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Social News <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> - allows audience to post news or links to outside articles .commenting and voting on the items. The most popular are Propeller, <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; text-underline: none;"> Digg<span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> and  <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; text-underline: none;"> Reddit <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; line-height: 15.75pt; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Micro blogging <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> - Services depends on short updates. Twitter is the most popular one.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: justify; line-height: 15.75pt; text-indent: -0.25in; vertical-align: baseline; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-add-space: auto;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Blog Comments and Forums <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> - Online forums allow posting messages to hold conversation. <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">