Abstract
The advent of social media has dramatically changed human interaction. People can now connect with friends, family members, strangers, and even celebrities through any number of engaging platforms. With a simple post, like, or retweet, thoughts and opinions can be shared across the world in a matter of seconds. Social media has created opportunities that did not exist previously, including newfound “social media celebrities” who are famous merely because of what they post to their Instagram accounts. While many benefits exist with the ability to share information among millions of other people, there are pitfalls as well. This introductory chapter will discuss the rise of social media, the various platforms that can be used, and opportunities and challenges we all face as we learn how to navigate this evolving frontier.
Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore
—Dorothy, Wizard of Oz
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Markham MJ, Gentile D, Graham DL. Social media for networking, professional development, and patient engagement. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book. 2017;37:782–7.
Greenwood S, Perrin A, Duggan M. Social media update 2016. Pew Research Center, 11 Nov 2016. www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/.
Gottfried A, Shearer E. News use across social media platforms 2016. Pew Research Center, 26 May 2016. www.journalism.org/2016/05/26/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2016/.
International smartphone mobility report. Informate Mobile Intelligence, Mar 2015. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/no-time-to-talk-americans-sendingreceiving-five-times-as-many-texts-compared-tophone-calls-each-day-according-to-new-report-300056023.html.
Murdock KK. Texting while stressed: implications for students’ burnout, sleep, and well-being. Psychol Pop Media Cult. 2013;2(4):207.
Bansal A, Garg C, Pakhare A, Gupta S. Selfies: a boon or bane? J Family Med Prim Care. 2018;7(4):828–31.
2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/index.html. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.
Most popular social networks worldwide as of July 2018, ranked by number of active users (in millions). Statista. Accessed 7 Dec 2018.
Youtube.com. Traffic, demographics and competitors. www.alexa.com. Accessed 7 Dec 2018.
Djuricich AM, Zee-Cheng JE. Live tweeting in medicine: ‘tweeting the meeting’. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2015;27(2):133–9.
Pemmaraju N, Mesa RA, Majhail NS, Thompson MA. The use and impact of Twitter at medical conferences: best practices and Twitter etiquette. Semin Hematol. 2017;54(4):184–8.
How Kevin Hart tweeted himself out of a job hosting the Oscars. https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/8/18131221/kevin-hart-oscar-hosting-homophobia-twitter-tweets. Accessed 8 Dec 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stukus, D.R. (2019). Social Media: Changing the Human Experience. In: Social Media for Medical Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14439-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14439-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-14438-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-14439-5
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)