As the use of social media has become more pervasive across all segments of the population, social media platforms have become the primary way many of us get our information, not only about our family and friends but about world wide news and events. How reliable is this information? How much faith can we place in it? How can we know what to trust? In this book, readers will look at the origins of Twitter and its development as a news source, as well as its darker turn as a source of misinformation and propaganda. This essential book includes a glossary of useful terms and a list of helpful references.

Memes and Internet satire are everywhere online. They come and go so quickly, it's hard to understand what they even mean. Readers take a closer look at this modern phenomenon in a thoughtful and accessible way. They will explore the early days of memes including where the name comes from and how they spread throughout the web. This book investigates the world of Internet satire including the rise of fake news and the trouble humor can cause when they go too far. A helpful glossary and resources to further readers' learning are provided inside.

Going viral. It's a phrase that you hear thrown around whenever something is blowing up on the Internet, but what does it really mean? How does something or someone go from a random post on social media to a household name? What does it mean for the person who posted it? There's the dark side, too: hoaxes, illegal content, and Russian trolls. Readers take a deep dive into the world where fame isn't measured in minutes, but in clicks. This book gives readers the tools to sort the real from the fake, as well as resources to explore.

Once on the fringe, fake news has become mainstream. From bogus social media accounts to Russian troll factories, phony news muddies the social and political discourse, and is a threat to our democracy. This high-interest book defines fake news and reveals the people behind the spread of disinformation. This text directly correlates with state journalism standards about developing media literacy. Readers will also glimpse the future of fake news and the alarming technologies used to make it, such as face-morphing technology. This book will help readers navigate the messy world of fake news.

Originally conceived as a way for people to stay connected, share photographs and post information, social media has evolved. Today, it is much more than a fun communication tool, it can become a destructive weapon when exploited by the wrong people. Readers will discover how social media is used as a weapon and what they can do to protect themselves. From Russian bots and fake news to cyberbullying and online shaming, readers will discover who is weaponizing social media and why. They also will uncover useful information about the benefits of social media and how they can use it in beneficial ways. This book also includes a glossary of useful terms and a list of helpful references for further exploration.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction, SBP 2014, held in Washington, DC, USA, in April 2014. The 51 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 101 submissions. The SBP conference provides a forum for researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and government agencies to exchange ideas on current challenges in social computing, behavioral-cultural modeling and prediction, and on state-of-the-art methods and best practices being adopted to tackle these challenges. The topical areas addressed by the papers are social and behavioral sciences, health sciences, military science, and information science.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling and Prediction, SBP 2013, held in Washington, DC, USA in April 2013. The total of 57 contributions, which consists of papers and posters, included in this volume was carefully reviewed and selected from 137 submissions. This conference is strongly committed to multidisciplinarity, consistent with recent trends in computational social science and related fields. The topics covered are: behavioral science, health sciences, military science and information science. There are also many papers that provide methodological innovation as well as new domain-specific findings.

This updated fourth edition presents a wide-scale, interdisciplinary guide to social media communication. Examining platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, the book analyzes social media's use in journalism, public relations, advertising and marketing. Lipschultz focuses on key concepts, best practices, data analyses, law and ethics – all promoting the critical thinking that is needed to use new, evolving and maturing networking tools effectively within social and mobile media spaces. Featuring historical markers and contemporary case studies, essays from some of the industry’s leading social media innovators and a comprehensive glossary, this practical, multipurpose textbook gives readers the resources they will need to both evaluate and utilize current and future forms of social media communication. Updates to the fourth edition include expanded discussion of disinformation, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), natural language chatbots, virtual and augmented reality technologies and the COVID-19 infodemic. Social Media Communication is the perfect social media primer for students and professionals and, with a dedicated online teaching guide, ideal for instructors, too.

The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the profound and complex changes shaping the 21st century. With trans-regional contributions from established and emerging scholars, this ground-breaking volume offers conceptual essays and in-depth chapters that present rich analyses grounded in historical and geopolitical contexts, as well as key theory and empirical research. Rather than viewing the Middle East as a monolithic culture, this Handbook examines the diverse and multi-local characteristics of the region’s knowledge production, dynamic media, and rich cultures. It addresses a wide range of topics, including the evolving mainstream and alternative media, competing histories in the region, and pressing socio-economic and media debates. Additionally, the Handbook explores the impact of regional and international politics on Middle Eastern cultures and media. Designed to serve as a foundation for the next era of research in the field, The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East is essential reading for all academics, scholars, and media practitioners. Its comprehensive scope makes it an excellent primary or supplementary textbook for undergraduate or graduate courses in global studies, media and communication, journalism, anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, and history.