Mobile social media: Future challenges and opportunities

Abstract

This article explores the future research opportunities and challenges of mobile social media. First, I problematize what constitutes the boundaries of mobile social media. Distinctions between location-based mobile social networks and non-location-based mobile social networks are established to suggest that the mobility of social media is in fact much broader than location alone. Second, several key theoretical questions are identified for future exploration, including micro, meso, and macro-level theories. Lastly, methodological challenges and opportunities are reflected upon and culminate in the call for multi-disciplinary programs of research to fully understand the role of mobile social media in the world today.

Antecedents of social presence and gratification of social connection needs in SNS: A study of Twitter users and their mobile and non-mobile usage

“…Facebook, for instance, has more than 819 million monthly active users who access Facebook on mobile devices (Graig, 2013a), and 227 million monthly active users log in to Twitter via a mobile device (Twitter, 2014). Many researchers have attributed this growth in mobile SNS use to the same desire for communication and connection with others that motivates nonmobile SNS use: relationship development, affection, accessibility to friends, and recognition from others (Cheng, Liang, & Leung, 2014;Humphreys, 2013). Yet other researchers have observed that mobile devices provide a different usage context for its users than non-mobile devices, engendered by such unique characteristics of mobile devices as their capacity to provide constant connection (Agar, 2013;Katz & Aakhus, 2002), services anywhere and at any time (Figge, 2004;Licoppe, 2004), and personalized services (Kaasinen, 2009) and to facilitate immediate access and participation in current conversations (Wei & Lo, 2006).…”

Mobile Social Media

“…Services provided by MSM may be social network sites like Facebook, blogs like Twitter, or video sharing like YouTube [3].…”

News Now

“…Newspapers are crucial to understanding the development of what we now call "mobile interfaces" (such as smartphones). Although mobile social media are often understood to be relatively new technologies, usually defined as "software, applications, or services accessed through mobile devices that allow users to connect with other people and to share information, news, and content" (Humphreys 2013, 21), we should not forget the cultural histories of newspaper being read during "in-between" times of transit (and of radio news being targeted for car-drivers especially during the morning and evening commute), and in those collective spaces noted by Anderson such as barbershops or cafes. The newspaper broadsheet (and especially tabloid) was itself a mobile object designed to be carried through the streets and read on trains, platforms, or subway cars, not simply in isolation, but in a connected social space.…”