A notion exists that ignoring problematic behaviors
causes those actions to die out, to become forgotten,
and to effectively invalidate the very reason for the
action. I’m sure you know of someone – or multiple
people – who believe in and apply such an approach
to offensive behaviors on social media. It is an
understandable approach, given it is a means for
people to manage the ever expanding and evolving
virtual ecosystem landscape. Yet, ignoring bad behavior
does not make it go away or even eliminate it. In fact,
evidence suggests it may only make things worse.
This creates concern for users of social media. The real-time evolution and expansion of social media has been so fast that it’s likely many of the seven in ten Americans who use an online platform today cannot even define social media. For example, social media is most often associated with networks like Facebook and Twitter and Instagram; and it is true, those are social networking sites that are types of social media. Yet, what about other types? Can you describe exactly what constitutes something being defined as a social media? I imagine that question is more difficult for the majority of you to answer. So, what is social media and why should we be invested in what happens in these virtual spaces?
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