Social perspectives and frameworks

Sociology

Symbolic interactionism is the theory suggesting human beings are best understood in "interactive relation to their environment," (University of Twente, 2014). The three core principles of symbolic interactionism including meaning, language, and thought. Meaning refers to the fact that people ascribe meaning to their relationships, institutions, and other social structures. This meaning is what guides human emotion and cognition. Language is the symbolic type of human communication. Like meaning, language also impacts human emotional and cognitive states. Thus, the third component of symbolic interactionism is thought. How a person perceives, judges, and interacts with the world is covered by symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism also suggests that the self is a mirror for others, and vice-versa in what is known as the "looking glass self," ("The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective," n.d.). Symbolic interactionism is an ideal sociological lens through which to understand how social media has transformed the nature of human relationships and interactions.

Social media like Facebook and Twitter require the individual to establish an online presence, through which interactions with other people take place in the digital, online environment. Meaning is already being ascribed to social media. Social media is an example of a cybercommunity, which has "clearly reached a point of critical mass," (Fernback, 2007, p. 49). Social media is perceived as being inherently meaningful, as the primary means by which users interact with social organizations, their friends, businesses, politics, and social causes. In fact, social media may be integral to political movements because it has been viewed as the most relevant and useful form of communication (Satell, 2014). Not only is the media itself the message, but social media also contains an endless supply of potential meanings in what people post and share through social media. Photographs of people's food, family events, and travels have meaning for the person sharing, and that meaning changes depending who is viewing the person's feed or profile.

Language is another component of symbolic interactionism. Social media both depends upon and transcends language. Social media depends upon language as posts on Facebook and Twitter are verbal in nature even when there are photographs and other digital media attached. However, there is also a nonverbal aspect to social media communication. Not all people prefer language as a means to communicate, which is why Instagram and Pinterest are popular alternatives or complements to Facebook or Twitter. The language of imagery and art supplants language, but also relies on symbols as the primary mode of interaction. Individuals learn about others and themselves by browsing through social media imagery.

Thought is the ultimate function of social media. How the person chooses to organize the news feed, which posts to comment on, which posts to like, when to argue, when to share, and what to share are all decisions depending on cognitive processes. Thought is the mechanism by which social media works.