Social media is phenomenon originated out of the late 1970s BBS
(bulletin board systems) and early Silicone Valley, Community Memory,
(Delwiche, 2018) into the first 1990s social media platform with Six
Degrees (Wikimedia Foundation, n.d.) as a Web 2.0 paradigm shifting
medium and systems affecting all phases of society, culture,
economics, politics, education and technologies (Flew, 2018) including
the four lenses of history, social sciences, natural and applied sciences
and the humanities which include the creative career fields.
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Social media and its integrated networked
systems such as wearable technology, and
extended screens impact over 1.8 billion
people or over 15% of the earth’s global
population (Warf, 2018) who are connected
to the internet and Web 2.0 technologies.
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Social media is a paradigm disrupter transforming
generations with technologies shifting human
evolution toward integrated platforms, psychology
and powerful networks. Its impact defines “norms,
conventions while legitimizing practices among
peers,” organizations, institutions, and culture.
Early innovators such as Berner-Lee’s coined the
web as the “Information Universe” (Stevenson,
2018), while big tech companies like Google original
mission was to “organize the world's information
and make it universally accessible and useful.”
4

Due to fast innovation of technology systems, the
“networked selves” (Quinn, 2018) of society have
integrated into the Web 2.0 networked systems
shifting cultural landscape into online culture;
“digital cities” “virtual communities” further
harnessed by a digital generation of natives,
including varied generations of academics,
entrepreneurs and investors as an integrated
“web native culture” (Stevenson, 2018).
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As a non-digital native, social media influence in society can’t
be overlooked or simplified in areas of society which shifted
into an online culture where social networks are valued
within areas of business, employment, education ,
psychology and more. My perception and framework have
expanded by researching and studying technology’s impact on
society, how social media effects my field, career, education,
and shifting social and cultural landscapes.
6

By keeping abreast of the latest research, technologies, and
cultural shifts, I am better able to predict future innovations,
markets, and changes, based on integrations of social networks,
institutions, and experts within primary sectors of business,
entrepreneurship, brands, culture, arts, distribution channels,
and smart cities development. As education institutions have
merged social media technologies into various education and
training platforms new opportunities in business and creative
industries flourish.
7

Knowing how social media systems work and enhance online
community technological systems help to broaden the scope of
understanding global and local trends in society. Learning through
research of how technology impacts society in real time allows for
greater understanding of the integration of new and innovative
technologies, social media and digital platforms and how new and
existing industries formulate new tech and creative cities and
communities in America and globally. Such as the creative industries
(Flew, 2018) case study, Atlanta, Midtown (photo right).
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Creative Culture- City Case Study | Tech Square, Atlanta
Midtown houses Google, Microsoft, Ted Turner Campus, and
a handful of Universities and Colleges within a small radius
to include real estate, niche and luxury business brands
communities.
In major cities near you, the boom of the next Silicone Valley emerges to integrate a new paradigm of
urban planning and development. Within this new framework culture and creative industries form
highly impactful networks setting trends in business, news, media, arts, entertainment and culture.
Digital and social media frameworks supply and sustain this new paradigm of international
development impacting those within this educational, cultural (humanities and education) creative
field.
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For those in the creative and business fields who follow both traditional and
non-traditional education and training, carefully constructed strategies
include continuous study, education and certifications in social media, digital
technologies with new programs and education (training) platforms, like
Coursera, Google, and traditional programs like, MBA with a concentration in
Marketing graduate degrees. In addition, professional strategies include
analyzing areas of specific employment job functions, upgrade of industry-
specific skills, industry experts and brands, and social media platforms to
navigate and expand networks, to analyze current and future industry-
specific shifts and needed workforce. For humanities and business
academics, LinkedIn social media app is an invaluable resource for college
grads, business owners, educators and practitioners to network and stay in
the know. 10
Photo: LinkedIn post of Digital
Marketing certification from
HubSpot Academy.

Social media benefits include shifts in new cultural and creative
education and economies, creative communities and technology cities,
including “long-established versus disruptive business models, industry
sectors and new wealth creations” (Flew, 2018). On a fundamental
level, benefits include positive mental health developed by digital and
virtual communities as communal group social psychology through
social media exchange and user-centered data. For businesses or
personal business branding social media provides business (brand) to
customer (audience) communication, strong marketing, profit growth,
and wealth expansion where data is measured and capitalized.
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Social media challenges include a hosts of critical issues and debates such as
shifts in human evolution and ethical concerns in technological innovations
within science and health (Battersby, P. et al., 2014), politics and memes which
affect popular opinion (Miltner, 2018), debates in cybersecurity, individual data
and privacy economies and policy (Simplilearn, 2010), other concerns include
cyberbullying such as trolling, and internet cancel culture. Social media also
incites concern for maintaining mental health such as establishing virtual (false)
versus (real) face-to-face relationships, and most importantly sleep deprivation
(Garret et al., 2018) self-image and body –surveillance (Butkowski,2019)
affecting mental health (Perrigo, 2021). In addition to marketing and data usage
ethical concerns for the Marketing and Data Science industries.
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Critically analyzing technology using the four lenses provides a
comprehensive overview of how technology, i.e., social media influences
society, our daily lives and prospective fields. Social media and digital
integrations add value to many aspects of our society. Specifically for my
field, in marketing and business, providing best practices which pivots
social media communication and enhances business growth, messaging,
b2b, business to audience relationships, digital marketing qualitative
and quantitative data, and exponential creative industry economies,
industries and distributions based on new humanities and education
using social media (Flew, 2018). In addition, data science is used in
marketing and business but should have ethical policies to ensure
privacy of individuals are maintained within technology and social media
in future work scenarios. 13

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Butkowski, C. P., Dixon, T. L., & Weeks, K. (2019, January 5). Body Surveillance on Instagram: Examining the Role of Selfie Feedback Investment in Young Adult Women’s Body
Image Concerns. Sex Roles 81, 385–397 (2019). Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1007/s11199-018-0993-6.
Delwiche, A. (2018). Early Social Computing: The Rise and Fall of The BBS Scene (19771995). In J. Burgess, A. Marwick, & T. Poell. the sage handbook of social media, (pp. 35-52).
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Dijck, J., & Poell, T. (2018). Social Media Platforms and Education. In J. Burgess, A. Marwick, & T. Poell. the sage handbook of social media, (pp. 579-591). SAGE Publications Ltd,
https://www-doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.4135/9781473984066.n33
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Perrigo, B. (2021, September 16). Instagram's body image problem may be unfixable, experts say. Time. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://time.com/6098771/instagram-
body-image-teen-girls/.
Quinn, K., & Papacharissi, Z. (2018). Our networked selves: personal connection and relational maintenance in social media use. In J. Burgess, A. Marwick, & T. Poell. The sage
handbook of social media, (pp. 353-371). SAGE Publications Ltd, https://www-doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.4135/9781473984066.n20
Simplilearn. (2021, September 29). Top 7 impacts of social media: Advantages and disadvantages. Simplilearn.com. Retrieved from https://www.simplilearn.com/real-impact-
social-media-article.
Stevenson, M. (2018). From hypertext to hype and back again: exploring the roots of social media in early web culture. In J. Burgess A. Marwick, & T. Poell. The sage handbook of
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