social media

See also: Social Media

English

Pronunciation

Audio (US): (file)
(Philippines) IPA^(key): /ˌsowʃal ˈmid͡ʒa/

Noun

social media (countable and uncountable, plural social medias)

(uncountable) Applications or websites allowing users to share content and communicate with one another via the Internet.
The early 21st century saw a huge increase in social media thanks to the widespread availability of the Internet.
- 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in The Guardian‎:
  "By all means we want people to use social media, but we do not want you to use it in ways that will incite violence," said Jonathan Toy, Southwark council's head of community safety. "This remains a big issue for us and without some form of censorship purely focusing on [violent videos], I'm not sure how we can address it."
- 2019 October 1, Bianca Vivion Brooks, “I Used to Fear Being a Nobody. Then I Left Social Media.”, in New York Times‎:
  I grow weary when I think of this as the new normal for what is considered to be a fruitful personal life. Social media is no longer a mere public extension of our private socialization; it has become a replacement for it.
- 2022 November 10, Ian Bogost, “The Age of Social Media Is Ending”, in The Atlantic‎:
  On social media, everyone believes that anyone to whom they have access owes them an audience: a writer who posted a take, a celebrity who announced a project, a pretty girl just trying to live her life, that anon who said something afflictive.
(countable, informal) A particular social media site or account.
Synonyms: social medium, (informal) social

I decided to delete all my social medias that I rarely use.
- 2021 June 22, Daniella Scott, “New Islander Sharon Gaffka shares an unlikely link with Molly-Mae Hague”, in Cosmopolitan‎, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-01-07:
  As you will most definitely know, it's been absolutely all hands on deck since the cast of Love Island 2021 was announced yesterday. Between stalking their social medias and over-analysing their bios, we, the fans, have barely come up for air.
- 2022 July 8, Becky Hughes, quoting Lexi Fadel, “Athletic Greens Becomes a Household Name”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-10-16:
  "It would literally pop up on all of my social medias," said Lexi Fadel, a 27-year-old physical therapist in Los Angeles. After struggling with hormonal acne and bloating, she said, "I was willing to try anything."
- 2023 September 11, Jasmine Ramer, “The Top Big Dick Onlyfans Accounts of 2023”, in The Village Voice‎, New York, N.Y.: Village Voice, LLC., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-30:
  Have a great profile and cover photo, then do a writeup that greets your fans, describes something about yourself, and talks about the content you're going to produce. After that, have some social medias that you can link to – these give you some legitimacy.

Noun

social media

plural of social medium
- 2017, Christian Fuchs, Social Media: A Critical Introduction, 2nd edition, SAGE, →ISBN:
  Social media are spaces where media power and counter-power are played out. Dominant platforms, such as Facebook, Google/YouTube and Twitter, are privately owned and there are economic, political and ideological forms of media power at play; private ownership, concentration, advertising, the logic of consumption and entertainment, the high visibility of and attention given to elites and celebrities shape and filter communication on dominant social media platforms.

Usage notes

media was originally the plural of medium; thus, the term medias is often considered incorrect.^[1] However, social media can be treated either as plural ("social media are"), uncountable ("social media is"), or singular ("a social media").