A «social media» or a «social network»: what does the sociologist mean

Abstract

The increased number of works devoted to sociological research on the World Wide Web has actualized the terminological problem, which is characteristic of all new and gaining popularity in academic circles concepts. The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of "social network" and distinguish it from other terms with similar connotations: social network as a structure, "social network service" as a medium for forming virtual connections and "social media" as a synonym for the latter phrase. However, their unconditional semantic relationship will be studied: the social network in the sense of an Internet resource and a service is part of social media, and social networks as a set of relations between social actors are certainly present in the digital space and in web applications. For this purpose, methods of comparative and bibliographic analysis, as well as secondary data analysis, were applied. The features of the social space formed by computer technologies impose special characteristics on virtual social connections, therefore it is necessary to clarify the environment in which they are distributed, and in this case the use of the term "social network" is not completely accurate. In addition, it was found that there is a "terminological trend", and the concept of "social media" is currently more dominant in English–language sources, since it is more general and takes into account current technological changes in resources.