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1. BACKGROUND

In the simplest terms, social media is a set of applications and services that use the Internet to connect people. More specifically, social media is a communication medium, made possible by the Internet, which combines dynamic, collaborative Internet-based tools, social networks, computers, and, increasingly, mobile devices. It allows users to connect to each other, exchange information and collaborate. It consists of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, which act as a means of connection between users, and websites and applications that allow users to cooperate and create content, such as the websites Wikipedia and YouTube. Its use has grown in recent years along with the development and increased use of the Internet and mobile devices, such as smartphones. In addition, social media is constantly being redefined because of the evolving nature and the rapid change of the technologies. Social media “employ mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms via which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content”(Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy & Silvestre, 2011, p. 241). It has been described as having the characteristics of participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness (Mayfield, 2008, p. 2).

The term “social media” came about with the creation of social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook, but some tools, which are now considered to be part of social media, have been around for twenty years (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 2). Social media has grown out of previous forms