Social Media

In 2011, two large-scale social movements occurred that were facilitated by social media. In early 2011 (starting in late December 2010), the Arab Spring happened across many nation­states in the Arab World where demonstrators protested a variety of conditions such as dic­tatorships, poverty, unemployment, economic decline, and censorship.

Alas the planning for this Handbook was completed in 2010, and we did not have the foresight to predict the burgeoning use of social media to engage in conflict and activ­ism. Furthermore, researchers have not had the time to publish articles on these topics by the time of going to press (in early 2012). As a result, social media is not a prevalent topic throughout this Handbook. Stohl et al. (Chapter 27) briefly discuss social media as a factor contributing to conflict dynamics in the global workplace. Other authors (e.g., Garner & Poole, Chapter 12) discuss the role of technology in contributing to conflict and yet do not discuss social media directly.

The ubiquitous nature of social media makes it a rich opportunity for future research, theory, and practice. At the interpersonal level, relational partners and family members use social media to initiate relationships, maintain relationships, rejuvenate relation­ships, and organize “get-togethers” and daily relating and parental activities, among other tasks. Anecdotal stories abound about the initiation and termination of relationships via social media, and some initial research has blossomed. For example, DeAndrea and Walther (2011) investigated projected self­portrayals of social media and the degree of inconsistency with impression formations through other interpersonal interactions. They found that participants rate inconsistencies of acquaintances as more intentionally mislead­ing, hypocritical, and less trustworthy than inconsistencies of friend or self. Bevan, Pfyl, and Barclay (2012) examined the impact of unfriending on Facebook on emotions. They found that rumination and negative emotion were positively associated with knowing the unfriender, when they were unfriended for Facebook-related reasons, and when par­ticipants initiated the Facebook friend request. Thus, future research and practice can con­sider the ways that social media is used to manage interpersonal conflict and the effects of those efforts. For example, does termina­tion through social media has more nega­tive consequences than termination through face-to-face channels? How do social media interact with other forms of communication during conflict? What intercultural or inter­personal theories can have the best poten­tials in explaining some of these fermenting research findings in linking the role of social media with various interpersonal conflict forms and expressions?

At the organizational level, the role of social media and mobile technologies has been most closely examined in managing work-life conflict and also in practical sug­gestions for organizations using social con­flict. Kirby et al.

At a community/global level, social media has been examined for its role in social move­ments such as the Occupy Movement and Arab Spring. Ganesh and Stohl (2010) examined the multiple ways in which activists engaged with technology in the global social justice move­ment in New Zealand. They found that social media technologies provide agency for activists as the technologies function to disseminate information and connect with audiences as well as perform communication tasks with ease. Furthermore, there were several concerns with technologies including relevance, access, labor, and security as well as different atti­tudes toward technologies (from suspicion to advocacy).