Written by: Dr. Abdul Rahman Farraj (*)

Social media has become a reality in our personal, scientific and practical lives that cannot be ignored at all. The truth is that the innovation of social media is no less than the innovation of the web itself by "Berners-Lee".

It is what gave the web this vitality that characterizes it now, as well as the presence of almost all life activities on these media. It is not strange to us that it has become today the most prominent means of marketing and promotion; rather, billions of dollars are pumped from major economic companies into preparing marketing strategies on social media. Its fame and spread have increased, as everyone also knows, by developments that occurred in the field of cellular telephone technologies. Perhaps one of the signs of this spread is that the number of users of a single tool has exceeded hundreds of millions of people, and the number of group members has exceeded hundreds of thousands or millions of people, and this happened in a very short time not exceeding the last two centuries of time. A saying has spread for a long time that whatever does not have a presence on the Internet – individuals, groups or institutions – is considered as od as nonexistent, and I believe this saying applies now on social media in particular.

In terms of library and information specialty; scientific activity, scientific publishing, and the field of library and information in all its sectors, services and activities; is available now and with expected density on social media. It is known that although there are specific tools of those media dedicated to scientific activity (such as ResearchGate), all tools and networks have become used in one way or another in scientific activity.

Nature of social media

Social media means, media or sites are those web sites that users can participate in and contribute to creating their pages easily (1), and adding information, pictures and different multimedia to them, and sharing all that among themselves via sharing, comments, praise and reference ... to the rest of the manifestations of this «social» communication.

Social media has its own distinctive characteristics, from comprehensiveness in terms of exceeding the barriers of time and place, interactivity, openness, connectivity, ease of use, multiple uses, and economy in time, effort and money (2). Social media has its positives and benefits on personal, professional, scientific and educational levels, as it also has its negatives just like other technical tools.

Patterns of social media are many, and many are the tools that fall under each pattern. For example, there are commercial exchange sites and forming commercial knowledge (such as .http://www.kickstarter http://ejabat. And there are discussion sites and forums (such as ،)comhttp:// and there are free encyclopedias (such as ، ogle.com/ejabatar.wikipedia.org/wiki), and there are entrepreneurship sites (such as http://www.socialcast.com), and there are sharing and knowledge networks (such as http://vimeo.com/), and there is place sharing (such as //:http foursqure.com), and there are social content broadcast sites (such as https://twitter.com), and there are comment sharing sites (such as http://disqus.com), and there are question and answer exchange sites (such as http://answers.yahoo.com), and other patterns and tools that fall under them.

Many are also the Arabic terms given as an equivalent to the term Social media; including: means of social communication, social media, community media, social networks, new media, alternative media, citizen media, digital media, electronic media, ... and so on (3).

These terms are all almost of the same meaning, referring to those tools that resulted from the emergence of the second generation of the web Web 2.0, and are built primarily on User-generated content. On the other hand, some of the previous terms are not an accurate equivalent for Social media, but fall under it, such as social networks, which are actually the closest tools to the spirit of social media as they are built on synchronous communication between beneficiaries or communication elements (persons/groups/institutions) and each other instantaneously; this communication manifests in the form of long or short blogs, or pictures or visual files, and comments or responses to them, and praising them, and referring to some of their elements retweet or passing them again or sharing them, mentions, ... to the rest of the evidences of synchronous communication between beneficiaries and each other.

Social networks contain billions of inputs that involve information, opinions and impressions, which are published daily, and this information represents a huge wealth for whoever can analyze it in the appropriate form (4). 

Social networks can thus be a living means of opinion polling and planning for scientific, economic or social projects, and the analysis of these outputs, with the data and statistics they contain, can be used in the decision-making process at all levels.

Social communication on the table of scientific research With the increase in benefit from the Internet in general in recent years, the rates of benefit from social media in the Arab community in general and the Saudi community in particular have also increased (5)

One of the ironies in this regard is that although Arabic is still one of the least represented languages on the Internet in terms of its share of sites in the world, it is on the other hand one of the most prominent languages present on social media; Arabs are well represented through the highest pages on Facebook, Twitter accounts, and YouTube channels in the world (6).

In addition, we notice an increase in interest in social media and presenting its issues on the table of Arab scientific research, and the steady holding of various scientific forums held about social media in different fields of knowledge. For example, the following scientific forums were held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia alone in recent months:

The Twentieth National Computer Conference entitled «Social Networks and Intellectual and National Security» held by the Saudi Computer Society at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh, from 22 to 23 Rabi' al-Thani 1436 AH (3).

Conference (Social Media .. Applications and Methodological Problems) organized by Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University during the period 19-20 /5 /1436 AH corresponding to 10-11 /3 /2015 AD.

The Seventh «Society and Security» Symposium entitled «Social Networks and their Social and Security Dimensions», organized by King Fahd Security College, from 26-27/5/1436 AH corresponding to 17- 18/3/2015 AD.

The Third Meeting of Saudi Tweeters, held on 17 Jumada Al-Awwal 1436 AH corresponding to March 8, 2015 AD, organized by the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Foundation (Misk Charity) for the third time in a row, emphasizing the many positives of social networks, and «Twitter» among them in particular.

4ـ Scientific disciplines interested in social communication Social media is undoubtedly one of the most vital Hot topics in many fields as a result of its infiltration – as mentioned – into many life activities. Although there are many fields interested in social media and its media, such as political, administrative, economic and educational sciences, perhaps media, computer and library and information sciences are the most interested scientific fields in this phenomenon; as the disciplinary and methodological overlap between those three fields is not hidden from us.

It is natural for the media field to be at the forefront of fields interested in social media, as it is the modern form or pattern through which information is broadcast to the general public as opposed to traditional mass communication media. Therefore, social media is sometimes called: new media, alternative media, citizen media, ... etc.

Computer science is interested in social media as – essentially – electronic or digital tools, carrying within them the interactive characteristics of the second generation of the web Web 2.0 as opposed to the static characteristics of the first generation Web 1.0.

While the library and information field is interested in social media, as new sources or channels for broadcasting information, whether Public or Scientific; where researchers today – of all walks and specialties – benefit from the information carried by these media, and benefit from these media – hence – in broadcasting information among themselves. In scientific communication language, benefit is taken from these social media by researchers as informal information sources.

Information measurements available on social media The truth is that with the abundance of information provided by social networks, it has become possible to subject it to measurement and analysis; many technical tools have become available that contribute to this analysis. There are tools that apply to all social networks, and some are specific to a particular network or medium. On the other hand, those tools are divided into what are called monitoring tools, which are dedicated to monitoring and following up instantaneous changes on the network, and assessment or impact tools that are specific to detecting the extent of a particular account's impact on the network, and Social Network Analysis SNA() tools which are interested in detecting the extent of interaction and strength of relationships between different accounts (related to people, groups or institutions, ... etc.) and other related information.

There are tools that perform all these indicators, and some of these tools are available for free or for a fee. Finally, social networking sites can be linked to many APIs, allowing developers and programmers to access key data relevant to research and analysis (7).

In this context, it also does not escape us to refer to the innovation of a new pattern of information measurements which is called Altmetrics, those measurements that are directed at measuring the extent of impact of scientific publications based on occurrences of reference to them in social media.

Thus, through one of these tools, it is possible to reveal current indicators and predict future trends for active parties on social media, and consequently reach many related significances.

Future of social media

Many indicators show that social media is here to stay, and that the benefit from it will increase over time at all levels and for many purposes. For example, prominent and famous figures will continue to rely on social media to build their fame and communicate with their fans. As for ordinary people, they will not leave social networks of course, but their presence on them will increase, because they found in them their refuge to broadcast their news, greetings, concerns, spending free time, and fulfilling themselves; and other psychological, behavioral and social motives. No doubt scientific, educational, information, commercial, charitable institutions and others will continue their electronic presence on social media to market their services and products, and employees of those institutions will also continue presence on the same media for professional and personal purposes. It is also expected (8) that Arab vernment institutions will exert more effort to communicate with their citizens via emerging social media, such as Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp; and more Arab countries will follow the lead of the United Arab Emirates vernment, which launched last year a unified account on Instagram highlighting the vernment's work and achievements.

From the structural and foundational side of social media, some see (9) that deep changes and new additions may occur in the field of social media in the near future. From those changes: the quality of content that can be shared; while the quality of content currently shared is dominated by texts, images and video files, social media tools will exceed such contents and come out to us with new content or a new way to exchange and share contents.

Apple – for example – announced that by using smartwatches, it will be possible to send heartbeats between users. ogle also announced that it might be possible for users of its product ogle smart glasses to share what is being viewed through these glasses directly.

Data extracted from content shared through social media sites can transform into an economic resource, and will be one of the important elements for what is known as Big Data.

Social network users may become more selective in their followers, and social networks might turn into sites gathering people of common interests more selectively rather than the current sites which are usually general.

Among the new features that could cause a bang in the world of social media sites: the parties of communication. Currently, communication is done – as is known – between human parties; meaning that the sender and receiver are persons and not machines, but it is expected that new sites will emerge aiming for communication between humans and machines, or between machines only. For example, the user might link his account on Twitter to his home refrigerator, or might control his home entirely via one of his accounts on social media sites. Researchers have recently succeeded (10) in broadcasting data via wireless signals that succeeded in penetrating a piece of meat, and the new technology was called «flesh communications», which is expected to open new horizons in medical communications because it will facilitate doctors' interaction with medical devices and chips implanted in human bodies. Also from the technologies that may cause a revolution in the field of social networks: the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which could be the basis for a new generation of social media sites.

(*) Department of Information Science – Beni Suef University

References

1. Khaled Ghassan Yousef Al-Muqdadi. Social Network Revolution. 1st ed. Amman, Jordan: Dar Al-Nafais for Publishing and Distribution, 2013.

2. Abdulrahman bin Ibrahim Al-Shaer. Social Networking Sites and Human Behavior. 1st ed. Amman, Jordan: Dar Safaa for Publishing and Distribution, 2015.

3. Some here see the exclusion of electronic and digital because they are names for everything that is digital and electronic, while new and alternative are descriptions of the media; new is every emerging means that does not cancel a previous means, and alternative is every means that replaces a previous one. See: Abdullah Al-Humood. First.. I see the exclusion of electronic and digital because they are names for everything that is digital and electronic. On the link: https://twitter.com/DrAlhumood/status/577233290555318272. Dated 13/3/2015. Accessed 27/3/2015. And: Abdullah Al-Humood. New, every emerging means does not cancel a previous one, like Snapchat after Twitter. As for the alternative, every means replaces a previous one, like email after fax. On the link: /https://twitter.com DrAlhumood/status/577234215235760129. Dated 13/3/2015. Accessed 27/3/2015.

4. Abdulrahman Farraj. Social Influence of Saudi Universities on Twitter, in Light of their Positions in Some International University Rankings. Modern Trends in Library and Information. Under publication.

5. Abdul Kader bin Abdullah Al-Fintookh. Social Networks: Impact and Future. In: The Twentieth National Computer Conference «Social Networks and Intellectual and National Security». Riyadh: Saudi Computer Society 1436 AH/ 2015. 43p. PowerPoint presentation.

6. Lindsay, Ursula. New report: digital divide despite media expansion on the Internet. Al-Fanar for Media 29/3/2016. Available at: https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/ar/2016/. Accessed 21/4/2016.

7. It is worth noting in this regard that the Social Media Club in Bahrain recently launched (December 2014) the «Account Performance Measurement» center for social media, which allows institutions and individuals in the Middle East to obtain accurate information regarding the effectiveness of their use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and enables them to enhance their investment of those media to increase their reach and profitability. See: .13/2/2015 Social Media Club. http://socialmediaclub.org/. Accessed

8. The Future of Social Networks in the Arab World in 2015. Available at the link: //:httphtml.2015-ar.extradigital.co.uk/articles/social-media-middle-east. Accessed 16/1/2016.

9. Quoted from: Fawaz Dulaim Al-Harbi. Future of Social Networks. Saudi Academics. 6/8/2015. Available at: https://www.saudiacademics.com/article Accessed 16/1/2016

10. Abu Al-Hajjaj Muhammad Bashir. «Flesh Communications» technology penetrates human skin. Language of the Age. Year 16, Issue 185 (May 2016). p. 68.