SOCIAL MEDIA—BEGINNINGS When discussing the origins of social media, researchers usually start in the 1980s and the Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). They were a kind of online meeting room that allowed users to download games and other files, and leave messages to co-users. The social aspect of this exchange was pretty clear, but the interaction was rather limited and slow due to technological reasons. What is more important, the social interaction had a rather random character—people did not know who was sitting at the other end of the telephone line.
Social Media—From Social Exchange to Battlefield