The Social Dynamics of Web 2.0

Within only a few years, Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, You Tube and other social media have become an intimate part of everyday life. Web 2.0, the collective term for all forms of interactive online communication, is characterized by the overwhelming ability of users to collaboratively create content. The implications of Web 2.0 have become a central focus for interdisciplinary social science research.

This book comprehensively addresses the profound impact of Web 2.0 on contemporary society and its dynamics in a multiplicity of fields. The chapters, authored by world-leading experts, vividly demonstrate that Web 2.0 is a dynamic basis for collective action and an unlimited source of societal destabilisation and revolutionary change, for better or for worse. Various aspects of the radical transformative potential of Web 2.0 are imaginatively and critically discussed in the analytical context of quantitative approaches, qualitative works and case studies. This book provides key insights into the wide-reaching implications of recent technological developments, casting new light into an area which may potentially contribute to a more peaceful and sustainable future.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences.