Social Media Entertainment

Winner, 2020 Outstanding Book Award, given by the International Communication Association

Honorable Mention, 2020 Nancy Baym Book Award, given by the Association of Internet Researchers

How the transformation of social media platforms and user-experience have redefined the entertainment industry

In a little over a decade, competing social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, have given rise to a new creative industry: social media entertainment. Operating at the intersection of the entertainment and interactivity, communication and content industries, social media entertainment creators have harnessed these platforms to generate new kinds of content separate from the century-long model of intellectual property control in the traditional entertainment industry.

Social media entertainment has expanded rapidly and the traditional entertainment industry has been forced to cede significant power and influence to content creators, their fans, and subscribers. Digital platforms have created a natural market for embedded advertising, changing the worlds of marketing and communication in their wake. Combined, these factors have produced new, radically shifting demands on the entertainment industry, posing new challenges for screen regimes, media scholars, industry professionals, content creators, and audiences alike.

Stuart Cunningham and David Craig chronicle the rise of social media entertainment and its impact on media consumption and production. A massive, industry-defining study with insight from over 100 industry insiders, Social Media Entertainment explores the latest transformations in the entertainment industry in this time of digital disruption.

Stuart Cunningham is Distinguished Professor of Media and Communication, Queensland University of Technology. His most recent books include Media Economics (with Terry Flew and Adam Swift, 2015), Screen Distribution and the New King Kongs of the Online World (with Jon Silver, 2013), and Hidden Innovation: Policy, Industry and the Creative Sector (2013).

David Craig is Clinical Associate Professor at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and a visiting scholar at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries. Craig is also an Emmy-nominated Hollywood producer and TV executive who has supervised or produced over thirty critically acclaimed films, series, documentaries, books, web series, and stage productions.