چكيده به لاتين
Abstract
With the rapid expansion of social media and their profound impact on today's societies, futures research in this field has gained special importance. This study aimed to provide a systematic review of scientific articles related to the future of social media to analyze key trends, challenges, and opportunities in this field.
This study is practical in terms of its purpose. Two reputable databases, Web of Science and Scopus, were used to collect articles. Using relevant keywords, 5413 relevant indexes were identified from 2017 to 2024, and about 530 articles had titles related to the future of social media. Then, by studying the abstracts, 70 articles that were most relevant to the research topic were selected for systematic review, but ultimately, 48 articles whose full text was available were selected. The articles were categorized and analyzed based on general information (including year of publication, research methodology, and focus) as well as specialized information (research objectives, research gaps, trend analysis, and future predictions and suggestions).
The research findings led to the identification of 8 key drivers for predicting the future of social media in 4 categories in order of priority: 1. Technological factors 2. Cultural and social factors 3. Economic factors 4. Legal and political factors. By combining these drivers, three major trends in relation to social media have been expressed in terms of the selected articles.
This research ultimately expresses three possible rational scenarios in relation to social media; In the first scenario, the golden age of social media will occur (optimistic scenario), in the second scenario, the crisis and decline of the platforms will occur (pessimistic scenario), and in the third scenario, the gradual evolution of these media and new challenges for it are likely (realistic scenario). It should be noted that it is not possible to express a completely clear picture of the future. The results of this study can help policymakers, planners and researchers to make better decisions in the field of social media management and development.
