Title: Perpectives in the Social Sciences (2016) Editors: C.E Uzochukwu, T.M. Oguegbe & U.P. Ekwugha Published by: School of General Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Chapter pages: 1 – 16. Chapter Title: The New (Social) Media: A contemporary introduction Chapter Contributors: Chikezie Emmanuel Uzuegbunam, Chinwe Elizabeth Uzochukwu, PhD. Introduction Since at least 2004, the internet, and more specifically the web, has witnessed a notorious and controversial shift away from the model of the static web page towards a social web or web 2.0 model where the possibilities of users to interact with the web have multiplied. It has become much easier for a layperson to publish and share texts, images and sounds. A new topology of distribution of information has emerged, based in ‘real’ social networks, but also enhanced by casual and algorithmic connections (Terranova and Donovan 2013, p.297). While we may have missed the dawn of the very first modern mass medium in the world – newspaper – in the 15 th Century, our generation has undeniably witnessed the arrival of the New Media innovation. The new media, as it is popularly known, is an offshoot of the Internet. The Internet came into existence since the late 1960s. In 1993, the Internet became expanded into a truly user-friendly media with the creation of the World Wide Web and its accessible navigation tools known as “browsers” and “search engines”. 1