Social networking has transformed not only how people spend their time, even idle time waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store, but how people interact with one another and share information and content about themselves and others on social media platforms. Social media consumption, especially via mobile devices that facilitate real-time social networking, is where online users spend their time. A recent study according to Pew indicates that, as of December 2012, 67 percent of online adults interact with social networking platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine and Twitter.
The study also indicated that in 2011, 52 percent of Facebook users interacted with the platform daily via updates to their status and comments to another’s status. These users are sharing user-generated content via social media, every day. This UGC injected into social networking platforms consists of text content, photos, videos and audio. It also may include trademarks, copyrights and images owned by not only the user but others as well.
