1. Introduction
While no one still imagined that the social aspect of the Internet would
one day become its main application, Internet social networks emerged.
This issue has received so much attention among Internet users that it
can be boldly said that social networks are one of the most effective
services provided on the Internet. Social networks are a generation of
databases that are in the spotlight of Internet users these days. These
are types of online activities, and each brings together a group of
Internet users with specific features. According to social thinker
Alfred Schütz, “public opinion” is the esoteric conscience of a
nation. Public opinion this anonymous power is often a political force
not enshrined in any constitution (Motavali, 2005: 96). The most
important tool for shaping public opinion is the media. The advent of
the digital media age, especially cyberspace and social networks, has
had a complex impact on public opinion. New media have formed a new type
of interpersonal relationship that is interpreted as virtual
communication. These virtual connections between people in the form of
virtual forms such as social networks are based on public participation.
With the increasing use of cyberspace by the public, we have witnessed
the growth and influence of social networks in various political and
social developments, the direction of public opinion and even the
collapse of political and social systems based in different parts of the
world (Ebrahimi far & Yagoubi far, 2014: 70).
Information and communication technologies have entered all social,
Organizational and individual spaces in human societies have affected
daily life, work and knowledge. The availability of these technologies
is the occurrence of a ”paradigm shift” in human individual and social
life in which even ancient concepts can be identified with new
epistemological geometry. According to Manuel Castells, new information
technologies connect the corners of the world in global networks and
create computer communications, thus affecting all human material and
spiritual processes (Castells, 1991: 48). In fact, in proportion to the
benefit of societies from information and communication technologies and
playing a role in communication and interaction between people and the
exchange of information and society’s access to this process, social
change is accelerating and intensifying. It is not an exaggeration to
say that there is a strong link between information and communication
technologies and the formation of social life (Gripenberg, 2005: 2).
Although new technology is defined in terms of technical and
instrumental aspects, the social sciences look at this phenomenon in
terms of its contexts, practices, effects, and outcomes. Dennis
Mc Queel (2003) argues that we don’t need to be a
technological determinist to believe that the form of technology that
involves a device can have a profound effect on the content and
perception of what communications and His possible
effects. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as “a
set of Internet-based tools based on the ideology and technology of Web2
that allow users to generate and share content.” (Kaplan & Haenlein,
2010: 68).
From the population of about 84 million people in Iran in 2021, there
are about 59 million Internet users, which is a very serious potential
for the development of cyberspace. According to official statistics,
there are about 33 million users in Iranian social networks in 2020. The
growth of Iranian users compared to the same period last year is about
2.5 percent, but the Internet speed in Iran is still lower than other
countries (Bakhshipour, 2020). According to unofficial statistics, the
number of active Iranian users in Telegram is estimated at 50 million;
this means that more than 10% of Telegram users are Iranian, and
considering that it is filtered in the country, this share is
significant. In 2020, due to the corona crisis in the country, people
had a strange tendency to social networks and therefore have multiplied
their activities in these spaces. According to published reports, more
than 80% of online purchases are from social networks, especially
Telegram and Instagram (Ghanbari, 2021).