Exploring Social Networking Platforms:A Comprehensive Review of Technological,Social, and Economic Dimensions

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter have evolved.into complex sociotechnical structures which affect society, technology, and the world economy.Artificial intelligence (AI) sentiment analysis and recommender systems have made personalization and predictive analytics better.Technologically speaking, though such advances cause concern as well.Concerning algorithmic bias, privacy, surveillance and the spread of fake information.Socially, such platforms enable activism, learning and community building, especially noticeable during such periods of world crisis, but they also lead to issues such as disinformation, cyberbullying, digital addiction and ideological polarization.Economically, social networking sites are robust ecosystems that encourage entrepreneurship, influencer marketing, and digital commerce and are also associated with risks of fraud or monopolistic control and data commodification.This review offers an objective perspective of their dualistic character of both causes of ethical, social, and governance dilemmas and catalysts of innovation by synthesizing the findings of 35 peer-reviewed articles published between 2017 and 2025.These findings indicate the urgency of making the operation transparent, innovative strategy sustainable and responsible use of AI.The evolving landscape of the social networking platforms will require that accountability and digital literacy is enhanced to ensure that opportunities to be exploited and risks reduced.