Final answer:
Mass media and social media differ in interactivity, pace of change, and content control. Social media allows for immediate, interactive communication and content sharing, while mass media disseminates information more broadly with limited user engagement. Social media's openness to user-generated content can lead to misinformation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mass media and social media differ in several ways. One primary distinction is that social media is an array of Internet-based platforms that allows users to engage in fast, interactive communication, sharing content with potentially large audiences. In contrast, mass media refers to traditional media forms like television, radio, and newspapers, which disseminate information to a wide audience but with limited interaction.
While mass media has often been controlled by professional journalists ensuring the credibility of content, social media platforms allow virtually anyone to publish or express ideas without editorial oversight, increasing the potential for misinformation. Social media tends to facilitate more rapid changes in public discourse and has given rise to a diverse array of voices that can be heard almost instantly across the globe, whereas mass media typically operates at a slower pace regarding the adoption of technological innovations and content distribution.
Importantly, mass media and social media play different roles in society's access to information and can engender varying levels of user engagement and content customization, with social media offering more personalized experiences.