Abstract
This chapter exposes the prominence of different theoretical perspectives on the Internet. A broad scope of primary and secondary theories has been increasingly used to understand the social and communicative aspects of the Internet and the increasingly specialized areas being developed by Internet researchers, such as around social media. The chapters published in the first half of the period (2000–04) are compared to those in the second period of the sample (2005–09). It is observed that the media attributes, the public sphere, and community have been the most popular theory themes. There are also opportunities for further theoretical development in the areas of credibility/trust, participatory media/users, relational management, and cultural differences.