Showing papers in "New Media & Society in 2014"
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TL;DR: It is found that people with low levels of education and disabled people are using the Internet for more hours a day in their spare time than higher educated and employed populations and what they are doing online is investigated.
Abstract: In a representative survey of the Dutch population we found that people with low levels of education and disabled people are using the Internet for more hours a day in their spare time than higher educated and employed populations. To explain this finding, we investigated what these people are doing online. The first contribution is a theoretically validated cluster of Internet usage types: information, news, personal development, social interaction, leisure, commercial transaction and gaming. The second contribution is that, based on this classification, we were able to identify a number of usage differences, including those demonstrated by people with different gender, age, education and Internet experience, that are often observed in digital divide literature. The general conclusion is that when the Internet matures, it will increasingly reflect known social, economic and cultural relationships of the offline world, including inequalities.
824 citations
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667 citations
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TL;DR: This work argues that the dynamics of sites like Facebook have forced teens to alter their conceptions of privacy to account for the networked nature of social media, and offers a model of networked privacy to explain how privacy is achieved in networked publics.
Abstract: While much attention is given to young people’s online privacy practices on sites like Facebook, current theories of privacy fail to account for the ways in which social media alter practices of information-sharing and visibility. Traditional models of privacy are individualistic, but the realities of privacy reflect the location of individuals in contexts and networks. The affordances of social technologies, which enable people to share information about others, further preclude individual control over privacy. Despite this, social media technologies primarily follow technical models of privacy that presume individual information control. We argue that the dynamics of sites like Facebook have forced teens to alter their conceptions of privacy to account for the networked nature of social media. Drawing on their practices and experiences, we offer a model of networked privacy to explain how privacy is achieved in networked publics.
615 citations
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TL;DR: Analysis of the online popularity of Italian political leaders and the voting intention of French Internet users in both the 2012 presidential ballot and the subsequent legislative election shows a remarkable ability for social media to forecast electoral results, as well as a noteworthy correlation between social media and the results of traditional mass surveys.
Abstract: The growing usage of social media by a wider audience of citizens sharply increases the possibility of investigating the web as a device to explore and track political preferences. In the present paper we apply a method recently proposed by other social scientists to three different scenarios, by analyzing on one side the online popularity of Italian political leaders throughout 2011, and on the other the voting intention of French Internet users in both the 2012 presidential ballot and the subsequent legislative election. While Internet users are not necessarily representative of the whole population of a country’s citizens, our analysis shows a remarkable ability for social media to forecast electoral results, as well as a noteworthy correlation between social media and the results of traditional mass surveys. We also illustrate that the predictive ability of social media analysis strengthens as the number of citizens expressing their opinion online increases, provided that the citizens act consistently...
426 citations
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TL;DR: This article explores implications of the transition to an environment in which users have become secondary gatekeepers of the content published on media websites, and preliminary empirical evidence indicates these user gatekeeping capabilities are now pervasive on US newspaper sites.
Abstract: This article explores implications of the transition to an environment in which users have become secondary gatekeepers of the content published on media websites. This expanded user role, facilitated by technology and enabled by digital news editors, includes assessment of contributions by other users; communication of the perceived value or quality of user- and journalist-produced content; and selective re-dissemination of that content. The result is a two-step gatekeeping process, in which initial editorial decisions to make an item part of the news product are followed by user decisions to upgrade or downgrade the visibility of that item for a secondary audience. Preliminary empirical evidence indicates these user gatekeeping capabilities are now pervasive on US newspaper sites.
317 citations
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TL;DR: It is argued that how journalists conceive of the audience as a form of capital influences the extent to which journalists integrate audience feedback from web analytics in their news work.
Abstract: New communication technologies have allowed not only new ways in which the audience interacts with the news but also new ways in which journalists can monitor online audience behavior. Through new audience information systems, such as web analytics, the influence of the audience on the news construction process is increasing. This occurs as the journalistic field tries to survive a shrinking audience for news. In this study, I argue that how journalists conceive of the audience as a form of capital influences the extent to which journalists integrate audience feedback from web analytics in their news work. I developed this theoretical framework through case studies of three online newsrooms that included a total of 150 hours of observations and 30 respondent interviews. The findings showed the extent of influence of web analytics on traditional gatekeeping processes and on a new gatekeeping practice online, which I call the process of de-selection.
317 citations
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TL;DR: In-depth interviews with political reporters and editors at US newspapers during the 2012 campaign found that tweets from political leaders are used by journalists in ways that suggest first- and second-level agenda building.
Abstract: This article expands the scope of agenda-building research, which has traditionally focused on the ability of press releases, press conferences, and political ads to influence media coverage. In-depth interviews with political reporters and editors at US newspapers during the 2012 campaign found that tweets from political leaders are used by journalists in ways that suggest first- and second-level agenda building. Participants gave examples of how political tweets have shaped their coverage in terms of the events they cover, the sources they interview, the quotes they use, and the background information they rely on to decide how to cover an issue. In addition, political tweets that contribute the most to coverage tend to have several elements in common.
224 citations
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TL;DR: The ways in which news factors affect participation levels and interactivity in a news item’s comments section are explored and the theoretical, normative, and practical implications of those findings are discussed.
Abstract: Posting comments on the news is one of the most popular forms of user participation in online newspapers, and there is great potential for public discourse that is associated with this form of user communication. However, this potential arises only when several users participate in commenting and when their communication becomes interactive. Based on an adaption of Galtung and Ruge’s theory of newsworthiness, we hypothesized that a news article’s news factors affect both participation levels and interactivity in a news item’s comments section. The data from an online content analysis of political news are consistent with the hypotheses. This article explores the ways in which news factors affect participation levels and interactivity, and it discusses the theoretical, normative, and practical implications of those findings.
216 citations
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TL;DR: A typology of how Twitter is used in the service of protest is presented that draws attention to its utilization in conjunction with face-to-face actions and finds that the relay of pre-existing material was perceived to be just as meaningful a form of participation as drafting original compositions.
Abstract: Based on 17 in-depth interviews with people involved in the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, we present a typology of how Twitter is used in the service of protest that draws attention to its utilization in conjunction with face-to-face actions. The OWS case study demonstrates how the rapid digital circulation of texts allows protestors to quickly build a geographically dispersed, networked counterpublic that can articulate a critique of power outside of the parameters of mainstream media. Furthermore, we find that the relay of pre-existing material was perceived to be just as meaningful a form of participation as drafting original compositions. By including these forwarding activities in their online efforts, these Twitter users worked to expand the circulation of information building and sustaining an OWS counterpublic. However, dependence on this external platform leaves protestors vulnerable to restrictions on their ability to communicate, as well as to unwanted surveillance from potentially hostile...
203 citations
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TL;DR: This essay reflects on microblogging in the context of the Chinese internet and argues that successes in breaking scandals and mobilizing opinion against recalcitrant officials should not mask the reality that the government is utilizing the microblogosphere to its own advantage.
Abstract: The popularization of microblogging in China represents a new challenge to the state’s regime of information control. The speed with which information is diffused in the microblogosphere has helped netizens to publicize and express their discontent with the negative consequences of economic growth, income inequalities and official corruption. In some cases, netizen-led initiatives have facilitated the mobilization of online public opinion and forced the central government to intervene to redress acts of lower level malfeasance. However, despite the growing corpus of such cases, the government has quickly adapted to the changing internet ecology and is using the same tools to help it maintain control of society by enhancing its claims to legitimacy, circumscribing dissent, identifying malfeasance in its agents and using online public opinion to adapt policy and direct propaganda efforts. This essay reflects on microblogging in the context of the Chinese internet, and argues that successes in breaking scand...
199 citations
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TL;DR: Using original survey data collected in the US, it is found that political consumerism is more closely related to civic engagement than it is to political participation, and that use of social media mediates the relationship between general Internet use and politicalConsumerism.
Abstract: An ongoing debate concerns the extent to which political consumerism constitutes political behavior. To address this debate, researchers have examined several predictors of political consumerism, but have not focused on its communicative dimensions, especially with respect to digital media. In this study we conceptualize political consumerism as a form of civic engagement, and we theorize that people who use social media are more likely to engage in political consumerism than those who do not. Using original survey data collected in the US, we find that political consumerism is more closely related to civic engagement than it is to political participation, and that use of social media mediates the relationship between general Internet use and political consumerism.
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TL;DR: It is argued that the camera-phone permits entirely new performative rituals of bearing witness, such as dissenting bodies en masse recording their own repression and, via wireless global communication networks, effectively mobilizing this footage as graphic testimony in a bid to produce feelings of political solidarity.
Abstract: This article interrogates the emerging modes of civic engagement connected to the mobile camera-phone, and the ways in which they require us to rethink what it is to bear witness to brutality in the age of fundamentally camera-mediated mass self-publication. I argue that the camera-phone permits entirely new performative rituals of bearing witness, such as dissenting bodies en masse recording their own repression and, via wireless global communication networks, effectively mobilizing this footage as graphic testimony in a bid to produce feelings of political solidarity. Critically, the performance of what I elect to call ‘citizen camera-witnessing’, as exemplified by contemporary street opposition movements including those in Burma, Iran, Egypt, Libya and Syria, derives its potency from the ways it reactivates the idea of martyrdom: that is, from its distinct claim to truth in the name of afflicted people who put their bodies on the line to record the injustice of oppression.
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TL;DR: This article investigates the technological affordances of Facebook for the temporal experiences of its users and develops the concept of “social media time” while considering notions of the archive, flow, and narrative, which contribute to shedding light on how specific media technologies afford specific temporalities.
Abstract: People are spending increasingly more time on social media platforms, with Facebook being the biggest and most successful Historically, media technologies have for long been considered of importan
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TL;DR: It is found that those who post mobilization requests on Facebook report higher social capital, are more likely to try to respond to Friends’ expressed needs, and tend to see the site as a better source of information, coordination, and networked communication.
Abstract: Facebook-enabled resource mobilization attempts—broadcasted status updates in which people ask questions or request information, favors, or other forms of assistance from one’s network—can provide insight into social capital dynamics as they unfold on Facebook. Specifically, these requests and the responses they receive can serve as a window into how, why, and with what results individuals turn to their Friends network for help. In this study, we synthesize the existing research on resource mobilization requests via Facebook and present new analyses of survey data collected from a random sample of Facebook users who have made any post in the past 28 days (n = 573) and a sample of those who have posted a mobilization request in the past 28 days (n = 1074). To identify mobilization requests, an automated classifier trained on a hand-labeled sample of public status updates was used. Using participants’ self-reported survey data and server-level behavioral data, we examine how mobilization request behaviors r...
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TL;DR: How these organizations communicate and mobilize citizens around their issue and the underlying assumptions behind their strategies are examined, revealing a focus on like-minded issue public mobilization and online-to-offline social movement building strategies.
Abstract: Despite the impact that Internet-mediated advocacy organizations have had on American politics over the last decade, we are still learning about how they work. This is even truer for Internet-mediated issue specialists that focus on a single issue, such as climate change. Based on interviews with key staff members of two climate change advocacy campaigns, this article examines how these organizations communicate and mobilize citizens around their issue and the underlying assumptions behind their strategies. Interviews revealed a focus on like-minded issue public mobilization and online-to-offline social movement building strategies. The paper also examines how these organizations can influence policy debates by mobilizing issue publics, shifting debates to more favorable public arenas, and reframing them in ways more favorable to their causes. Implications for the future of climate policy and Internet-mediated advocacy research are discussed.
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TL;DR: To extend research on online impression formation and warranting theory, a Brunswick lens model analysis of Facebook profiles indicates that observers could accurately estimate profile owners’ extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
Abstract: To extend research on online impression formation and warranting theory, the present investigation reports a Brunswick lens model analysis of Facebook profiles. Facebook users’ (n = 100) personality (i.e. extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness) was self-reported. Facebook users’ profiles were then content analyzed for the presence and rate of 53 cues. Observers (n = 35), who were strangers to profile owners, estimated profile owner personality. Results indicate that observers could accurately estimate profile owners’ extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. For all personality traits except neuroticism, unique profile cues were diagnostic warrants of personality (i.e. indicative of profile owner personality and used to estimate personality by strangers). The results are discussed in relation to warranting theory, impression formation, and lens model research.
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TL;DR: Analysis of usage patterns among 34 college students participating in six geographically stratified focus group interviews revealed a sequence of media use tied to stages of relationship development − from Facebook in early stages to instant messaging and then cell phones as a relationship progressed.
Abstract: Communication technologies are widely used to manage interpersonal relationships, but little is known about which media are most useful at different stages of relationship development, and how the pattern of usage may be influenced by contextual factors or users’ gender. Drawing on theories of relationship development, this study examined usage patterns among 34 college students participating in six geographically stratified focus group interviews. Analyses revealed a sequence of media use tied to stages of relationship development − from Facebook in early stages to instant messaging and then cell phones as a relationship progressed. Judgments about the efficacy and appropriateness of using a medium were based on how well its salient features matched prominent goals or addressed major concerns of a relationship at the given stage. International students added two technologies to the sequence to accommodate time differentials and distance from communication partners. Males were less explicit about the sequ...
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TL;DR: In this paper, a popular Saudi television sports program covered the day's disappointing loss by the national soccer team to Oman in the Gulf Cup and a call comes in from Saudi Prince Sultan bin Fahd, a key patron of the team, who is not happy with their analysis.
Abstract: On January 17, 2009, a popular Saudi television sports program covered the day’s disappointing loss by the national soccer team to Oman in the Gulf Cup. The show’s host and his guests, including a professional soccer player and a former coach, are critiquing the team and its management when a call comes in from Saudi Prince Sultan bin Fahd, a key patron of the team. He is not happy with their analysis. On air, the prince dresses them down in turn, and goes so far as to tell one of them he is poorly raised, a serious insult in Saudi culture. The prince’s tone is disrespectful, and his words are not those of a leader to citizens, but of a ruler to his subjects. A clip of the tirade quickly appears on YouTube, and blogs and online forums post the link, spawning long chains of comments. These are overwhelmingly critical of the prince, who was seen as speaking to the commentators as though they were his slaves.
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TL;DR: A Twitter-based community in South Korea that calls for the elimination of a conservative national daily newspaper and whose activism is contextualized in the political history of Korea appears to demonstrate a new form of collective activism through the mediation of technology in everyday life.
Abstract: This study provides an empirical account of how an online community has employed social media to mobilize people for a political goal. The case explored is a Twitter-based community in South Korea that calls for the elimination of a conservative national daily newspaper and whose activism is contextualized in the political history of Korea. Based on the mixed-method approach, the research results suggest that the role of the group organizer as an information provider and coordinator contributed to the sustainability of the group, and that group members formed a collective identity through the framing process of discourse. In addition, massive “retweeting” and “culture jamming” tactics were found to be strategically employed to enhance group solidarity, to broaden the base of support, and to crystallize involvement into political acts with other offline actions. Rather than decaying to an echo chamber or “slacktivism”, the online community seemed to demonstrate a new form of collective activism through the...
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TL;DR: A positive relation between particular forms of PIU on the one hand and voter turnout and political interest on the other hand is revealed and the positive effect on voter turnout is more prevalent for citizens who exhibit lower levels of political interest.
Abstract: In the time since the rise of the Internet, it has often been claimed that it has the potential to contribute to the quality of democracy by fostering citizens’ involvement in politics. So far, empirical evidence regarding this purported effect has been mixed, and many questions about the consequences of specific forms of political Internet use (PIU) have remained unanswered. This study expands the knowledge about the relation between PIU and political involvement by examining the effect of active and passive forms of PIU on citizens’ political involvement: more specifically, interest and voter turnout during election times. The results obtained from a panel study of a representative sample of the Dutch population (N = 985) reveal a positive relation between particular forms of PIU on the one hand and voter turnout and political interest on the other hand. In addition, for two specific forms of PIU, the positive effect on voter turnout is more prevalent for citizens who exhibit lower levels of political i...
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TL;DR: It is argued that the combination of search and advertising services, and in particular advertising network services, creates powerful incentives to orient the results page in self-serving ways, leading to fundamental conflicts of interest exacerbated by Google’s dominant position in both markets.
Abstract: Media scholars have studied and critiqued search engines – and in particular the dominant commercial actor, Google – for over a decade. Several conceptual and methodological problems, such as a lack of technological transparency, have made a detailed analysis of concrete power relations and their effects difficult. This paper argues that a microeconomic approach can aid media scholars in examining the complex interactions that underpin the dynamics of information visibility unfolding around the Google search engine. Using the concept of a ‘three-sided market’, we characterize the business model built around google.com as the foundation of the company’s success. We then argue that the combination of search and advertising services, and in particular advertising network services, creates powerful incentives to orient the results page in self-serving ways, leading to fundamental conflicts of interest exacerbated by Google’s dominant position in both markets. Based on search engines’ mass media-like capacity ...
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TL;DR: Empirically, a multi-level analysis of 624 film reviews reveals that the ascendance of peer-produced content not only challenges the hierarchical model of cultural evaluation, which remains in use, but adds a further dimension.
Abstract: Traditionally, media critics play a central role in the attribution of symbolic value to cultural products. This article studies empirically how the process of cultural evaluation is affected by the rise of peer-produced criticism online. More specifically, I examine how the discourse that critics employ to substantiate their aesthetic evaluations differs across media platforms and is affected by the institutionalization of critics, the symbolic dimensions of the reviewed film and the overall media attention paid to that film. Empirically, this study involves a multi-level analysis of 624 film reviews, which attends to media-level and film-level characteristics. The results reveal that the ascendance of peer-produced content not only challenges the hierarchical model of cultural evaluation, which remains in use, but adds a further dimension. At the same time, differences across media platforms (print, webzines, film blogs, amateur postings) reveal continuous rather than dichotomous patterns, thus emphasiz...
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TL;DR: Interestingly, the sound studies reader that you really wait for now is coming, it's significant to wait for the representative and beneficial books to read.
Abstract: Interestingly, the sound studies reader that you really wait for now is coming. It's significant to wait for the representative and beneficial books to read. Every book that is provided in better way and utterance will be expected by many peoples. Even you are a good reader or not, feeling to read this book will always appear when you find it. But, when you feel hard to find it as yours, what to do? Borrow to your friends and don't know when to give back it to her or him.
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TL;DR: It was using new media, not talking politics online, that predicted the frequency with which respondents encountered blocked websites online and also perceptions of their ownpolitical efficacy, which may support voices that are skeptical about technology’s ability to sustain revolution.
Abstract: The uprisings after the 2009 elections in Iran generated debate on new media’s potential to affect dissent in authoritarian countries. We surveyed 2800 young, educated, metropolitan, and technologically savvy Iranians over a year after the election and during the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa to examine what sources these youth use for information, the extent to which they rely on new media for political exchanges, their experiences with online censorship, and political efficacy as related to new media. Although the Internet was stated as the most important news outlet, state-controlled television was often used, and Twitter was the least prevalent new media platform. Personal issues and IT/science were more often discussed via new media than politics. Further, it was using new media, not talking politics online, that predicted the frequency with which respondents encountered blocked websites online and also perceptions of their ownpolitical efficacy. Although our findings may support voic...
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TL;DR: It is suggested that the disconnective strategies of suspension and prevention are operational necessities for those the authors might see as the users and owners of sites such as Facebook.
Abstract: This article attends to the idea of disconnection as a way of theorising people’s lived experience of social networking sites. Enrolling and extending a disconnective practice lens, we suggest that the disconnective strategies of suspension and prevention are operational necessities for those we might see as the users and owners of sites such as Facebook. Indeed, our work demonstrates that disconnection in these contexts need not be associated only with modes of resistance and departure, but can also act as socioeconomic lubricant.
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TL;DR: An ethnographic study of the adoption and use of Facebook among urban Indian youth from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities is presented, highlighting how they swiftly negotiate social boundaries and technological hurdles, transitioning into legitimate members of a global community.
Abstract: This article presents an ethnographic study of the adoption and use of Facebook among urban Indian youth from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Mobile-centric use of the Internet is widely prevalent here as general packet radio service (GPRS)-enabled mobile phones and data plans have become increasingly affordable. Less privileged youth are the lead adopters of these new technologies, and typically the first generation of Internet users, in their communities. My research uncovers their leisure-driven engagement with new media, seen through the lens of Facebook use, and the development-friendly outcomes that result from it. By examining the direct and indirect affordances of Facebook perceived by these youth, this article highlights how they swiftly negotiate social boundaries and technological hurdles, transitioning into legitimate members of a global community.
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TL;DR: It is found that journalistic norms and conceptions of expertise prevent journalists from engaging with readers and journalists are maintaining their jurisdiction over news content and are not participating with readers in mutual shaping.
Abstract: The technology that allows readers to post anonymous online comments on newspaper websites gives readers unprecedented opportunities to participate, but poses challenges to the journalistic value of transparency, practice of gatekeeping, and conception of expertise. This nationwide survey of 583 US journalists explores whether the technology has affected their work practices, workplaces, or news coverage. The study, grounded in social shaping of technology theories, finds that journalists are not opposed to sharing their web platforms with readers’ comments, but dislike user anonymity and ignore reader input. Despite the technological affordance that provides journalists a means to receive instant, global feedback from readers, journalists are maintaining their jurisdiction over news content and are not participating with readers in mutual shaping. This study finds that journalistic norms and conceptions of expertise prevent journalists from engaging with readers.
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TL;DR: This paper examines recent acclaim for professional embedded photojournalists who visually document the experience of US soldiers in Afghanistan using the popular mobile photo application Hipstamatic and argues that this discourse about the use of mobile apps overlooks another important ethical issue: the implications of non-soldiers mimicking the imagined hand of the modern smartphone-equipped US soldier, particularly in light of soldiers’ own complex media-making practices.
Abstract: This paper examines recent acclaim for professional embedded photojournalists who visually document the experience of US soldiers in Afghanistan using the popular mobile photo application Hipstamatic. These photos have stirred controversy among fellow journalists and cultural critics regarding the use of photo filters in Hipstamatic and similar app Instagram, their contribution to the de-professionalization of photojournalism, and the depiction of war as stylishly vintage. The debates about Hipstamatic and Instagram in war photography open up a whole series of enduring questions about distinctions between photography and illustration, photography and photojournalism, professional and amateur, and reporting and editorializing. In consideration of the shifting nature of digital photography, photojournalism, and specifically war photojournalism, I argue that this discourse about the use of mobile apps overlooks another important ethical issue: the implications of non-soldiers mimicking the imagined hand of t...
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TL;DR: In the context of modern western psychologised, techno-social hybrid reality, where individuals are incited constantly to work on themselves and perform their self-development in public, the use of online social networking sites (SNSs) can be conceptualised as what Foucault has described as a 'technique of self'.
Abstract: In the context of modern western psychologised, techno-social hybrid realities, where individuals are incited constantly to work on themselves and perform their self-development in public, the use of online social networking sites (SNSs) can be conceptualised as what Foucault has described as a ‘technique of self’. This article explores examples of status updates on Facebook to reveal that writing on Facebook is a tool for self-formation with historical roots. Exploring examples of self-writing from the past, and considering some of the continuities and discontinuities between these age-old practices and their modern translations, provides a non-technologically deterministic and historically aware way of thinking about the use of new media technologies in modern societies that understands them to be more than mere tools for communication.