The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media

TLDR: In this article, the authors discuss the role of technology in the creation and evolution of social networks in the context of Connective Media in a culture of Connectivity, and propose a framework for disassembling platforms and reassembling sociality.

Abstract: Table of Contents Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Engineering Sociality in a Culture of Connectivity 1.1 Introduction 1.2 From Networked Communication to Platformed Sociality 1.3 Making the Web Social: Coding Human Connections. 1.4 Making Sociality Saleable: Connectivity as a Resource 1.5 The Ecosystem of Connective Media in a Culture of Connectivity Chapter 2: Disassembling Platforms, Reassembling Sociality 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Combining Two Approaches 2.3 Platforms as Techno-cultural Constructs 2.4 Platforms as Socio-economic Structures 2.5 Connecting Platforms, Reassembling Sociality Chapter 3: Facebook and the Imperative of Sharing 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Coding Facebook: The Devil is in the Default 3.3 Branding Facebook: What You Share Is What You Get 3.4 Shared norms in the Ecosystem of Connective Media Chapter 4: Twitter and the Paradox of Following and Trending 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Asking the Existential Question: What is Twitter? 4.3 Asking the Strategic Question: What Does Twitter Want? 4.4 Asking the Ecological Question: What Will Twitter Be? Chapter 5: Flickr between Communities and Commerce 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Flickr Between Connedtedness and Connectivity 5.3 Flickr Between Commons and Commerce 5.4 Flickr Between Participatory and Connective Culture Chapter 6: YouTube: The Intimate Connection between Television and Video-sharing 6.1 Introduction 179-215 6.2 Out of the Box: Video-sharing Challenges Television 6.3 Boxed In: Channeling Television into the Connective Flow 6.4 YouTube as A Gateway to Connective Culture Chapter 7: Wikipedia and the Principle of Neutrality 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Techno-cultural Construction of Consensus 7.3 A Consensual Apparatus between Democracy and Bureaucracy 7.4 A Nonmarket Space in the Ecosystem? Chapter 8: The Ecosystem of Connective Media: Locked In, Fenced Off, Opt Out? 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Locked In: The Algorithmic Basis of Sociality 8.3 Fenced Off: Vertical Integration and Interoperability 8.4 Opt Out? Connectivity as Ideology Bibliography Index