Understanding Social Media Logic

Media and Communication, Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 2-14, 2013

13 Pages Posted: 13 Aug 2013

See all articles by José van Dijck

José van Dijck

University of Amsterdam

Thomas Poell

University of Amsterdam (UvA)

Date Written: August 12, 2013

Abstract

Over the past decade, social media platforms have penetrated deeply into the mechanics of everyday life, affecting people's informal interactions, as well as institutional structures and professional routines. Far from being neutral platforms for everyone, social media have changed the conditions and rules of social interaction. In this article, we examine the intricate dynamic between social media platforms, mass media, users, and social institutions by calling attention to social media logic — the norms, strategies, mechanisms, and economies — underpinning its dynamics. This logic will be considered in light of what has been identified as mass media logic , which has helped spread the media's powerful discourse outside its institutional boundaries. Theorizing social media logic, we identify four grounding principles — programmability, popularity, connectivity, and datafication — and argue that these principles become increasingly entangled with mass media logic. The logic of social media, rooted in these grounding principles and strategies, is gradually invading all areas of public life. Besides print news and broadcasting, it also affects law and order, social activism, politics, and so forth. Therefore, its sustaining logic and widespread dissemination deserve to be scrutinized in detail in order to better understand its impact in various domains. Concentrating on the tactics and strategies at work in social media logic, we reassess the constellation of power relationships in which social practices unfold, raising questions such as: How does social media logic modify or enhance existing mass media logic? And how is this new media logic exported beyond the boundaries of (social or mass) media proper? The underlying principles, tactics, and strategies may be relatively simple to identify, but it is much harder to map the complex connections between platforms that distribute this logic: users that employ them, technologies that drive them, economic structures that scaffold them, and institutional bodies that incorporate them.

Keywords: social media, mass media, Facebook, Twitter, media logic, viral, datafication, connectivity, popularity, programmability

Suggested Citation

van Dijck, José and Poell, Thomas, Understanding Social Media Logic (August 12, 2013). Media and Communication, Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 2-14, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2309065

José Van Dijck

University of Amsterdam ( email )

Spui 21
Netherlands

Thomas Poell (Contact Author)

University of Amsterdam (UvA) ( email )

Spui 21
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
21,102
Abstract Views
59,035
Rank
260
PlumX Metrics