The Social Media Debate: Unpacking the Social, Psychological, and Cultural Effects of Social Media

240 Pages·2022·3.4 MB·english

by  Devan Rosen (editor)

THE SOCIAL MEDIA DEBATE
This accessible, student-friendly book provides a concise overview of the primary
debates surrounding the impact and efects of social media.
From Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to Snapchat and TikTok, social media
has become part of our everyday experience. However, its proliferation has
brought a myriad of serious concerns about the long-term efects of social media
on socializing and personal relationships and the impact on well-being and mental
health (particularly in relation to children and adolescents), as well as issues linked
to information and culture (such as privacy, misinformation, and manipulation).
Featuring contributions by leading international scholars and established
authorities such as Christian Fuchs, Henry Jenkins, Michael A. Stefanone, and
Joan Donovan, editor Devan Rosen brings together key contemporary research
from multiple disciplines in order to provide crucial insight into these debates.
This book will be an important resource for students and scholars of media
and communication, as well as educators, parents, policy makers, and clinicians
interested in the impacts of social media.
Devan Rosen is Professor of Emerging Media in the Roy H. Park School of
Communications at Ithaca College. His research focuses on the social uses of
new media, social network analysis, and distributed socio-technical systems. He
has developed social and semantic network-analytic theories and methods for
the analysis of dynamic social networks in online environments. His research on
decentralized self-organizing systems, Flock Theory, has been featured as the basis
for several episodes of the hit CBS show NUMB3RS.
Routledge Debates in Digital Media Studies
Series editors: Rachel Kowert and Thorsten Quandt
The Routledge Debates in Digital Media Studies series provides critical examinations
of the active debates that surround the uses and efects of new media and technol-
ogies within society. Consisting of essays written by leading scholars and experts,
each volume tackles a growing area of inquiry and debate in the feld and provides
readers with an in-depth and accessible overview of the topic in question.
The Video Game Debate 2
Revisiting the Physical, Social, and Psychological Efects of Video Games
Edited by Rachel Kowert and Thorsten Quandt
The Social Media Debate
Unpacking the Social, Psychological, and Cultural Efects of Social Media
Edited by Devan Rosen
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Debates-in-Digital-Media-Studies/book-series/RDDMS
THE SOCIAL MEDIA
DEBATE
Unpacking the Social,
Psychological, and Cultural Efects
of Social Media
Edited by Devan Rosen
Cover image: © peepo / Getty Images
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Devan Rosen; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Devan Rosen to be identifed as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-77413-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-76751-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17127-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003171270
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
List of Contributors x
1 Introduction: The Rise of a New Media Paradigm 1
Devan Rosen
2 Social Media as Social Infrastructures 5
Sarah Myers West
3 Contemporary Social Capital: Relationships Versus Awareness 20
Michael A. Stefanone and Jessica M. Covert
4 Don’t be Antisocial: The Politics of the “Anti-Social” in
“Social” Media 38
Elinor Carmi
5 Social Media, Alienation, and the Public Sphere 53
Christian Fuchs
6 Social Media Moderation: The Best-Kept Secret in Tech 77
Ysabel Gerrard
vi Contents
7 Make It Trend! Setting Right-Wing Media Agendas
Using Twitter Hashtags 96
Gabrielle Lim, Alexei Abrahams, and Joan Donovan
8 Mis/Disinformation and Social Media 120
Melissa Zimdars
9 Locating Social Media in Black Digital Studies 137
Francesca Sobande
10 An Overview of Social Media and Mental Health 152
Sarah M. Coyne, Emily Schvaneveldt, and Jane Shawcroft
11 Adolescent Social Media Use and Mental Health: A
Personal Social Media Use Framework 170
Drew P. Cingel, Michael C. Carter, and Lauren B. Taylor
12 There Is No Easy Answer: How the Interaction of
Content, Situation, and Person Shapes the Efects of
Social Media Use on Well-Being 187
Philipp K. Masur, Jolanda Veldhuis, and Nadia Bij de Vaate
13 “What Does God Need With a Starship?”: A Conversation
About Politics, Participation, and Social Media 203
Nico Carpentier and Henry Jenkins
14 Conclusion: Together We Ascend 220
Devan Rosen
Index 228
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
5.1 The media system as a part of the public sphere 55
5.2 Concept of the Club 2.0 70
7.1 Time series plots of #AOCLied (top) and
#AlexandriaOcasioSmollett (bottom) 102
7.2 Twitter retweet networks for #AlexandriaOcasioSmollett (left)
and #AOCLied (right) 103
7.3 Agenda seeding channels 106
7.4 Number of stories published mentioning #exposeCNN among
right-leaning outlets 112
7.5 Daily mentions of right-wing Twitter infuencers Jack Posobiec,
Andy Ngo, and James O’Keefe during our study period 114
Tables
5.1 Antagonisms in three types of alienation 58
5.2 Main actors in the alienated and the humanist society 59
5.3 Three types of digital alienation and ten forms of colonialisation
of the digital public sphere 61
5.4 Three antagonisms of digital alienation 61
5.5 Comparison of the economic power of the six largest internet
corporations and the world’s 30 poorest countries 62
5.6 Top ten most-viewed YouTube videos of all time 64
6.1 Overview and description of social media content moderation
user outcomes 87
viii Illustrations
7.1 Summary statistics for #AOCLied and #AlexandriaOcasioSmollett 103
7.2 Breakdown of hashtags coined and amplifed by the infuencers 108
7.3 Number of media stories mentioning each hashtag and their
overall share of total stories that week 109
12.1 Overview of infuences on well-being at a given time 189
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The editor would like to express a heartfelt thank you to all the authors for con-
tributing their time, talent, and voice to this volume. It is humbling to have the
opportunity to work with such a remarkable group of individuals. To each one
of you, thank you.