Smileys Without Borders. A Critique of Transboundary Interaction Between Politicians, Journalists and PR Practitioners on Social Media

Bibliographic Data

ID21187526
AuthorsPeter Berglez (0000-0002-3607-7881, Jönköping University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume16
Issue1
Pages18-34
Publication date2018-01-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuetripleC Communication Capitalism & Critique Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1726-670X • E-ISSN: 1726-670X
PublisherInformation Society Research (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.31269/triplec.v16i1.919
OpenAlexW2782817689
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited30

The purpose of the article is to contribute a critical theoretical understanding of cross-professional relations on social media, focusing on politicians, journalists and PR practitioners. It is well known that these professional groups establish personal and close relations in offline contexts, but more attention needs to be paid to the role of social media. Here, it is argued that, in the context of digital media use, semi-private chatting, humour, and mutual acknowledgement, including the use of likes, smileys, heart symbols, etc. are evidence of a 'neoliberalization' of cross-professional relations. The underlying idea is that the common practice of self-branding undermines representations of professional belonging and exacerbates the blurring of professional boundaries. The critical conceptualization of such 'transboundary' interaction between politicians, journalists and PR practitioners, which is guided by a cultural materialist approach, includes the presentation of examples deriving from the Swedish Twittersphere, and suggestions for empirical research

Acknowledgement · Conceptualization · Epistemology · Materialism · Media studies · Political science · Public relations · Social media · Sociology · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Social Media and Politics