Networked intimacy

Algorithmic friendship and scalable sociality

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11487378
AutoresDeborah Chambers (0000-0002-5646-3085, Newcastle University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Volumen32
Número1
Páginas26-36
Fecha de publicación2017-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEuropean Journal of Communication (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0267-3231 • E-ISSN: 1460-3705
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0267323116682792
OpenAlexW2738049902
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas32
Referencias citadas39

This article asks whether a crisis of intimacy exists in the digital era to provoke an enquiry into the extent to which social media are transforming or transformed by personal relationships. I address the nature of late modern intimacy through the lens of ‘friendship’ and consider why Facebook embraces this affiliation. I then ask whether contemporary forms of public intimacy pre-date or are configured by social media. Software-centred approaches including algorithmically engineered friendship are considered to cast light on public intimacy, privacy and trust. The implications of cross-cultural ethnographic research by Miller et al. are then considered to highlight user agency. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp have the potential to liberate certain users by controlling group size and degree of privacy, as ‘scalable sociality’ in a polymedia environment. I conclude by arguing for a synthesis of political economic perspectives and cross-cultural studies to emphasise user agency in future research

Agency (philosophy · Ethnography · Friendship · Internet privacy · Lens (geology · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Social media · Social science · Sociality · Sociology · Through-the-lens metering · Computer Science · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Law · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology