The role of the social media user
Affordances and social responsibility
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17835283 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jessica Roberts (0000-0001-7884-5714, corresponding author), Jessica Kate Roberts (0000-0002-8465-2289, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Communication and Democracy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2767-1127 • E-ISSN: 2767-1135 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/27671127.2026.2659619 |
| OpenAlex | W7154830075 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 40 |
At a critical moment in history, the Hutchins Commission (1947) was convened to assess the role of the free press in a democratic society, articulating the social responsibility theory of the press. Nearly 80 years later, social media have become a part of everyday life for people around the world. More people than ever can now create, disseminate, analyze, and filter information to reach a broad public, with huge consequences for public information, but little attention to the role users play in shaping information on social media and the responsibility that comes with it. This study examines what the affordances of social media platforms, such as “frictionless” design and endless scroll, communicate to users about their roles and responsibilities, focusing on two of the most popular platforms, Instagram and Facebook. Role theory is used as a framework to understand how users might interpret their roles and responsibilities, as communicated by the platforms’ affordances. The social responsibility theory of the press is applied to understand how we might reconsider the responsibilities of social media users in democratic societies, focusing on the role users play in shaping the information others see and how they might be made more aware of that role
Affordance · Social media · Social relation · Social responsibility · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Social Media and Politics
Four Theories of the Press
Social Media, Political Polarization, and Political Disinformation
We the media
The Affordances of Social Media Platforms
From Editors to Algorithms
The Black Box Society
Examining Platforms’ Affordances
A Decade of Research on Social Media and Journalism
Dark Participation
Sleepyteens
Defining affordances in social media research
Can’t stop scrolling
Trends in the diffusion of misinformation on social media
Governing Internet Expression
Censored, suspended, shadowbanned
The walkthrough method
Moderator engagement and community development in the age of algorithms
Social Media and Social Mobilisation in the Middle East
Platform governance at the margins
Modeling Role Enactment
Professional Roles in News Content
Taking our Pictures
This is citizen journalism at its finest
The objectivity norm in American journalism
The biggest lie on the Internet
What is journalism
Guidelines Without Lines, Communities Without Borders
Scaling Social Movements Through Social Media
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |