Profiles, Identities, Data: Mediatization of the Self in Platform Society

• In Event: Big Data and Algorithms: Theory and Critique

Abstract

In this article, I discuss the construction of identity on SNSs focusing particularly on the ubiquitous practice of profile making. Pointing to the fact that SNSs are becoming increasingly popular, powerful and pervasive, and that the majority of them structure the entire interaction of their users on, between and through profiles, I assert that SNSs have already accumulated enormous power over everyday practices of identity. Marrying research on identity in digital culture to mediatization theories, I ask about values, norms and expectations built into SNS profiles, the key motivations behind them as well as their potential long-term consequences for identity practices. I conclude that SNSs translate the basic premises of datafication logic – to gather big data and pinpoint them to particular units – into the design and governance of profiles, consisting of an update stream and a profile core, which in turn provokes the creation of abundant and anchored selves.

Author

• Lukasz Szulc, The University of Sheffield