The Culture Of Connectivity ( Dijck )

The Culture of Connectivity (Dijck, 2013) explored the changing face of social media as it evolved with the advent of Web 2.0. We now have large corporations accomplishing more than just facilitating connection, they have created global information and data mining companies that extract and exploit user connectivity. The development of this connectivity by preeminent social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter has influenced, transformed and constrained the potential for connection via social media. There have been fundamental changes in social media and this connectivity is not without controversy.

The difference between connection and connectivity

The desire for connection with others has resulted in many online users embracing social media. Web 2.0 allowed for this development. Initially, social media connoted the Web’s power to “nurture connections, build communities, and advance democracy” (4). These platforms initially encouraged making the Web “more social” by connecting users to one another. This was a participatory culture, where connections involved users only distributing personal information to each other. There was limited awareness of how data was distributed to third parties by the fledgling social media platforms.

As social media platforms grew rapidly at the turn of this millennium, existing and new companies took over the platforms as profit making ventures. These companies were often less interested in the communities of users than in their personal data, which was a byproduct of making these connections and remaining connected. Connectivity evolved into the vital financial resource, as information from this gathered data was coded into algorithms. This became “platformed” sociality with aut...

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...rray of Twitter accounts and anonymous websites. Twitter finally began cracking down on violent extremist networks in 2014, as a result of considerable public pressure and has suspended tens of thousands of ISIS-supported Twitter accounts. This has again in some sense constrained Twitter’s potential for connection because ISIS and trollers have hijacked social media.

Conclusions

The Culture of Connectivity explored the history of social media as it evolved from Web 2.0. It’s been fascinating to see how Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms have influenced and transformed the online user’s potential for connection. It’s also noteworthy that in the case of Facebook and Twitter that both platforms also constrained this potential for connection as they evolved to global information and data mining companies that extract and exploit user connectivity.