Just What Is Social in Social Media? An Actor-Network Critique

of Twitter Agency and Assumptions

Jeffrey M. KeeferNew York University & Pace University

Social Media & Society 2015 International ConferenceJuly 27-29, 2015

Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson UniversityToronto, Ontario, Canada

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

Social media includes applications . . .

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

but the focus is commonly on the presentation or actions of users . . .

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. . . networks created on the platforms . . .

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. . . and what we do to promote our

WIIFMs (What’s In It For

Me).

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

It is less studied from the perspective of the networks, especially

the influence and role of the nonhuman

elements.

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

Through this inverted perspective much may be

learned, especially involving assumptions

about agency(Latour, 2013).

It is this social aspect of social media where actor-network theory can be usefully

employed, as the agency of things may frequently be overlooked (Adams &

Thompson, 2011).

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

In ANT, fixed realities do not exist: multiple actants (human and

nonhuman) constantly interact in layers of connections.

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

Resistance and negotiation lead to messy networks. Even when things “resolve,” it only happens while the

actants maintain their stabilized relationships.

Nothing is permanent, even though we frequently see various enactments of repeated processes as stable . . . . . . and as a result “black box” them and assume they will always work in that way.

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What assumptions do we black box with social media research and practice?

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This theoretical study explores a seven-part framework (Kietzmann, Hermkens,

McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011) of social media—identity, conversations, sharing, presence,

relationships, reputation, and groups—through the lens of actor-network theory

(ANT).

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The honeycomb of social media

User experience

Implications for organizations

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Actor-network theory focuses on continuously generated networks, webs of relations, where power can reside within any actor—any person, place, or thing—

that continuously participates in the connections

(Callon, 1986; Latour, 2007; Law, 2008).

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

Let’s partner with the elements in social media to better understand the “impacts of

digital engagements on processes of knowledge-making and interacting” (Fenwick, 2014, p. 2) and seek to answer the question:

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Just what is social in

social media?

Twitter, with its seeming simplicity, will be the focus of this 7-part actor-network inquiry—specifically the

#SMSociety15 tag.

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

Twitter: #SMSociety15

ApplicationsUsersNetworksWIIFMs

IdentityConversationsSharingPresenceRelationshipsReputationGroups

#SMSociety15

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

Next Steps:1. Social Media studies often

include the elements, but not the complex effects, of non-human actor agency.

2. Tags used vs. Tags as users? 3. How can we reconceive social

when non-human actors exert agency?

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15

Just What Is Social in Social Media? An Actor-Network Critique

of Twitter Agency and Assumptions

Jeffrey M. KeeferNew York University & Pace University

Social Media & Society 2015 International ConferenceJuly 27-29, 2015

Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson UniversityToronto, Ontario, Canada

@JeffreyKeefer #SMSociety15