Social Media as Surveillance: Rethinking Visibility in a Converging World

Abstract

First paragraph: In recent years, based on the employment of various surveillance technologies, there has been an extension and intensification of privacy threats and surveillance risks in economic, political, and cultural contexts. The Internet and new media are among these technologies. The fact that one can find Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook (rank 2), YouTube (rank 3), LinkedIn (rank 8) and Twitter (rank 10) among the most frequently accessed websites worldwide indicates the enormous popularity of these sites (data source: Alexa Internet, 2013). It is therefore important to conduct theoretical and empirical studies of these research areas. In Social Media as Surveillance, Daniel Trottier (2013) makes an important contribution to this task. Along with Identity Problems in the Facebook Era (Routledge), it is Trottier’s second book within the field of new and digital media to be published in almost 1 year and shows how active and energetic this scholar is. It can be expected that he will provide many new and inspiring contributions to the academic community in the near future. The book looks at the rise of surveillance practices on social media, using Facebook as a case study. Drawing on in-depth interviews with different types of users, it underscores new practices, strategies, concerns and risks that are a direct consequence of living on social media. (p. 1) The author ‘concentrates on the process by which users manage their personal information on social media, while taking advantage of the information that others put up’ (p. 1). Trottier focuses his analysis on four different social groups, namely, individuals (such as students), institutions (such as universities), economic actor (such as marketers) and political actor (such as the police). The subsequent research questions are the subject of the book: How are sites like Facebook used by these four social groups to exchange personal information? What kind of dynamics exists between these four bodies? While the first question is treated in chapters 3 to 6 by analysing the social media usage of distinct actors in the context of surveillance, the second question is answered in the concluding chapter.