Towards a theoretical model of social media surveillance in contemporary society

Christian Fuchs; Daniel Trottier

doi:10.1515/commun-2014-0029

Article

Towards a theoretical model of social media surveillance in contemporary society

Christian Fuchs and Daniel Trottier

Published/Copyright: March 2, 2015

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From the journal Communications Volume 40 Issue 1

Abstract

‘Social media’ like Facebook or Twitter have become tremendously popular in recent years. Their popularity provides new opportunities for data collection by state and private companies, which requires a critical and theoretical focus on social media surveillance. The task of this paper is to outline a theoretical framework for defining social media surveillance in the context of contemporary society, identifying its principal characteristics, and understanding its broader societal implications. Social media surveillance is a form of surveillance in which different forms of sociality and individuals different social roles converge, so that surveillance becomes a monitoring of different activities in different social roles with the help of profiles that hold a complex networked multitude of data about humans.

Keywords: surveillance; internet; social media; society; social theory; sociological theory; communication theory

Published Online: 2015-3-2

Published in Print: 2015-3-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2014-0029

Keywords for this article

surveillance; internet; social media; society; social theory; sociological theory; communication theory