The Culture of Connectivity tells the full story of the rise of social media in the first decade of the twenty-first century up to the present, providing both a historical and a critical analysis of the emergence of major platforms in the context of a rapidly changing ecosystem of connective media. platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Wikipedia.

Table of Contents ; Acknowledgments ; Chapter 1: Engineering Sociality in a Culture of Connectivity ; 1.1 Introduction ; 1.2 From Networked Communication to Platformed Sociality ; 1.3 Making the Web Social: Coding Human Connections. ; 1.4 Making Sociality Saleable: Connectivity as a Resource ; 1.5 The Ecosystem of Connective Media in a Culture of Connectivity ; Chapter 2: Disassembling Platforms, Reassembling Sociality ; 2.1 Introduction ; 2.2 Combining Two Approaches ; 2.3 Platforms as Techno-cultural Constructs ; 2.4 Platforms as Socio-economic Structures ; 2.5 Connecting Platforms, Reassembling Sociality ; Chapter 3: Facebook and the Imperative of Sharing ; 3.1 Introduction ; 3.2 Coding Facebook: The Devil is in the Default ; 3.3 Branding Facebook: What You Share Is What You Get ; 3.4 Shared norms in the Ecosystem of Connective Media ; Chapter 4: Twitter and the Paradox of Following and Trending ; 4.1 Introduction ; 4.2 Asking the Existential Question: What is Twitter? ; 4.3 Asking the Strategic Question: What Does Twitter Want? ; 4.4 Asking the Ecological Question: What Will Twitter Be? ; Chapter 5: Flickr between Communities and Commerce ; 5.1 Introduction ; 5.2 Flickr Between Connedtedness and Connectivity ; 5.3 Flickr Between Commons and Commerce ; 5.4 Flickr Between Participatory and Connective Culture ; Chapter 6: YouTube: The Intimate Connection between Television and Video-sharing ; 6.1 Introduction 179-215 ; 6.2 Out of the Box: Video-sharing Challenges Television ; 6.3 Boxed In: Channeling Television into the Connective Flow ; 6.4 YouTube as A Gateway to Connective Culture ; Chapter 7: Wikipedia and the Principle of Neutrality ; 7.1 Introduction ; 7.2 The Techno-cultural Construction of Consensus ; 7.3 A Consensual Apparatus between Democracy and Bureaucracy ; 7.4 A Nonmarket Space in the Ecosystem? ; Chapter 8: The Ecosystem of Connective Media: Locked In, Fenced Off, Opt Out? ; 8.1 Introduction ; 8.2 Locked In: The Algorithmic Basis of Sociality ; 8.3 Fenced Off: Vertical Integration and Interoperability ; 8.4 Opt Out? Connectivity as Ideology ; Bibliography ; Index

"The strength of The Culture of Connectivity lies in the author's ability to take individual case studies of the new ICT platforms and not only analyze their meaning and impact on the individual areas of cyber-activity of netizens, but also conceptualize these assessments toward the next level." --Rafis Abazon and Zhanat Doskhozhina, Al Farabi Kazakh National University, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly "The Culture of Connectivity perhaps stands out most for the ways it attends to microhistorical changes that are often difficult to track given our increasing embeddedness in social media networks and their frequent multilevel updates." --Critical Inquiry "An invaluable guide to today's fast morphing social media ecosystem. Van Dijck cuts through the blur of online search, sociability, entertainment and commerce to reveal the underlying historical, cultural and economic dynamics that shape our expectations and underpin our vulnerabilities." --William Uricchio, Professor & Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies "Unlike so many other contributions, Jose van Dijck's superb book treats the 'social' in social media with the seriousness it deserves. It's critical, intelligent, clearly written and remarkably comprehensive. I'm going to force everyone I know who's interested in digital media to read it." --David Hesmondhalgh, University of Leeds "José van Dijck's The Culture of Connectivity provides us with a balanced and thought-provoking account of the role of social media in shaping human interaction and sociality. She offers a multi-layered model for thinking critically about social media. The particular strength of this work is that it illuminates many of the current debates concerning digital culture through a much-needed critical history that contextualises the rise of social media. This timely and important book is a must read for anyone interested in digital culture." --John Banks, Senior Lecturer, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology "José van Dijck's Culture of Connectivity is a rich and much-needed critical history of the online platforms that, in hardly more than a decade, have become household names, such as Facebook. Essential reading if we are to comprehend the intricately intertwined political-economic and technological designs behind the meteoric rise of so-called 'social media'." --Ien Ang, Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney "The coevolution of media with the public that uses them is described in an enlightening way...Recommended." --Choice "A lucid account...The Culture of Connectivity perhaps stands out most for the ways it attends to microhistorical changes that are often difficult to track given our increasing embeddedness in social media networks and their frequent multilevel updates." --Critical Inquiry

Selling point: The first critical history of social media Selling point: Offers a new look at well-known platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Flikr Selling point: Provides a comprehensive view of the larger social and cultural trends underpinning social media Selling point: Develops a new framework for understanding social media as a techno-cultural and socio-economic phenomenon

Selling point: The first critical history of social media Selling point: Offers a new look at well-known platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Flikr Selling point: Provides a comprehensive view of the larger social and cultural trends underpinning social media Selling point: Develops a new framework for understanding social media as a techno-cultural and socio-economic phenomenon