Book contents
- Rethinking Media Research for Changing Societies
- Communication, Society and Politics
- Rethinking Media Research for Changing Societies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Living in a Datafied World
- 2 The Corporate Reconfiguration of the Social World
- 3 Public Communication in a Promotional Culture
- Part II Journalism in Times of Change
- Part III Media and Problems of Inclusion
- Part IV Engagement with and through Media
- Part V The Role of Scholars
- Other Books in the Series (continued from page ii)
- References
3 - Public Communication in a Promotional Culture
from Part I - Living in a Datafied World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
Book contents
- Rethinking Media Research for Changing Societies
- Communication, Society and Politics
- Rethinking Media Research for Changing Societies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Living in a Datafied World
- 2 The Corporate Reconfiguration of the Social World
- 3 Public Communication in a Promotional Culture
- Part II Journalism in Times of Change
- Part III Media and Problems of Inclusion
- Part IV Engagement with and through Media
- Part V The Role of Scholars
- Other Books in the Series (continued from page ii)
- References
Summary
This chapter explores the ways that private media companies take users’ personal data as a proxy for public life, and discusses the consequences this development poses for public knowledge. In contrast to sweeping claims about the efficacy of data analytics, Melissa Aronczyk argues that the data these companies collect are often relevant only to specific behaviors carried out in a predetermined context. They reflect a system engineered to maximize attention and profit while adhering to security and privacy regulations. The resulting data set thus are highly specific to the conditions in which they are produced and cannot stand in for any more general public opinion. Aronczyk discusses the United Nations’ use of datasets donated by private companies to address their agenda for climate mitigation, and questions the reliability of that data for making inferences about human behavior. More broadly, she interrogates the wisdom of taking our cues from corporations by adopting the same assumption they make about what their data means.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Rethinking Media Research for Changing Societies , pp. 39 - 50Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Aakhus, Mark and Bzdak, Michael (2012). “Revisiting the Role of ‘Shared Value’ in the Business–Society Relationship.” Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 31(2), 231–246.Google Scholar
Abboud, Leila (2017, May 8). “A Bunch of Nerds Are Laying Siege to Madison Avenue.” Bloomberg. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-05-08/a-bunch-of-nerds-are-laying-siege-to-madison-avenueGoogle Scholar
Auletta, Ken (2018). Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (and Everything Else). New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Couldry, Nick (2015). “The Myth of ‘Us’: Digital Networks, Political Change, and the Production of Collectivity.” Information, Communication & Society, 18(6), 608–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, William (2015). The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-being. London: Verso Press.Google Scholar
Espeland, Wendy Nelson and Sauder, Michael (2007). “Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds.” American Journal of Sociology, 113(1), 1–40.Google Scholar
Facebook Business (2018, August 15). “About Lookalike Audiences.” April 19, 2019. www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531Google Scholar
Healy, Kieran (2015). “The Performativity of Networks.” European Journal of Sociology, 56(2), 175–205.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, Robert (2013). “A New Type of Philanthropy: Donating Data.” Harvard Business Review, March 21. https://hbr.org/2013/03/a-new-type-of-philanthropy-donGoogle Scholar
Kirkpatrick, Robert (2011). “Data Philanthropy Is Good for Business.” Forbes, September 20.www.forbes.com/sites/oreillymedia/2011/09/20/data-philanthropy-is-good-for-business/#66793d1d5f70Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno (2004). “Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern.” Critical Inquiry, 30(Winter), 225–248.Google Scholar
Lorenz, Taylor (2018, August 22). “Posting Instagram Sponsored Content is the New Summer Job.” The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/posting-instagram-sponsored-content-is-the-new-summer-job/568108/Google Scholar
Manjoo, Farhad (2018, January 31). “Tackling the Internet’s Central Villain: The Advertising Business.” The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/technology/internet-advertising-business.htmlGoogle Scholar
Morais, Richard (2018, September 9). “Big Deal: How Brian Whipple Transformed Accenture Interactive into a Marketing Leader for the Digital Age.” AdWeek, 59(23), 14–17.Google Scholar
Ong, Jonathan Corpus and Cabañes, Jason Vincent A. (2018). “Architects of Networked Disinformation: Behind the Scenes of Troll Accounts and Fake News Production in the Philippines.” The Newton Tech4Dev Network, February 5. http://newtontechfordev.com/newton-tech4dev-research-identifies-ad-pr-executives-chief-architects-fake-news-production-social-media-trolling/Google Scholar
Petre, Caitlin (2015, May 7). The Traffic Factories: Metrics at Chartbeat, Gawker Media, and the New York Times. New York: Tow Center for Digital Journalism. www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/the_traffic_factories_metrics_at_chartbeat_gawker_media_and_the_new_york_times.phpGoogle Scholar
Pickard, Victor (2015). America’s Battle for Media Democracy: The Triumph of Corporate Libertarianism and the Future of Media Reform. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Porter, Michael E. and Kramer, Mark R. (2011). “Creating Shared Value.” Harvard Business Review. January–February, 62–77. https://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-valueGoogle Scholar
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC (2019). General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), February 4. www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/cybersecurity/general-data-protection-regulation.htmlGoogle Scholar
Salganik, Matthew J. (2018). Bit by Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Tufekci, Zeynep (2018, March 19). “Facebook’s Surveillance Machine.” The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/opinion/facebook-cambridge-analytica.htmlGoogle Scholar
Ugander, Johan, Karrer, Brian, Backstrom, Lars, et al. (2011, November). “The Anatomy of the Facebook Social Graph.” https://arxiv.org/abs/1111.4503Google Scholar
Wacksman, Barry and Stutzman, Chris (2014). Connected by Design. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Williams, Raymond (1980). Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory. Problems in Materialism and Culture. London: Verso Press.Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by