Meaning in the Age of Social Media

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Ganaele Langlois

   Pages 1-21

3. Governing Meaning

   • Ganaele Langlois

   Pages 23-49

4. Meaning Machines

   • Ganaele Langlois

   Pages 51-84

5. Meaningfulness and Subjectivation

   • Ganaele Langlois

   Pages 85-109

6. Social Networking and the Production of the Self

   • Ganaele Langlois

   Pages 111-139

7. Being in the World

   • Ganaele Langlois

   Pages 141-167

8. Afterword

   • Ganaele Langlois

   Pages 169-173

9. Back Matter

   Pages 175-201

   PDF

The search for meaning is an essential human activity. It is not just about agreeing on some definitions about the world, objects, and people; it is an ethical process of opening up to find new possibilities. Langlois uses case studies of social media platforms (including Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon) to revisit traditional conceptions of meaning.

• Amazon
• Facebook
• media
• politics
• social media
• Social Net
• social network
• Tradition
• Twitter

“The book is extremely readable, neatly introducing complex ideas, and then building on them in an effective way. Due to the nature of the book, its lucidity, and its efficient summary, this work will be extremely useful for any foray into reading post-autonomist, post-Fordist accounts of media and communication. It makes use of many case studies, and thus will provide teachable material for undergraduate courses as well.” (Robbie Fordyce, Communication Research and Practice, Vol. 2 (2), 2016)

"One could think of this book as social media criticism 2.0. Langlois . . . applies a broad array of semiotic, psychoanalytic, and political theory to social media and other modern communications technologies, which she calls 'semiotechnologies - machines that make meaning . . . By examining how platforms such as Google and Facebook rank search results and curate user posts, Langlois contests oversimplified accounts of social media, taken as a whole, as a tool that simply liberates and empowers users. She provides a nuanced account of how meaning is generated on social media as individual users interact with corporate forprofit technologies designed to 'financialize and commodify psychic life'. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper division undergraduates through faculty? general readers." - CHOICE

"Whatever you thought, meanings are not restricted to humans but are part of the business of technological platforms and corporations. Ganaele Langlois' excellent analysis tells the story of materiality of meaning in software culture. Its scholarly, rich analysis of the semiotechnological life has far reaching implications and will be a key text in social studies of software." - Jussi Parikka, Reader, Media and Design, University of Southampton, UK

Ganaele Langlois is Assistant Professor in the Communications Program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada.

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