A Study of Context Collapse across Different Social Media Platforms
Research Question
- Is the social media “context collapse” really happening in an age of technological innovations?
From the predominant research question above, some sub-questions emerged. They include;
- Does the context really collapse during social media interactions?
- What is the in-depth meaning of context collapse on social media platforms?
- Is context collapse a double-edged sword in an eon of technological advancements? Is context collapse potentially beneficial or just but another problem of social interactions?
- What is the theoretical framework surrounding this phenomenon of context collapse? How does mainstream literature explain the conditions that generate the aspect? Does it distinguish between context collusions and collisions?
- Is there any impact of the context collapse notion on the privacy of users of Social Network Sites (SNSs)? How do aspects of network composition, privacy, and disclosures interact on the said sites?
- Should users be concerned about the protection of their right to privacy as regards context collapse on social media platforms?
- Is there a connection between social media context collapse, self-presentation strategies of users, and their language styles? Has context collapse changed the context (what) and language (how) of users’ disclosure over time?
- Where and how does the theory of time collapse fit into all this? Is it an extension of context collapse on social media?
- Is it proper to say that the concept of context collapse is just but a consequence/creation of Western Anglophone practices of social media usage? Is it fair or objective to blame Social Network Sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat for the rising context collapse, yet not every social media user has been affected by the same?
Research Objectives
This study aims to get a deep understanding of the concept of context collapse on social media platforms, its pros and cons, and the theories and issues arising from it. The study also aims to gain an understanding of what the modern world has done to mitigate the same.
Specific Objectives
- To gain an in-depth understanding of what context collapse on social media platform entails definitions, the types, pros and cons, and other theories and notions connected to this concept.
- To explore mainstream literature and theoretical frameworks that expound on the idea of context collapse in the modern world.
- To find criticisms, existing gaps, and literature that punches holes in the existing studies of social media context collapse.
- To identify suitable Social Network Sites (SNSs) that will shed more light on context collapse.
- To explore the impact of context collapse on privacy as regards platforms that require users to divulge their personal information to multiple users.
- To develop solutions and recommendations that will mitigate the impacts of context collapse.
- To scrutinize the significance of this study in the academic and professional field for future Social Network Sites developers.
Annotated Bibliography
Brandtzaeg, P. B., & Lüders, M. (2018). Time collapse in social media: Extending the context collapse. Social Media+ Society, 4(1), 2056305118763349.
This study attempts to extend and expand the perception of context collapse in terms of time. Collapsing of context across social media platforms has, for the longest time being addressed in spatial terms, an approach which Brandtzaeg & Lüders (2018) find to be quite narrow. Time collapse explains how social media context can jumble the past and present times, thereby affecting how and what users disclose on those platforms. The study uses theories and empirical studies to explain the collapse of context on social media in temporal terms. By analyzing two practical case studies, and mainly focusing on Facebook and the youth, the article has successfully portrayed the predominant consequence of time on self-performance on social platforms.
Costa, E. (2018). Affordances-in-practice: An ethnographic critique of social media logic and context collapse. new media & society, 20(10), 3641-3656
Using ethnographic fieldwork in Mardin, Turkey, this study criticizes the notion of context collapse vis-à-vis social media logic. The people of Mardin are a rare lot as regards context collapse because they remain unaffected and are shocked that there is a notion of a unified social media account. Costa (2018) concludes that it is unfair to blame context collapse on social media platforms, and it is more of a Western Anglophone concept.
Davis, J. L., & Jurgenson, N. (2014). Context collapse: Theorizing context collusions and collisions. Information, communication & society, 17(4), 476-485.
Davis & Jurgenson (2014) study the conditions that further context collapse. Context collapse in this article is seen as the meshing of online social contexts. In this literature, the two authors distinguish between two types of context collapse; context collusion and context collision. Context collusion is defined as the intentional collapse of social media context while the latter is considered unintentional. The study also explores the pros and cons of context collapse. One of the benefits is the increased participation of citizens in political conversations that are central to steering a country’s development. This is possible because of the blurred boundaries of context collapse. Davis & Jurgenson (2014) also explore the different ways in which technology and user practices merge to mitigate the impact of context collapse.
Gil-Lopez, T., Shen, C., Benefield, G. A., Palomares, N. A., Kosinski, M., & Stillwell, D. (2018). One Size fits all: context collapse, self-presentation strategies, and language styles on Facebook. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 23(3), 127-145.
Using the behavioral data of 6,378 Facebook users, this study discovered that the size and assorted users’ networks were a positive result of the number of text updates they received. The negative impact was the variations of the language inconsistency of the same updates in 1 year. Gil-Lopez et al. (2018) expound on the influence of a meshed audience on a conjoined platform i.e., Facebook. The authors state that the effect is on the content and language of what users disclose. Context collapse has affected how and what characteristics of people’s disclosures on social media.
Szabla, M., & Blommaert, J. (2018). Does context really collapse in social media interaction? Applied Linguistics Review.
In this study, the authors attempt to explore the limits of context collapse. Using data from a complex Facebook discussion among Polish people residing in the Netherlands, Szabla et al. (2018) show that users are capable of using interacting naturally without any significant issues of contextualization. The context seems to be expanding instead of collapsing.
Vitak, J. (2012). The impact of context collapse and privacy on social network site disclosures. Journal of broadcasting & electronic media, 56(4), 451-470.
Vitak (2012) explores and raises questions on the relationship between context collapse, privacy, and disclosures. Using Facebook as her choice of SNS, Vitak (2012) dissects the connection between the unification of multiple users on one platform and self-representation and information disclosure.
Wexler, M., Yu, Y., & Bridson, S. (2018). Putting Context Collapse in Context. Journal of Ideology, 40(1), 3.
This article attempts to explain the notion of context collapse by putting its different contexts and stakeholders such as users themselves, economists, data analysts, investors, the owners, and social platform regulators, amongst others. Wexler et al. (2018) expound on the fact that context collapse is not in the hands of a social media user. Instead it is dependent on the relationship of the multiple stakeholders of the social media platforms such as the owners, users, sponsors, etc. The study unpacks three binaries that explain and dissect the rise of the concept of context collapse. These include leap/lag, collusion/collision, and publicity/ privacy.
Preliminary Bibliography
Brandtzaeg, P. B., & Lüders, M. (2018). Time collapse in social media: Extending the context collapse. Social Media+ Society, 4(1), 2056305118763349.
Costa, E. (2018). Affordances-in-practice: An ethnographic critique of social media logic and context collapse. new media & society, 20(10), 3641-3656
Davis, J. L., & Jurgenson, N. (2014). Context collapse: Theorizing context collusions and collisions. Information, communication & society, 17(4), 476-485.
Gil-Lopez, T., Shen, C., Benefield, G. A., Palomares, N. A., Kosinski, M., & Stillwell, D. (2018). One Size fits all: context collapse, self-presentation strategies, and language styles on Facebook. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 23(3), 127-145.
Szabla, M., & Blommaert, J. (2018). Does context really collapse in social media interaction? Applied Linguistics Review.
Vitak, J. (2012). The impact of context collapse and privacy on social network site disclosures. Journal of broadcasting & electronic media, 56(4), 451-470.
Wexler, M., Yu, Y., & Bridson, S. (2018). Putting Context Collapse in Context. Journal of Ideology, 40(1), 3.