Predictive Technology in Social Media

Author: Cristina Fernández-Rovira and Santiago Giraldo-Luque

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Can the likes we give on Instagram and Facebook predict a purchase or foresee who will win the election? Yes, they can! Large digital platforms can target ads to hyper-segmented to influence audiences. It is the moment to think deeply about these technologies. As citizens, we must reflect on our digital future.

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Summary

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Can behaviour on social media predict future purchase patterns? Can what we click on social media foresee which political party will we vote for? Can the information we share on our wall foretell the next series I might want to watch? Can the likes on Instagram and Facebook predict the time one will spend on digital platforms in the next hour? The answer is no longer science fiction. It points to the ability of mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to be able to deliver specialised advertising services to highly targeted audience segments controlled by the billions of devices that flood our daily lives. At the same time, it highlights a more relevant problem: can social media guide, suggest or impose a certain behaviour or thought? Everything seems to indicate that they can do it.

Predictive Technology in Social Media comprises 10 essays that reflect on the power of the predictive technology of social media in culture, entertainment, marketing, economics and politics. It shows, from a humanistic and critical perspective, the predictive possibilities of social media platforms, as well as the risks this entails for cultural plurality, everyday consumption, the monopolistic concentration of the economy and attention, and democracy. The text is an invitation to think, as citizens, about the unbridled power we have ceded to digital platforms. A new voice to warn about the greatest concentration of communicative power ever seen in the history of humanity.

About the Author

Cristina Fernández-Rovira is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Communication at the Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya. She has studied in Spain and Canada and has done pre-doctoral research in Spain and France. She has also been a visiting professor in Egypt. Fernández-Rovira is a journalist and political scientist and holds a PhD in Sociology and Anthropology. Her main research interests are social media and the economy of attention.

Santiago Giraldo-Luque is Professor of Journalism at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He holds a PhD in Communication and Journalism and a master’s degree in Communication and Education from the UAB. He is a graduate of the Political Science programme at the National University of Colombia. His research is centred on the study of social media, the economy of attention, and the use of the internet to promote political participation and social mobilisation.