Social Media Logic: The Amplification of Media Effects

Social media logic is just ‘media logic’ — amplified.

In this blog post, social media logic refers to the media effects that social media plat­forms have on com­mu­nic­a­tion and con­tent dissemination. 

Apart from a heightened level of com­plex­ity, social media logic is sur­pris­ingly sim­il­ar to clas­sic media logic. From a the­or­et­ic­al per­spect­ive, they’re both forms of media.

However, social net­works seem to amp­li­fy the effects of clas­sic media logic.

Here we go:

Enter: Social Media Logic

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Social Media Logic

Media logic is a set of the­or­ies describ­ing how the medi­um affects the media. Typically, the format (as the medi­um dic­tates) influ­ences the medi­ated message.

“Media logic is defined as a form of com­mu­nic­a­tion, and the pro­cess through which media trans­mit and com­mu­nic­ate inform­a­tion. The logic and guidelines become taken for gran­ted, often insti­tu­tion­al­ized, and inform social inter­ac­tion. A basic prin­ciple is that media, inform­a­tion tech­no­lo­gies, and com­mu­nic­a­tion formats can affect events and social activ­it­ies.“
Source: The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication ¹Altheide, D. L. (2016). Media Logic. The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication, 1 – 6. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​0​2​/​9​7​8​1​1​1​8​5​4​1​5​5​5​.​w​b​i​e​p​c​088

As fam­ously stip­u­lated by Marshall McLuhan, “The medi­um is the mes­sage.” What are the typ­ic­al media logic effects on medi­ated messages?

Classic Media Logic Effects

Media logic is hypo­thes­ised to influ­ence the news media in the fol­low­ing ways: ²Nord, L., & Strömbäck, J. (2002, January). Tio dagar som skakade världen. En stud­ie av medi­ernas beskrivningar av ter­ror­at­tack­erna mot USA och kri­get i Afghanistan hösten 2001. … Continue read­ing

• Aggravation. As a res­ult of media logic, the news media will exag­ger­ate events, con­cepts, and ideas to make them seem more ser­i­ous and/​or dan­ger­ous than they are.
• Simplification. As a res­ult of media logic, the news media will dumb down events, con­cepts, and ideas to make them seem more under­stand­able than they are.
• Polarisation. Because of media logic, the news media por­trays events, con­cepts, and ideas as more conflicting/​provocative than they are.
• Intensification. As a res­ult of media logic, the news media will sen­sa­tion­al­ise events, con­cepts, and ideas to make them more inter­est­ing than they are.
• Concreteness. Because of media logic, news media will report events, con­cepts, and ideas more straight­for­wardly than they are.
• Personalisation. As a res­ult of media logic, the news media will over-emphas­ise the role of named indi­vidu­als in con­junc­tion with events, con­cepts, and ideas.
• Stereotypisation. Because of media logic, the news media frames events, con­cepts, and ideas as more aligned with con­ven­tion­al perceptions/​opinions than they are.

The effects of the above media logic can also be recog­nised in social media. Still, social net­work algorithms seem to add even more effects:

Social Media Logic Effects

“Social media logic, rooted in pro­gram­mab­il­ity, pop­ular­ity, con­nectiv­ity, and datafic­a­tion, is increas­ingly entangled with mass media logic, impact­ing vari­ous areas of pub­lic life.”
Source: Writing Technologies eJournal ³Dijck, J., & Poell, T. (2013). Understanding Social Media Logic. Writing Technologies eJournal. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​7​6​4​5​/​M​A​C​.​V​1​I​1​.70

Based on the sug­ges­ted addi­tions for social plat­forms, we can add four extra dimen­sions to the clas­sic media logic effects model:

• Programmability. Social media logic enables and encour­ages users to cre­ate and manip­u­late con­tent, lead­ing to a tailored por­tray­al of events, con­cepts, and ideas that might not fully rep­res­ent reality.
• Popularity. Driven by social media logic, con­tent that gains ini­tial pop­ular­ity can dis­pro­por­tion­ately influ­ence pub­lic per­cep­tion, regard­less of accur­acy or completeness.
• Connectivity. Social medi­a’s inter­con­nec­ted nature, rein­forced by social media logic, facil­it­ates the rap­id spread of inform­a­tion, often without suf­fi­cient veri­fic­a­tion, lead­ing to a dis­tor­ted under­stand­ing of events and ideas.
• Datafication. The social media logic of con­vert­ing inter­ac­tions into data points emphas­ises quan­ti­fi­able aspects of events, con­cepts, and ideas, poten­tially over­look­ing their qual­it­at­ive nuances.

Social media logic seems entangled with clas­sic media logic. While more com­plex, social net­works seem to amp­li­fy the effects of clas­sic media logic.

Learn more: Social Media Logic: The Amplification of Media Effects

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More Participation, More Interaction

Unlike tra­di­tion­al media logic, social media logic is more par­ti­cip­at­ory and inter­act­ive, where users are not only con­sumers of con­tent but also act­ive cre­at­ors and sharers. 

This demo­crat­isa­tion of con­tent cre­ation leads to diverse voices and per­spect­ives. Still, it also poses chal­lenges, such as the rap­id spread of mis­in­form­a­tion and the form­a­tion of echo cham­bers. ⁴Silfwer, J. (2022, September 6). Social Media — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​s​o​c​i​a​l​-​m​e​d​ia/

Social media logic is driv­en by algorithms pri­or­it­ising engage­ment (likes, shares, com­ments), often favour­ing sen­sa­tion­al or emo­tion­ally charged con­tent. This can lead to the amp­li­fic­a­tion of extreme view­points and polar­ising con­tent. ⁵Silfwer, J. (2021, May 15). Social Media Algorithms and How They Rule Our Lives. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​s​o​c​i​a​l​-​m​e​d​i​a​-​a​l​g​o​r​i​t​h​ms/

Additionally, social media plat­forms facil­it­ate real-time com­mu­nic­a­tion and net­work­ing, mak­ing them power­ful tools for social mobil­isa­tion and com­munity build­ing. However, this inter­con­nectiv­ity can lead to the rap­id escal­a­tion of con­flicts and the spread of ‘fake news.’

In essence, social media plat­forms sig­ni­fic­antly shape pub­lic opin­ion, often emphas­ising pop­ular­ity and engage­ment over accur­acy and depth. They are rede­fin­ing how inform­a­tion is con­sumed, shared, and under­stood in the digit­al age.

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• Media Logic is Dead, Long Live Media Logic
• The Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication
• Social Media Logic: The Amplification of Media Effects
• Confirmation Bias in Media: The Echo Chamber Challenge
• Echo Chambers: Algorithmic Confirmation Bias
• The Hostile Media Effect: How We Demonise the News Media
• The Spiral of Silence
• Conversion Theory: The Disproportionate Influence of Minorities
• Information Asymmetry: The Informed Minority Advantage
• The Bandwagon Effect: Momentum Is Everything
• The Media Polarisation Model

Learn more: All Free PR Courses

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