Article title: Facebook use as a communicative relation: exploring the relation between Facebook users and the algorithmic news feed
Authors: Sander Andreas Schwartz and Martina Skrubbeltrang Mahnke
Journal: Information, Communication & Society
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1718179
When the article was published online, the Abstract is cited with full reference details. Now, the citation and reference details are removed from the Abstract and the revised abstract is given as below,
This study examines how young Danish adults between 18 and 26 engage in a communicative relation with Facebook’s news feed as algorithmic technology and to what extend they are aware of this relation. The empirical analysis is based on theoretical concepts related to media use and everyday life as well as a recent development within the field of Human-Machine Communication. Drawing on 20 in-depth interviews, the qualitative thematic analysis was organized in relation to the following themes: (1) critical reflection; (2) everyday use; and (3) communicative agency. We find that young Danish users lack critical awareness of how their own everyday media use is communicating with the Facebook algorithm. We argue that the concept of ‘use’ needs to be re-examined on a theoretical as well as a practical level in relation to algorithmic media use. We finally propose that future research should approach social media use from the perspective of communicative relations between everyday media use and algorithmic personalization.
The online version has been corrected.