Dismantling Cultural Borders Through Social Media and Digital Communications: How Networked Communities Compromise Identity, a refreshing contribution of the world’s masterpiece, wisely abandons the traditional warning about social media tribalism and hugs the undervalued optimistic attitude towards social media capacity, namely, social media can create a novel network community and arouse the enthusiasm of the public. It examines the way in which social media and the correspondent online communities disrupt, create and shape identity. Social media has always played a role, sometimes a dangerous one, in bringing disparate communities together. The volume, with 13 chapters by distinguished scholars in the field, addresses how belonging and loyalty are built in the digital realm, which to a certain extent transcends, and even dissolves ethnic and national boundaries all over the world.
The book is composed of six parts. Part one (chapters 1, 2, and 3) deals with the definitions of ethnicity from the sociological perspective and the decontamination and reframing of public persons, and how it influences the celebrity economy in China. It also discusses the challenges confronted by the marginalised communities in less developed countries and thus how to bridge the gap in the whole society. It examines how the role of certain ethnic groups is more or less damaged by the media and verified through people’s stereotyped impressions of ethnic cultural groups. As a result, the authors highlight the fact that media and information contribute to cultural xenophobia and thereby maintain our view of these ethnic cultural groups.
Part two (chapters 4 and 5) analyses in what ways TV reports and online social media communities served to mythologise and dehomologise messages related to COVID-19. The national discourse and the policies of its immigrants are believed to have been relayed to the city life through the press and the local activities are thought to have enhanced the negative portrayal of racialized immigrants perceived as “undesirable” within the framework of the media.
Part three (chapters 6 and 7), drawing on the case study of Afghanistan, researches whether mass media have removed cultural sensitives and leading social standards, i.e., taboos. In recognition that social media is being utilised to communicate and express its concerns and question the state of affairs, there is discussion in this part of the extent to which this forum is being employed and the survey that was disseminated to Afghan women online bloggers to disrupt the status quo. It further asserts that Nigerian media finds that due to ethnic relations, ownership impact, as well as political and religious beliefs, they try to distinguish between real concerns about the shortcomings of the implementation of national policies and selfish national agendas.
Part four (chapters 8 and 9) examines the ethnic variety and human capital development in Nigeria in the Internet age as well as the complicated reasons and outcomes of the false reports of the African coronavirus pandemic. With qualitative study techniques, involving scrutiny of second-hand data, analysis of press coverage, critical informant interviews, and participant observation, it presents the notion that Africa’s coronavirus information crisis is supposed to be understood in the context of an existing world “disinformation order” featured by the twisty flow of information, false news, the appearance of a unified team of experts, and the disorder of social media. Other reasons for the information crisis are the confusion of opinion leaders and influencers and data abuse.
Part five (chapters 10 and 11), based on the interviews performed with four university-age Vietnamese concerning their experience of meme sharing and the motivations behind these behaviours and thematic content analysis of this material, explores the cause for the employment of image-macro memes in the internal community exchange and the way that Vietnamese youth build their identity via adopting memes onsite panel chat. The trends of building cosmopolitanism in such cities as London and São Paulo and people’s lives in diverse migrants’ communities are probed into to figure out how migrant groups from these urban areas are making use of social media “Facebook” to foster regional networks to support their work.
Part six (chapters 12, 13, and 14) presents serval examples to show how corporates in the USA consolidate the foundation in China in the means of brand construction among young people through combining business and cultural methods, which are composed of using flexible marketing policies, digital award projects, and popular cultural attractions like influencer power and sales promotion embodying genuine, unique experiences. It provides insight into the status of Native people through various web-based interchanges regarding national relations that have strengthened feelings of affiliation with the Native American community, who were previously recognised as the original inhabitants of the New World, long before the advent of the white man. In the end, it attempts to shed some light on indigenous peoples in an evolving environment with a careful investigation of the All About Cherokees and Native Americans Facebook public panel.
Nevertheless, the study would have been more instructive and comprehensive if it had made a comparison of the social media experiences between countries in the east and west, which will help us get a holistic view of the relevant area.
Equipped with a wide range of case studies and interpretations of social media experiences in such countries as Central and South America, China, and Africa, the book provides the theoretical basis and new study findings in this relevant field. There is no denying that the book will make a significant contribution to the growing literature in cross-global media streaming and culture studies.