Abstract
In Social Media: The Convergence of Public and Personal Communication, Graham Meikle examines how social media platforms have redefined the boundaries between public and personal communication, shaping contemporary digital life in ways that are both participatory, and deeply exploitative. As a scholar of communication and digital media, Meikle has long been attuned to the contradictions of networked digital spaces, particularly the tension between user agency and corporate control. In this second edition, he updates his argument to reflect major shifts in the platform economy, including the expansion of artificial intelligence, evolving regulatory debates, and the entrenchment of surveillance capitalism.
Throughout, Meikle positions social media as networked data platforms, entities that not only enable new forms of engagement but also intensify the commodification of everyday life. Manuel Castells Oliván, renowned for his seminal trilogy The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture, reinforces this perspective, arguing that social media platforms are not merely communication tools but fundamental infrastructures of power. He contends that these platforms shape public discourse while operating within the logic of global capitalism, where data has become the most valuable currency.
Organized through seven thematic chapters, Social Media takes readers through key dimensions of the contemporary social media landscape. The book opens with a case study of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, using this event as a lens through which to explore the broader transformations in digital media. Meikle argues that Musk’s highly publicized management of the platform exposed the underlying economic and algorithmic logics that have long governed social media. By tracing the platform’s shift from a space of real-time discourse to an increasingly unstable commercial enterprise, Meikle highlights how digital corporations manipulate visibility, engagement, and even political discourse to serve financial imperatives.
From here, Meikle turns to an in-depth examination of data and surveillance, positioning the platform economy as a system built on the relentless extraction of personal information. Chapter 2 introduces the concept of the sharing industry, a term that foregrounds the paradox of social media’s participatory rhetoric. While platforms rely on user-generated content, they also exploit this content to refine advertising models and algorithmic predictions. As Meikle argues, “The things we post on social media—the photos, the opinions, the relationships, are the input of the sharing industry, not its output. Its output is commercial data” (Meikle 2024, 39). He underscores this contradiction with examples from Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, illustrating how these platforms construct digital environments that encourage constant interaction while remaining opaque about their data collection practices.
In Chapter 3, Meikle shifts to an exploration of remix culture, memes, and digital creativity. He traces how participatory media forms have evolved alongside social media platforms, arguing that while remix esthetics offer new opportunities for self-expression, they are also subject to the commercial logics of platform capitalism. He examines internet memes as both grassroots cultural artifacts and mechanisms of viral marketing, demonstrating how corporations increasingly co-opt user-generated trends to sustain engagement. Here, Meikle’s analysis recalls Shifman’s (2013) work on meme culture, extending the discussion to consider how AI-generated content and synthetic media complicate traditional notions of authorship and originality.
The later chapters turn toward the intersections of social media, news, and digital activism. In Chapter 4, Meikle examines the role of platforms in shaping contemporary journalism, highlighting both the democratizing potential and destabilizing effects of social media news dissemination. He discusses how algorithmic visibility influences public discourse, reinforcing filter bubbles and misinformation while also offering new avenues for citizen journalism. Similarly, Chapter 6 explores social media’s role in political mobilization, from the viral spread of hashtags like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter to the ways in which platform algorithms amplify or suppress activist content. Meikle’s argument here is measured—while acknowledging social media’s capacity to facilitate social movements, he is careful to critique the structural constraints that often limit their impact.
The book concludes with a discussion of regulation, examining recent legislative efforts to curb platform power. Meikle assesses policy responses such as the EU’s Digital Services Act and U.S. debates surrounding Section 230, considering their implications for platform accountability. He also raises the question of whether public service models might offer a viable alternative to profit-driven platforms, a discussion that resonates with ongoing conversations in media policy and digital governance.
Across these thematic explorations, Social Media offers a compelling critique of the networked digital landscape. Meikle is particularly adept at drawing connections between historical media structures and contemporary digital phenomena, demonstrating how longstanding patterns of media ownership, surveillance, and commodification have been amplified in the social media era. As Meikle argues, “Social media platforms are, among many other things, vast surveillance and monitoring mechanisms. Participatory culture on networked databases is also participatory surveillance. We watch each other and perform for those who watch us. And these performances are also staged for unknowable audiences—our activity is also watched by the algorithms that run the platform, recording, analyzing, and interpreting what we say, who we look at, and who looks at us in turn” (Meikle 2024, 108). His engagement with political economy and cultural analysis provides a rigorous foundation for understanding the complexities of digital communication, making this book a valuable resource for scholars, students, and policymakers alike.
While Social Media: The Convergence of Public and Personal Communication provides a comprehensive critique of platform capitalism and datafication, it leaves some critical areas underexplored. In particular, Meikle’s analysis remains largely centered on dominant Western platforms like Facebook, Twitter (now X), and YouTube, with little attention to alternative or regionally specific social media ecologies in the Global South. Additionally, while the book acknowledges AI-driven algorithmic governance, it does not fully engage with the disruptive potential of generative AI in shaping digital communication and media production. Lastly, the discussion of regulatory responses to platform power tends to focus on the U.S. and EU, overlooking diverse regulatory strategies emerging in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
A major oversight in Meikle’s analysis is the lack of attention to regionally dominant platforms and their unique socio-political contexts. While he discusses Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, he does not examine platforms such as WeChat in China, ShareChat in India, or Kwai in Brazil, all of which have significant user bases and influence in their respective regions. These platforms operate under different economic and regulatory conditions, often shaped by local governments and digital policies.
For instance, Meikle’s discussion of platform capitalism does not fully account for the hybrid governance structures of Chinese social media platforms, where state intervention and corporate control are deeply intertwined. Platforms like WeChat are not merely profit-driven enterprises but also tools of state surveillance and digital infrastructure. Similarly, in India, ShareChat has become an important digital space for linguistic diversity, serving users in regional languages largely ignored by Western platforms. The omission of these alternative digital spaces limits the book’s global applicability, as it assumes a universal platform logic that does not fully account for localized adaptations of social media.
Additionally, Meikle himself acknowledges that social media firms are primarily data-driven rather than content-driven, stating:
Social media firms that have emerged to both shape and exploit the possibilities of this convergence have tended to show less interest in creating content of their own. Someone else will always do that. Those firms are instead data companies that find new ways to network people and information for profit (Meikle 2024, 132)
This observation reinforces the argument that Western-dominated platforms follow a particular business model, but it does not account for alternative models that operate under different cultural and political pressures. A more global perspective would strengthen Meikle’s critique of social media’s structural inequities.
While Meikle touches on algorithmic governance, his analysis does not fully incorporate the implications of generative AI, particularly in the realm of misinformation, deepfakes, and content automation. Since the release of ChatGPT, Midjourney, and other AI-driven tools, social media platforms have become increasingly saturated with AI-generated content that blurs the lines between authentic and synthetic communication.
Generative AI raises new ethical and political questions about digital authorship, media credibility, and information integrity. Platforms like TikTok and YouTube are already facing challenges in detecting and moderating AI-generated misinformation, especially in the context of political campaigns. Deepfake videos have been weaponized to manipulate public perception, creating new vulnerabilities in the digital media landscape. Meikle’s omission of these developments means that the book does not fully address the next frontier of platform governance, how social media companies will navigate AI’s role in content moderation, authenticity verification, and algorithmic manipulation.
Meikle does acknowledge the broader challenges posed by AI in digital media, stating:
Generative AI brings challenges in relation to authority, trust, and consent. The authority of a text produced by Generative AI is uncertain. The software creates remixed texts that can appear very convincing, and which may be taken as representing authoritative information but which are instead synthetic guesswork (Meikle 2024, 68)
This recognition is valuable, but it remains underdeveloped in his analysis. Future editions of the book could expand on how generative AI affects not only credibility but also the economic structures of content production, such as how AI-generated influencers and synthetic media are reshaping engagement on platforms.
Despite these gaps, this work is a significant contribution to media and communication scholarship. Meikle successfully navigates the complexities of platform capitalism, offering a critical yet accessible framework for understanding the role of social media in contemporary society. His interdisciplinary approach, combining media history, political economy, and digital culture studies, ensures that the book remains relevant to a wide range of academic audiences. As debates around platform governance, digital labor, and AI-driven media continue to evolve, Meikle’s insights will undoubtedly serve as a valuable foundation for future research in the field.
In a world where every click, share, and like feeds an invisible system of power, this book challenges us to rethink our place in the digital ecosystem, before it defines us entirely. I am convinced that reevaluating our relationship with technology is essential, and this book provides a critical foundation for reclaiming human agency in the digital age.
