Amplification and Virtual Back-Patting: The Rationalities of Social Media Uses in the Nina Larsson Web Campaign

Social Media, Individualization And Web-Campaigning

Social media is a contested term since it implies that traditional media would not encompass social dimensions. What is often referred to when talking about social media are online communication platforms were the social seems to refer to the possibility of users to influence and interact with the content and each other in some way or another. O'Reilly (oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html, retrieved 16^th April 2006) claims that for a website to be defined as social the user him/herself should be able to participate and contribute to the content of the site. The user should be able to take control over his/hers information and the overall design should be interactive and user-friendly. The more elaborate definition of Social Network Sites (SNS) focuses on the possibility for users to articulate their social networks and make them visible to others (Ellison & boyd, 2007, p. 2). SNS are defined as web-based services that allow users to construct a public, or half-public profile, tie this profile to other users, sometimes self-selected, whose contacts in turn are made available by the service. In this chapter I will attend to Nina's uses of Facebook, Twitter, an interactive campaign website and two blogs. Since neither the blogs nor the interactive campaign website would fit the SNS definition by Ellison & boyd, I will use O'Reilly's more encompassing definition of social media.