Disconnect

Description

An urgent examination of the threat posed to social media by user disconnection, and the measures websites will take to prevent it No matter how pervasive and powerful social media websites become, users always have the option of disconnecting-right? Not exactly, as Tero Karppi reveals in this disquieting book. Pointing out that platforms like Facebook see disconnection as an existential threat-and have undertaken wide-ranging efforts to eliminate it-Karppi argues that users’ ability to control their digital lives is gradually dissipating. Taking a nonhumancentric approach, Karppi explores how modern social media platforms produce and position users within a system of coded relations and mechanisms of power. For Facebook, disconnection is an intense affective force. It is a problem of how to keep users engaged with the platform, but also one of keeping value, attention, and desires within the system. Karppi uses Facebook’s financial documents as a map to navigate how the platform sees its users. Fac