Social Media, Social Justice and the Political Economy of Online Networks

While social network analyses often demonstrate the usefulness of social media networks to affective publics and otherwise marginalized social justice groups, this book explores the domination and manipulation of social networks by more powerful political groups. Jeffrey Layne Blevins and James Lee look at the ways in which social media conversations about race turn politically charged, and in many cases, ugly. Studies show that social media is an important venue for news and political information, while focusing national attention on racially involved issues. Perhaps less understood, however, is the effective quality of this discourse, and its connection to popular politics, especially when Twitter trolls and social media mobs go on the attack.

Taking on prominent case studies from the past few years, including the Ferguson protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, the 2016 presidential election, and the rise of fake news, this volume presents data visualization sets alongside careful scholarly analysis. The resulting volume provides new insight into social media, legacy news, and social justice.

Jeffrey Layne Blevins is head of the Department of Journalism at the University of Cincinnati and editor of the scholarly journal Democratic Communiqué. In 2009 he served as a federal grant reviewer for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce. A frequent opinion-editorial columnist, his commentary on media policy and ethics have appeared in USA Today, Cincinnati Enquirer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other venues. James Lee is Director of the Digital Scholarship Center, Associate Dean of Research for Libraries, and Associate Vice Provost for Digital Scholarship at the University of Cincinnati.