The aim of this article is to look at algorithmic media and how they shift and alter everyday media-related practices and content, and with it power relations as well as agency between media institutions, medium and users. It does so from a historical perspective using the waves of mediatisation by Couldry and Hepp (2018) to discern different phases of media development and describe how the affordances of the most popular media of each wave alter media-related practices. This helps to put the changes induced by algorithmic media into perspective. While algorithmic media have existed since the wave of digitalisation, they have become a lot more independent, complex and visible with the introduction of social and chatbots (Alexa, Siri) and artificial intelligence (ChatGPT). Algorithmic media have inflicted changes to communicative practices as we are now communicating with machines, which always have an invisible bystander in the form of a media company listening in. Furthermore, we find a broadening of user agency and power with the establishment of Web 1.0, which is gradually being reduced with the upcoming of Web 2.0 as well as the usage of social and algorithmic media.
AbbateJ. (2000). Inventing the Internet. Inside technology series. MIT Press.
2.
AltuncuE., FranqueiraV. N. L., & LiS. (2022). Deepfake: Definitions, performance metrics and standards, datasets and benchmarks, and a meta-review. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.10913
3.
BalbiG., & JohnR. R. (2015). Point-to-point: Telecommunications networks from the optical telegraph to the mobile telephone. In CantoniL. & DanowskiJ. A. (Eds.), Communication and technology (pp. 35–56). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110271355-004
4.
BöschF. (2019). Mediengeschichte: Vom asiatischen Buchdruck zum Computer. Historische Einführungen: Band 10. Campus.
5.
BrunsA. (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, second life, and beyond. Peter Lang.
6.
CouldryN., & HeppA. (2018). The mediated construction of reality. John Wiley & Sons.
7.
DayanD., & KatzE. (1996). Media events: The live broadcasting of history (3rd ed.). Harvard University Press.
DuffyB. R. (2003). Anthropomorphism and the social robot. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 42(3–4), 177–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0921-8890(02)00374-3
10.
EichnerS. (2014). Agency and media reception: Experiencing video games, film, and television. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
FerraraE., VarolO., DavisC., MenczerF., & FlamminiA. (2016). The rise of social bots. Communications of the ACM, 59(7), 96–104. https://doi.org/10.1145/2818717
13.
GillespieT. (2014). The relevance of algorithms. In GillespieT., BoczkowskiP., & FootK. A. (Eds.), Media technologies (pp. 167–194). The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262525374.003.0009
14.
GillespieT. (2018). Platforms are not intermediaries. Georgetown Law Technology Review, 198–216. https://georgetownlawtechreview.org/platforms-are-not-intermediaries/GLTR-07-2018/
15.
GunkelD. J. (2012). Communication and artificial intelligence: Opportunities and challenges for the 21st century. Scholarworks @ Umass Amherst. https://doi.org/10.7275/R5QJ7F7R
16.
GutiérrezJ. L. M. (2023). On actor-network theory and algorithms: ChatGPT and the new power relationships in the age of AI. AI and Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-023-00314-4
17.
GuzmanA. L. (2015). Imagining the voice in the machine: The ontology of digital social agents [PhD dissertation]. University of Illinois at Chicago. https://hdl.handle.net/10027/19842
18.
GuzmanA. L., & LewisS. C. (2020). Artificial intelligence and communication: A human–machine communication research agenda. New Media & Society, 22(1), 70–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819858691
19.
HeppA. (2018). Von der Mediatisierung zur tiefgreifenden Mediatisierung. In ReichertzJ. & BettmannR. (Eds.), Wissen, Kommunikation und Gesellschaft. Kommunikation - Medien - Konstruktion: Braucht die Mediatisierungsforschung den kommunikativen Konstruktivismus? (pp. 27–45). Springer, VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-21204-9_2
20.
HeppA., BreiterA., & HasebrinkU. (2018). Rethinking transforming communications: An introduction. In HeppA., BreiterA., & HasebrinkU. (Eds.), Transforming communications—Studies in cross-media research. Communicative figurations (pp. 3–13). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65584-0_1
21.
HeppA., LoosenW., DreyerS., JarkeJ., KannengießerS., KatzenbachC., MalakaR., PfadenhauerM., PuschmannC., & SchulzW. (2023). ChatGPT, LaMDA, and the hype around communicative AI: The automation of communication as a field of research in media and communication studies. Human-Machine Communication, 6, 41–63. https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.4
22.
HindsJ., WilliamsE. J., & JoinsonA. N. (2020). ‘It wouldn’t happen to me’: Privacy concerns and perspectives following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 143, 102498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102498
23.
HuntR., & McKelveyF. (2019). Algorithmic regulation in media and cultural policy: A framework to evaluate barriers to accountability. Journal of Information Policy, 9, 307–335. https://doi.org/10.5325/jinfopoli.9.2019.0307
24.
JanzikR. (2022). Mediennutzung und virtuelle Realität: Erklärungsfaktoren der Akzeptanz und Nutzung von Virtual Reality im privaten Kontext (1. Auflage2022). Springer Fachmedien. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37224-8
25.
JenkinsH. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York University Press.
KempS. (2024). Digital 2024: Global overview report. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-global-overview-report?utm_source=DataReportal&utm_medium=Country_Article_Hyperlink&utm_campaign=Digital_2024&utm_term=Germany&utm_content=Global_Promo_Block
28.
KrotzF. (2014). Intimate communication on the Internet: How digital media are changing our lives at the microlevel. In WyssE. L. (Ed.), Communication of love mediatized intimacy from love letters to SMS. Interdisciplinary and historical studies (pp. 79–92). transcript Verlag.
KupferschmittT., & MüllerT. (2023). ARD/ZDF-Massenkommunikation trends 2023: Mediennutzung im Intermediavergleich. Media Perspektiven, 21. https://www.ard-media.de/fileadmin/user_upload/media-perspektiven/pdf/2023/MP_21_2023_MKT_Intermediavergeich_final.pdf
31.
LatourB. (1996). On actor-network theory: A few clarifications. Soziale Welt, 47(4), 369–381. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40878163
32.
LatourB., & RoßlerG. (2019). Eine neue Soziologie für eine neue Gesellschaft: Einführung in die Akteur-Netzwerk-Theorie (RoßlerG., Trans.). Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenschaft: Vol. 1967. Suhrkamp.
33.
LinC. A. (2001). The VCR, home video culture, and new video technologies. In BryantJ. & BryantJ. A. (Eds.), Television and the American family (pp. 91–110). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
34.
MansellR., & SilverstoneR. (1998). Communication by design: The politics of information and communication technologies. Oxford University Press.
35.
MeierA., & JohnsonB. K. (2022). Social comparison and envy on social media: A critical review. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101302
36.
MonettD., LewisC. W. P., ThórissonK. R., BachJ., BaldassarreG., GranatoG., BerkeleyI. S. N., CholletF., CrosbyM., ShevlinH., FoxJ., LairdJ. E., LeggS., LindesP., MikolovT., RapaportW. J., RojasR., RosaM., StoneP., SuttonR. S., … WinfieldA. (2020). Special issue ‘On defining artificial intelligence’—Commentaries and author’s response. Journal of Artificial General Intelligence, 11(2), 1–100. https://doi.org/10.2478/jagi-2020-0003
37.
PlanesJ. (2023, November14). From Paris Hilton to Snoop Dogg: Meta to launch speaking AI chatbots played by celebrities. El Pais. https://english.elpais.com/technology/2023-11-13/from-paris-hilton-to-snoop-dogg-meta-to-launch-speaking-ai-chatbots-played-by-celebrities.html#
38.
RogersE. M. (1983). Diffusion of innovations. Free Press.
39.
SantiniM. R., SallesD., & GiuliaT. (2021). When machine behavior targets future voters: The use of social bots to test narratives for political campaigns in Brazil. International Journal of Communication, 15(0), 1220–1243.
40.
SchrapeJ.-F. (2012). Wiederkehrende Erwartungen an interaktive Medien. Mediale Kontrolle unter Beobachtung, 1(1), 4–29. https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/29285
ShumH., HeX., & LiD. (2018). From Eliza to XiaoIce: Challenges and opportunities with social chatbots. Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering, 19(1), 10–26. https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1700826
43.
SilverstoneR., MorleyD., DahlbergA., & LivingstoneS. (1989). Families, technologies and consumption: The household and information and communication technologies [CRICT Discussion Paper]. Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture & Technology. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46657/
TaddickenM., & SchmidtJ.-H. (2022). Entwicklung und Verbreitung sozialer Medien. In TaddickenM. & SchmidtJ.-H. (Eds.), Handbuch Soziale Medien (pp. 3–17). Springer, VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25995-2_1
46.
ThieleF. (2018). Social media as tools of maintaining harmony in China: The case of Sina Weibo. Kommunikation.medien, 9, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.25598/JKM/2018-9.23
47.
ThieleF. (in press). Von Utopie bis Dystopie - Erwartungen an Medientechnologien im Zeitverlauf. In HeppA., KannengießerS. & WimmerJ. (Eds.), Zukunft der Medien – Medien der Zukunft. Springer VS.
48.
ThieleF., & LüthjeC. (2022). Post or perish? Scholarly communication practices on social media in times of deep mediatization. Mediatization Studies, 5. https://doi.org/10.17951/ms.2021.5.59-76
49.
ThielT. (2014). Die Schönheit der Chance: Utopien und das Internet. Zeitschrift für Kritik-Recht-Gesellschaft, 2014(4), 459–471. https://doi.org/10.33196/juridikum201404045901
50.
UdupaS. (2018). Gaali cultures: The politics of abusive exchange on social media. New Media & Society, 20(4), 1506–1522. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817698776
51.
UdupaS. (2021). Small platforms and the gray zones of deep extreme speech. MediaWell. https://doi.org/10.35650/MD.2093.d.2021
52.
VogelE. A., RoseJ. P., RobertsL. R., & EcklesK. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000047
53.
WangP. (2019). On defining artificial intelligence. Journal of Artificial General Intelligence, 10(2), 1–37. https://doi.org/10.2478/jagi-2019-0002
54.
WardK. (2018). Social networks, the 2016 US presidential election, and Kantian ethics: Applying the categorical imperative to Cambridge Analytica’s behavioral microtargeting. Journal of Media Ethics, 33(3), 133–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2018.1477047
55.
ZłotowskiJ., ProudfootD., YogeeswaranK., & BartneckC. (2015). Anthropomorphism: Opportunities and challenges in human–robot interaction. International Journal of Social Robotics, 7(3), 347–360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0267-6
