What do participants on digital media platforms produce? Tracking the development of Hello Sunday Morning from a blog,to a social network,to a self-tracking app

Abstract

This article analyses the development of the participatory online social movement and health intervention Hello Sunday Morning (HSM) from 2009 to 2016. HSM has developed a media platform comprised of blogs, social networking and self-tracking apps with the aim of changing individual and cultural drinking practices. The case of HSM enables us to reflect on the participatory culture of digital media platforms. I argue that participants don’t just construct the sociality of the platform – its practices of speaking and being heard – they also play a crucial role in generating exercises that are coded into the platform’s interfaces, protocols and algorithms, and they produce data that informs the platform’s ongoing development. The article draws on interviews with participants, analysis of the platform since 2009, and my own critical reflections on participating in research, evaluation and design activities.