Interpassivity and social network subjectivity

During the last few years, a steady stream of journal articles and conference papers with the aim of discerning the impact and possible meanings of social network sites (SNS) have been published. It is often argued that SNS diverge significantly from earlier forms of web communities since they are centred around the individual actor rather than themes of interest. Although providing a solid understanding of the social dynamics surrounding identity performance and self-presentation, most researchers have not sufficiently assessed the interrelationship between the conditions of social interaction on SNS and subjectivity. Being of crucial importance for any understanding of the relationship between participatory action and identity performance, an analysis of the conditions of subjectivity illuminates fundamental social processes of importance to the general understanding of the implications of SNS. Drawing on an analysis of an extensive empirical material consisting of approximately 470 self-reflexive diary entries authored by people between the ages of 22 and 68, the purpose of this paper is to explore the changed conditions of subjectivity on SNS by addressing two interrelated themes. First, this paper aims at understanding the possible implications of the fact that social and symbolic content increasingly becomes delivered to the individual through personalised feeds, thus invigorating a state of interpassivity through which the social network acts on its own behalf. Secondly, this paper strives at understanding what it means that other individuals occupy a salient role in the individual self-presentation. In what ways does this state of affairs affect the processes through which individual subjectivity is continuously enabled and negotiated? This paper explores crucial aspects of the social and interactional terrain of SNS thus attempting to provide a theoretical and conceptual apparatus, mainly by the concepts interpassivity and social network subjectivity, that can further strengthen research on SNS.