Platformativity/
Platformisation/
Platform

Martina Novotná, Masaryk University, Czechia
martina.novotna@mail.muni.cz

Alena Pospíšil Macková, Masaryk University, Czechia
amackova@fss.muni.cz

‘Platformativity’ or ‘platformisation’ refers to the process through which digital platforms, particularly online platforms like social media, influence various aspects of social, economic, and cultural life. These concepts highlight how platforms do not merely facilitate communication but actively structure interaction, visibility, and participation across various domains. ‘Platform studies’, an interdisciplinary academic field, focuses on the study of digital platforms. Scholars accross disciplines investigate the roles, effects, and structures of platforms. The field provides a framework for understanding the complex nature of platforms, taking into account both their technical and algorithmic infrastructure and their broader social and political implications. It evolves alongside changes in technology and society, and includes the analysis of different types of digital platforms, such as social media.

A key area of interest is how platforms shape everyday user practices, including opinion expression and formation. The technical design of platforms, particularly their affordances and algorithmic infrastructure, affects how users access information, what content they encounter, and how they engage with it. Different platforms can foster distinct dynamics of public debate or political polarisation. For example, Yarchi et al. demonstrate how the visibility of comments, algorithmic curation, and the public or private nature of interaction lead Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp to promote different forms of polarisation. Other studies, such as by Humprecht et al., highlight how specific features on social media, like emotional reaction buttons, amplify polarised content and intensify emotional engagement. These findings underscore how platform-specific configurations influence not only what is visible, but also how opinions are formed, shared, and contested.

The approach also incorporates critical perspectives to examine issues such as inequality, bias, and the concentration of power within digital platforms. Platform studies contribute valuable insights to policy and regulation discussions, addressing challenges related to distrust, privacy, and misinformation. However, the field also faces criticism for a tendency toward technological determinism, limited attention to users and user agency, and insufficient focus on local and contextual variations in platform use.

Keywords: affordances, user agency, platform governance, infrastructure

Related Entries: Affordances/Affordance Theory

References:
Apperley, T., & Parikka, J. (2018). Platform studies’ epistemic threshold. Games and Culture, 13(4), 349–369. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015616509
Yarchi, M., Baden, C., & Kligler-Vilenchik, N. (2020). Political polarisation on the digital sphere: A cross-platform, over-time analysis of interactional, positional, and affective polarisation on social media. Political Communication, 38(1–2), 98–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2020.1785067
Bogost, I., & Montfort, N. (2009). Platform studies: Frequently questioned answers. Digital Arts and Culture. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/01r0k9br .
Fuchs, C. (2021). Social media: A critical introduction (3d ed.). SAGE.
Gillespie, T. (2010). The politics of ‘platforms’. New Media & Society, 12(3), 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809342738
Humprecht, E., Amsler, M., Esser, F., & Van Aelst, P. (2024). Emotionalized social media environments: How alternative news media and populist actors drive angry reactions. Political Communication, 41(4), 559–587. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2024.2350416
van Dijck, J., Poell, T. & de Waal, M. (2018). The platform society. Oxford University Press.