Mapping business and data partnerships in the social media ecosystem

Research article by Fernando van der Vlist and Anne Helmond – An empirical study about the significance of partnerships and how partners mediate and shape platform power published in the open access journal Big Data & Society. Social media platforms are among the world’s most profitable businesses whose business models rely on digital advertising revenues.… Read more Mapping business and data partnerships in the social media ecosystem

Platform and app histories: Assessing source availability in web archives and app repositories

We just presented our forthcoming book chapter on ‘Platform and app histories: Assessing source availability in web archives and app repositories’ at the Engaging with Web Archives (#EWAvirtual) conference. Abstract In this chapter we discuss the research opportunities for historical studies of apps and platforms. Platforms and apps notoriously resist archiving due to their ephemerality… Read more Platform and app histories: Assessing source availability in web archives and app repositories

Legacy systems: internet histories of the abandoned, discontinued and forgotten

Michael Stevenson and I just published a special issue on “Legacy Systems” in the Internet Histories journal. The special issue explores the productive ambiguity of the concept of “legacy systems” in different directions to address the past’s persistence as well as its felt absence. The contributions revolve around a socio-cultural sense of legacy – of… Read more Legacy systems: internet histories of the abandoned, discontinued and forgotten

A Plataformização da Web

My article on ‘The Platformization of the Web‘ (2015) has been translated into Portuguese! ‘A Plataformização da Web‘ was translated by Tiago Salgado and was published in the edited volume ‘Métodos Digitais: teoria‐prática‐crítica’, edited by Janna Joceli Omena. The book is available for free, open access, and a PDF and can be downloaded here. Helmond,… Read more A Plataformização da Web

Social Media and Platform Historiography: Challenges and Opportunities

We just published a new article (open access🔓) on doing historical platform studies: Anne Helmond and Fernando van der Vlist (2019) “Social Media and Platform Historiography: Challenges and Opportunities.” TMG – Journal for Media History 22(1): 6–34. http://www.tmgonline.nl/articles/434/ Abstract In this article, we propose a methodological outlook for historical platform studies to increase the prominence… Read more Social Media and Platform Historiography: Challenges and Opportunities