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Social Media Platforms as Intimacy Mediators

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Book cover Personal Relationships and Intimacy in the Age of Social Media

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Abstract

The objective of this chapter is to understand the interplay between society and social media. Understanding the way people appropriate technology in their everyday lives is an important step towards better understanding our social world. This chapter presents an analysis of the increasingly invisible process of mediation due to the domestication of new media. The concepts of domestication of technology and mediation are explored in order to explain the process of the pervasive use of social media in everyday life. In addition, the role that platforms’ politics and architecture play in shaping the way people communicate and build relationships is analysed. Finally, to provide some contemporary examples, the attention is focused on dating sites and hospitality exchange platforms, using Badoo and CouchSurfing as case studies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    CouchSurfing user.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business School, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Cristina Miguel

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Miguel, C. (2018). Social Media Platforms as Intimacy Mediators. In: Personal Relationships and Intimacy in the Age of Social Media. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02062-0_4

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