{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053","title":"If...Then Algorithmic Power and Politics","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"2017054909","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053","id":"1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053","uuid":"1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053","title":"If...Then Algorithmic Power and Politics","normalized_title":"ifthenalgorithmicpowerandpolitics","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"2017054909","isbns":["2017054909","9780190493042","9780190493059"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":211,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/If...Then%20Algorithmic%20Power%20and%20Politics","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/1d3bd28e-c1ba-4af2-8580-60b32ef26053/search"},"page":{"printed_page":89,"pdf_page":99,"physical_index":99,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"419180ab0a10c018d91e6be61805e90893955ac3b1985f5d71f9968ddb456ab3"},"chapter":"IF...THEN","content":"Second, making it appear as if everybody is participating and communicating by emphasizing those stories that generate a lot of comments and likes provides an incentive to like or comment as well. Simulation creates an impression, and it is precisely the power of impressions that Foucault thought was a driving force in the governing of the self. As Hofman, elaborating on Foucault’s notion of disciplinary power, explains: “Disciplinary power judges according to the norm. He depicts the norm as a standard of behaviour that allows for the measurement of forms of behaviour as ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ ” (2011: 32). By creating the impression that everybody participates, Facebook simultaneously suggests that participation is the norm. Normalization, according to Foucault, created a “whole range of degrees of normality indicating membership of a homogeneous social body but also playing a part in classification, hierarchization and the distribution of rank” (1977: 184). The news feed algorithm can be said to function as a disciplinary technique, producing a “desired user” by constructing subjects through sociotechnical arrangements that emphasize and favor participation, sharing, and socialization. Because interaction functions as a measure for interestingness, practices of liking, commenting, and participation become processes through which the subject may approximate this desired normality.\n\nThird, the participatory subject constituted by the algorithm hinges on an underlying idea of popularity. Displaying edges with a high degree of interaction clearly remediates some well-known cultural assumptions and mass media logic—popularity fosters more popularity. There is, thus, a circular logic to the way in which visibility is organized on Facebook. Being popular enhances the probability of becoming visible, thus increasing the probability of generating even more interaction. Being confronted with communication stories that encourage the user to “view all  14 comments,” “view all 9 comments,” and acknowledge that “Christina and 7 others like this” enhances the impression that visibility is granted to the popular. By emphasizing the perceived popularity of certain connections, the algorithm also reinforces a regime of visibility that runs counter to much of the celebratory Web 2.0 discourse focusing on democratization and empowerment. While Facebook is certainly a space that allows for participation, the software suggests that some forms of participation are more desirable than others, whereby desirability can be mapped in the specific mechanisms of visibility that I have suggested throughout this chapter.\n\nLife at the Top\n\n89","previous_page":88,"next_page":90}