Cultural Consumption in the Age of TikTok. Algorithmic Infrastructures and Popular Practices

Abstract

In recent years platforms and their algorithms have taken on a more intense function in structuring tastes and desires across many fields: at the same time, their growing diffusion and importance has greatly extended the scope of platformization, making platforms relevant to a much wider range of actors and activities. In this special issue we want to explore how these two novel features – intrinsic not just to TikTok, but increasingly to the novel ‘tiktokized’ digital environment overall – play out across platform cultures. The papers address the growing importance of platforms as infrastructures of cultural and social life, and their resulting prevalence as mediators of a wider variety of activities on the part of a greater diversity of actors.