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Platforms and Cultural Production. Thomas PoellЧитать онлайн книгу.

Platforms and Cultural Production - Thomas Poell


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et al., 2019).3 Following this conceptualization of platforms, we therefore understand platformization from an institutional perspective as the evolution of platform markets, infrastructures, and governance frameworks.

      There are also companies in the cultural sector that display characteristics of platforms and have been referred to as such by scholars and journalists; we argue, however, that they should be categorized differently. It is worth bearing in mind that digitization does not equal platformization. While the New York Times, Netflix, and The Walt Disney Company collect endless reams of data and use sophisticated algorithms to curate content, they are not platform companies (Lobato, 2019; Lotz, 2017). Instead, they should be labeled as media or entertainment companies, which primarily produce or license original content and are not directly economically and infrastructurally accessible to third parties. Video producers – whether big or small – cannot freely upload their clips to Netflix; the New York Times primarily uses its own website and apps to distribute its own news content; and The Walt Disney Company uses its vast library of intellectual property – from Mickey Mouse to Marvel superheroes – across its theme parks, TV stations, and digital outlets.

      Unlike media companies, platforms give way to what business scholars call multisided markets, acting as “matchmakers” by connecting consumers or “end-users,” a wide variety of businesses (advertisers, content creators, etc.), governments, and nonprofits (Evans & Schmalensee, 2016). Each group of actors, including end-users, represents a “side” in the platform market (Gawer & Cusumano, 2002; Rochet & Tirole, 2003).

      Next to the lens of platforms as markets, software and business studies scholars have theorized the unique status of platforms as infrastructures through the notion of “platform boundaries” (Gawer, 2020; Helmond et al., 2019). In line with their for-profit mandate, platform companies invariably seek growth and can do so by opening up the boundaries of their infrastructures. To that end, they have to “resource” external producers by providing tools, allowing for technological integration and, in some cases, the marketing and monetization of content (Eaton et al., 2015; Ghazawneh & Henfridsson, 2013). By providing outsiders access to their data infrastructure, via plug-ins, for example, platform companies enable external producers to extend a platform’s functionality far beyond its own boundaries and into wider web and app ecosystems (Helmond, 2015; Nieborg & Helmond, 2019). At the same time, to retain control over what is distributed and by whom, platform boundaries need to be “secured” (Ghazawneh & Henfridsson, 2013). Platform companies do this through a variety of governance strategies, which we conceptualize in Chapter 4 as regulation, curation, and moderation.

      A main contribution of this book is to show how these shifts, continuities, and tensions in cultural practices are intricately entangled with changes in the institutional relations of cultural production. The chapter’s opening example illuminated some of these entanglements. For instance, the abrupt modifications in YouTube’s advertising policies and monetization programs directly impacted creators’ visibility and, consequently, revenue. Here, we can see how cultural producers’ dependence on platforms leaves them at the mercy of the latter’s decision-making, thus enhancing the precarity of their labor. At the same time, the Adpocalypse revealed laborers’ expressions of agency, particularly when they felt incentivized to develop alternative means of content distribution and revenue generation through sponsorship deals or subscriptions. More broadly, the Adpocalypse showed the complex balance cultural producers have to maintain on platforms between self-expression, audience interests, advertiser needs, and platform governance. How exactly the balance between these different forces is organized deeply affects the nature of cultural content and the space for creative expression. And directly related to this is the balancing act that touches on crucial dimensions of democratic politics by shaping public processes of identity construction and representation.

      As the preceding section suggests, platformization is not merely a top-down process dictated by platforms. It is also steered and driven by the tactics of cultural producers, both individually and in networked formations. The Adpocalypse illustrates how creators were able to contest platform policies by publicly and collectively voicing their discontent, seeking alternative forms of income, or simply abandoning the platform altogether. Within platform ecosystems such as YouTube’s, different stakeholders – cultural producers, advertisers, and data intermediaries, among others – struggle to defend or promote their interests, pushing the platform operator – Google in this case – to adapt its infrastructures and governance framework accordingly.


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