Book Review: Social Media: A Critical Introduction. By Christian Fuchs.

Abstract

As social media become de rigeur in undergraduate media and communication programs, a focus on instrumental use has tended to eclipse more rigorous analyses of the power relations digital platforms reify, disrupt, or reconfigure. Despite some notable alternatives, pedagogical approaches to social media have tended to focus on the more programmatic aspects of its use, often ignoring contextual perspectives that give meaning to practice. Despite a wealth of critical media and communication studies readers, those seeking to teach alternative approaches to social media have been left adrift without an anchoring text.