Book_review_murthy_twitter_social_commun.pdf

831987 book-review2019

NMS0010.1177/1461444819831987new media & societyBook Review

Book Review

new media & society 1­–3 © The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819831987 DOI: 10.1177/1461444819831987 journals.sagepub.com/home/nms

Dhiraj Murthy, Twitter: Social communication in the Twitter era. 2nd ed. Polity Press: Cambridge and Medford, MA, 2018; xvii+259 pp.; ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-1250-8, $22.95 (pbk) Reviewed by: Paul Candon, Independent Media Researcher, Ireland

The desire to comprehend Twitter and its role in media, politics and the wider society is often reduced to a swift and dismissive analysis, somewhat reflective of the brevity of the platform itself. Thus, Twitter is an echo chamber, a natural habitat for the narcissists; it is highly disposable, yet also revolutionary, democratising and disruptive of the existing social order. Taken-for-granted assumptions about the role and potential of evolving communications technologies are nothing new. It falls to authors like Murthy to provide sober and convincing scrutiny based on well-considered and clearly argued analysis. Murthy began this work with the first edition in 2013. The fact that a revised edition emerges after five years speaks to the rapid and mutable nature of the subject-matter and the need to revisit and update the questions and themes which have been in flux in the meantime. What is achieved here – for the second time – is an expedition through complexity to a destination of considerable clarity. Murthy begins with an argument that far from signalling the end of meaningful communication, Twitter at its core has the potential to facilitate considerable insight to increase our awareness of others and ‘to augment our spheres of knowledge, tapping us into a global network of individuals … giving us instant updates on topics and areas in which they are knowledgeable or participating in real time’ (p. xii). It therefore has profound social consequences. The remainder of the book considers the mechanics, trajectories and implications of this activity and these consequences. The author adopts the vantage point that Twitter is unique among social media in both its default publicness and relative ease of access, yet he also attends to instances of exclusion and digital division among users. The exemplars used bring us from familiar events in the public sphere – the so-called Arab Spring, Occupy and the Black Lives Matter movement – to the influence of and controversies surrounding the likes of Stephen Fry, Kim Kardashian and, of course, @RealDonaldTrump. Enmeshed in these considerations, with the inescapable acknowledgement that celebrities exert disproportionate influence in the arena, is a constant regard for the stances and strategies of ‘everyday people’ and the distinctive presence of the mundane alongside the monumental that has come to characterise Twitter.

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Murthy’s success here primarily emanates from his debunking of technological deterministic summations of Twitter and his privileging of human agency over structures and systems. The book is, therefore, a highly useful companion as we all try to make sense of the relationships and interplays between forms of contemporary communication and social and political shifts. A qualitative analysis is the primary methodology employed. The stance and preoccupations are very clearly grounded in sociology; its key thinkers are effectively name checked. What is particularly impressive, however, is the scope and depth that is achieved by Murthy, in contrast to other literature from commentators locked rigidly into their own discipline. He manages to see both the wood and the trees, and succeeds in producing a compelling and thought-provoking read overall. The book is structured to guide the reader logically through a technical analysis of how Twitter functions, assuming no prior knowledge, thus making it infinitely accessible. Next, he does a convincing job of placing Twitter within a historical context that spans across 300 years of communication within the public sphere. This analysis serves to debunk, with apparent ease, claims that Twitter is a ‘game changing’ or revolutionary platform. He introduces highly pertinent theoretical perspectives, primarily from Heidegger and Goffman, and establishes a position for the work within the broader social sciences canon. These are effective, but it is nonetheless one of my minor criticisms of the book that these theorists are not revisited more explicitly in the later chapters or in the conclusion of the work. Murthy then moves to the substantive examination of the Twittiverse, taking us through sometimes well-rehearsed topics with fresh perspective: he considers journalism, natural disasters, political activism, health matters, and finally celebrities and personal branding. He states that although a relatively young communications medium, Twitter has shaped many aspects of our social, political and economic lives … a nuanced approach to understanding Twitter reveals that it is part of a larger historical trend towards update culture, social norms that encourage us to share more in the public sphere. (p. 192)

His analysis of update culture and how this impacts on all aspects of our collective worldview is a particular strength and a key contribution of the work – it clearly has a wider sociological application. Considerable attention is paid to the news mediascape. Murthy provides an excellent elaboration of the workings and function of ‘ambient’ news and gives incisive consideration to the role of Twitter in professional and citizen journalism, but he neglects the important matter of agenda setting. His prising apart of public/private dualities and boundaries is a constant throughout the work, and it is effectively handled. However, a consideration of concepts from Warner’s (2002) treaty on publics and counterpublics might have augmented this analysis, particularly with regard to political and social activism. Similarly, there is an obvious omission of ‘elite theory’ in coming to grips with matters of celebrity and branding. Its inclusion would have assisted us in considering questions of power inequality and digital divides more thoroughly. What is well set out is an analysis of the tension between the often individualised and self-involved nature of Twitter use versus its potential as a tool for building social capital, engagement and cohesion. Murthy is praiseworthy for his ability to remain impartial and nuanced throughout,

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never straying into the polemical terrain where many commentators find themselves. The book has a potentially wide readership, ranging from social scientists and media scholars to anyone with an interest in the medium of Twitter as it effects cultural shifts more broadly. Towards the end of the book Murthy reasserts the argument he began with: ‘Twitter maintains a unique position in contemporary social, political and economic life. The combination of the medium’s brevity and simplicity and mass diffusion has brought together a set of characteristics that has made it attractive’ (p. 199). This by now is beyond question, and in this work the author has offered a strong and effective elaboration. He concludes by pointing to matters beyond the immediate scope of this book, yet fundamentally important to the future scrutiny of Twitter. Twitter’s policy that ‘tweets must flow’ – a sort of anti-censorship banner, based on established American notions of free speech at all costs – has been at odds with cultures and, indeed, regimes elsewhere in the world. Murthy earmarks this as an area to continue to monitor in the evolution of the platform at its points of intersection with existing power structures. References Warner M (2002) Publics and Counterpublics. New York: Zone Books.