From mass media to cyberculture: the cultural text and social media

Abstract

This paper examines the transformations in contemporary communication resulting from the transition from mass culture (Morin 1986; 1988) to cyberculture (Trivinho 2007; 2022), with a focus on the impact of social networks on the dynamics of modern communicative processes. Social networks are understood here as complex groupings formed by social interactions supported by digital technologies, which develop patterns for information exchange, thereby reconfiguring communication within cyberculture. The argumentation is theoretical and critical, grounded in an interdisciplinary approach that reflects on the cultural text (Lotman, 1979; Baitello Jr. 1997; Contrera, 1996; 2002) in opposition to a context marked by a dramatic drought of meaning and media visibility (Trivinho,2007; 2022). Given that social networks are unruly entities (i.e., they evolve at unparalleled speeds in cyberspace), the study focuses on demonstrating how these networks function as emblematic categories of an era (i.e., products that symbolically explain the current age) and on their impact on the communicative processes of today's technological society.