The internet now as a representative of mass culture, a conglomeration of special interest areas and personally curated feeds of more and less ubiquity
Popular culture now looks like what?
‘Relatable’ content based more or less on certain lifestyles
The concept of ‘viral’ in the early years meaning everyone internet connected saw it, vs now.
The power of cookies, stored data, analytics, targeted advertising forming not a mass hive mind of indoctrination but actually specialising and specifying people into isolation.
Mass control of content by corporations use to over generalise which isolated outsiders but now it bands outsiders together, which can be both beneficial and harmful
Incredibly specialized niches in reddit forums and other special-purpose sites and forums
Locality/community? Community Facebook pages and Marketplace, ‘Nextdoor’ type apps
community guidelines
parasocial relationships
personal branding, aliases, avatars, multi-identity, relatability
cultural exchange

crucial case studies in the internet's response to political moments

Growth in visibility of the Black Lives Matter movement
mass movement of older generations coming online in the Covid-19 pandemic
January Capitol riot hugely impacted by internet
unprecedented levels of on-the-ground reporting and virtual aid coordination through Russia-Ukraine war and Israeli-Gaza genocide
global response to the assassination of the health insurance CEO followed by mass cyber-stalking of suspect Luigi Mangione
the ever-evolving status of X, formerly known as Twitter, waves of account abandonment, Elon Musk and Nazism
Trump’s TikTok ban, USAmerican migration to Xiaohongshu, increased cultural exchange and international solidarity
to work backwards and look at some more highly influential techno-political moments