Power and Persuasion in Digital Society

Introduction

With social media, consumers have their communication channels for involvement, to form action groups, and platforms through which to voice their opinion. Many would argue that digitization represents a realization of citizen democracy because it enables individuals to communicate and engage. At the same time, old power structures are reflected, or amplified, in social media. Established elites seem to remain powerful.

In a short time, global internet giants such as Alphabet (Google-sfæren), Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have gained and maintained power over the world wide web. "Big Tech" lays fundamental premises in the media economy. It furthermore challenges political governance, both in relation to taxation and personal data protection (GDPR).

Course content

The course is divided into three parts.

1. Consumer power and individual power: recommendation systems, influencers, mobilization, communities, rules and privacy, freedom of expression and ethics, ideologies and political agendas
2. Media power: Power structures at eco-, macro-, meso- and micro levels, business ethics and social responsibility, regulation and laws, monopoly formation, attention economy
3. Online media bias: echo chambers, search engines, filter bubbles, algorithm power and algorithm structures, use and misuse of Big Data, monitoring, digital dividers