PANOPTIC TENSIONS ON RHIZOME: UNDERSTANDING THE IDEOLOGICAL MODEL OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

Among many different views and interpretations on the socio-technical underpinnings of social media in new media literature, clarifying two specific standpoints is important for the understanding of ideological model peculiar to social media. As a social phenomenon, the function of the social web, which encompasses social media, has two major concerns. While it is identified through the lens of egalitarianism as ever democratic media, which facilitate decentralized power dynamics and resistance to the dominant hierarchy, it is recognized that social media strengthen the centralized control by facilitating the surveillance of authority along with the technological advancement. Applying the methods of concept analysis, this paper first identifies three basic assumptions -social media, rhizome and panopticism- which are related to the said phenomenon. Then it critically scrutinizes how the concepts of rhizome and panopticism feature in the key facets of social media and their paradoxical functioning in the social media sphere. Dissecting the governing and end-user sides, it finally attempts to reveal the dyad and enigmatic ideological model of social media.