Location-Based Social Media

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Leighton Evans, Michael Saker

   Pages 1-12

3. Space

   • Leighton Evans, Michael Saker

   Pages 13-37

4. Time

   • Leighton Evans, Michael Saker

   Pages 39-62

5. Identity

   • Leighton Evans, Michael Saker

   Pages 63-86

6. Conclusions

   • Leighton Evans, Michael Saker

   Pages 87-98

7. Back Matter

   Pages 99-112

   PDF

This book extends current understandings of the effects of using locative social media on spatiality, the experience of time and identity. This is a pertinent and timely topic given the increase in opportunities people now have to explicitly and implicitly share their location through digital and mobile technologies. There is a growing body of research on locative media, much of this literature has concentrated on spatial issues. Research here has explored how locative media and location-based social media (LBSN) are used to communicate and coordinate social interactions in public space, affecting how people approach their surroundings, turning ordinary life “into a game”, and altering how mobile media is involved in understanding the world. This book offers a critical analysis of the effect of usage of locative social media on identity through an engagement with the current literature on spatiality, a novel critical investigation of the temporal effects of LBSN use and a view of identity as influenced by the spatio-temporal effects of interacting with place through LBSN. Drawing on phenomenology, post-phenomenology and critical theory on social and locative media, alongside established sociological frameworks for approaching spatiality and the city, it presents a comprehensive account of the effects of LBSN and locative media use.

• locative social media
• spatiality
• time and identity
• location
• mobile technologies
• digital technologies
• social interactions
• public space
• area studies

“Leighton Evans and Michael Saker provide an overview of the main currents in research on location-based social networks (LBSN), smartphone applications that allow users to broadcast their physical location and associate digital information with real-world places. ... Readers interested in LBSN and locative media will find plenty of thought-provoking material here, very much in line with the authors’ previous research.” (Will Payne, Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, Vol. 46 (5), 2019)

“In this book Leighton Evans and Michael Saker declare that Location Based Social Networking is dead and loudly declare ‘long live LSBN’. As they explain, not only is there life left in LBSN and next generation location-aware social media, but they continue to raise important questions concerning the conception and use of space, time and identity.  Drawing extensively on relevant literature, they provide a timely, fascinating and insightful analysis for those interested in understanding the full spectrum of social and spatial media.” (Professor Rob Kitchin, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland)

“Evans and Saker do a strong job examining the social impacts of location-based social networks (LBSNs). They link LBSNs to a variety of topics, including embodiment, spatiality, and temporality, and they exhibit extensive knowledge of both the history of LBSNs and the current application environment. Most importantly, they write in a way that will remain relevant even as new LBSNs enter the market and our use location information shifts with even newer mobile technologies.’” (Jordan Frith, Assistant Professor of Technical Communication, University of North Texas, USA)

“A highly readable and entertaining account of the life, death ... and afterlife of location based social networking.  This book provides a history of services that may soon be forgotten - who remembers Lovegety? But more than this Evans and Saker show that these may be responsible for shaping how we experience space, time and identity long into the future as features that once defined stand-alone location based services are mainstreamed into the social media giants.” (Professor Susan Halford, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Southampton, UK)

• University of Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom

  Leighton Evans

• Southampton Solent University , Southampton, United Kingdom

  Michael Saker

Leighton Evans is Lecturer in Digital Media Cultures at the University of Brighton, UK, and author of Locative Social Media: Place in the Digital Age (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). 
 
Michael Saker is a Senior Lecturer in Broadcasting and Digital Creative Industries at Southampton Solent University, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton. His work has been published in journals including New Media & Society, Media Culture & Society, and First Monday.

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