CMN 288 Midterm

True or false According to danah boyd (2026), users in the current era of "parasocial media" are far more likely to post frequent, casual updates for friends than to scroll through strategically produced content.

False

In her 2026 article, danah boyd argues that major social platforms have entered the third stage of what Cory Doctorow calls "enshittification." What characterizes this third stage?

Exploiting both users and business customers to extract maximum financial return for shareholders

Anne Helmond redefines "platformization" as a process of platform-specific "transcoding." Drawing on Lev Manovich, what does transcoding mean in this context?

Translating everyday cultural forms and practices into database schemas, standardized metrics, and ranking algorithms to fit platform architectures

True or false: Meta announced that it will officially discontinue its iconic Facebook Like button and social plugins in February 2026 because platforms have shifted away from open-web social graph tracking toward internal AI-driven predictive modelin

True

According to Anne Helmond, what term do Sharon and Gellert (2024) use to describe Big Tech leveraging its technical capital, computing power, and money to move into non-tech societal spheres like healthcare, education, or defense?

Sphere transgression

According to the Al Jazeera video Connected & Alone , how many times per day does the average phone user check their mobile device?

144 times

True or false: In Connected & Alone , neuroscientist Wolfram Schultz's experiment with monkeys demonstrated that dopamine spikes in the brain are strongest when a reward arrives, rather than during the anticipation of an unpredictable reward

False

In the Al Jazeera video, what platform design change is shown to increase average user session time by 20% to 50%?

Removing natural stopping cues through features like infinite scroll and autoplay

True or false: In Connected & Alone , fMRI brain scans conducted by UCLA researchers revealed that receiving likes on Instagram-style photos activated the nucleus accumbens , the same reward circuitry triggered by winning money or eating chocolate.

True

What key term did danah boyd and Nicole Ellison introduce in 2007 to academically define early social platforms like MySpace and Facebook before "social media" became the dominant catch-all phrase?

Social network sites

According to danah boyd (2026), where has personal, casual peer-to-peer socializing largely migrated as public social media feeds became dominated by professional creators and ads?

Private group chats, messaging apps, and texting

true or false: Anne Helmond highlights Google's "Project Suncatcher" (launched in late 2025) as an initiative to test prototype satellites carrying TPU machine learning chips in space to overcome Earth-bound data center limits in energy and water usage.

true

In Connected & Alone , what comparison is made regarding the emotional intimacy provided by digital social media interactions versus real, face-to-face connection?

Eating a bag of potato chips vs. eating a healthy, filling meal

True or false: According to the BBC Radio 4 podcast Anonymity , being anonymous means temporarily masking your identity.

False

In Marwick & boyd's Networked Privacy , what is "social steganography"?

Hiding content in plain sight by encoding the message's meaning so that only a desired audience understands it

In Networked Privacy , Marwick & boyd define "subtweeting" as a practice that:

Posts indirect complaints or drama without mentioning a username, creating plausible deniability while signaling meaning to those "in the know”

True or false: Marwick & boyd argue that traditional American legal privacy models are centered on liberal selfhood, where privacy is treated as an individual right and harms are measured by individual impacts.

True

According to Ann Cavoukian's Privacy by Design , what does Principle 2 ("Privacy as the Default Setting") specify?

Personal data is automatically protected in any system without requiring the individual to take any action

True or false: Ann Cavoukian's Principle 4 ("Full Functionality") advocates for a zero-sum approach where privacy and security are treated as competing goals that require trade-offs.

False

In the European Union video Privacy & Social Media , when does personal data collection on an individual typically begin?

Before they are conscious of it, starting when parents take and upload photos of them online

In the BBC podcast Anonymity , what online habit did Australian radio producer Natalie Kesticher describe, where she consumed others' digital posts without leaving any personal trace or digital footprint?

Lurking (acting like "the mollusk")

True or false: According to soap opera script editor Pamela in the BBC podcast Anonymity , traditional TV soap operas create personal discontent, whereas Facebook feeds create harmless fantasy.

False

In Marwick & boyd's study, how did 18-year-old Mikalah maintain privacy on Facebook from government caseworkers who monitored her online activity?

By deactivating her account every morning and reactivating it at night to chat with friends

True or false: According to Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Privacy by Design (PbD) replaces Fair Information Practices (FIPs) and invalidates the Global Privacy Standard (GPS).

False

In Networked Privacy , what occurs during "context collapse"?

Distinct audiences and social norms collide in a single space, causing posts to be seen by unintended recipients

True or false: In the EU video Privacy & Social Media , social media platforms can track a user's browsing behavior across external websites even when the user is logged out of their social media profile.

True

Alison Hearn refers to online rating, ranking, and sharing feedback as core elements of the:

Reputation economy

What does Alison Hearn call the social media intelligence specialists, aggregators, listeners, and statisticians who mine user feedback and structure online feelings into corporate profit?

Feeling-intermediaries

True or false: Alison Hearn notes that marketing consultant Tara Hunt uses the term "Whuffie" (borrowed from sci-fi writer Cory Doctorow) interchangeably with "social capital" to describe an indispensable new form of online currency.

True

According to Alison Hearn, why do over 99% of eBay ratings and online reviews hover at overwhelmingly positive averages (e.g., 4.3 out of 5)?

Market-driven reciprocity ("if I rate you high, you'll rate me high") and an enforced "smiley-faced" service ethos

According to the Center for Humane Technology's Attention Economy guide, how much more engagement do posts containing "moral-emotional words" achieve on social media compared to neutral posts?

17–24% more per word

True or false: In The Attention Economy , author Cathy O'Neil states that algorithms are objective mathematical formulas completely free from human bias or commercial interest.

False

In Shoshana Zuboff's quote featured in The Attention Economy , what do social media companies ultimately sell to businesses in surveillance capitalism?

Certainty (guaranteed predictions of human behavior based on massive data collection)

True or false: In PBS FRONTLINE's Generation Like , Douglas Rushkoff notes that in contrast to 2001 ( Merchants of Cool ), modern teens do not need to be chased down by corporate marketers; they put themselves online and act as marketers for brands.

True

In Generation Like , what happened when fan Ceili Lynch spent 4 to 5 hours a day retweeting and sharing content for The Hunger Games ?

She earned virtual badges and "sparks" on a website, performing unpaid fan labor for the studio

In Generation Like , what is Oliver Luckett's company The Audience ?

A talent agency, publisher, and network that manages and monetizes social media profiles for celebrities and influencers

True or false: In Generation Like , Douglas Rushkoff observes that traditional notions of "selling out" as an artistic compromise have largely vanished among youth, with corporate brand sponsorships now viewed as a sign of prestige and success.

True

In Generation Like , entrepreneur Brian Wong created Kiip , an ad network that targets users with corporate rewards during:

"Moments" of achievement in apps (e.g., finishing a workout or leveling up in a game)

True or false: According to Alison Hearn, the "branded self" refers to an entity that works and, at the same time, points to itself working, using self-promotion as a form of affective labor to garner attention and reputation

True

In The Attention Economy , which four technological capabilities distinguish social media platforms from traditional broadcast media (like TV and billboards)?

Artificial Intelligence, 24/7 continuous influence, social control, and hyper-personalization