The Platformization of Creative Labour on Social Media

Nkululeko’s research focuses on the environment platformization has fostered for digital content production and consumption while questioning the effects this process has on artistic expression and creativity. Content creation, as a profession, is the direct result of the monetisation of content as well as the commodification of user data extracted by platforms and advertisers. Thus, content creation is an integral part of the ‘big data’ ecosystem that enables and furthers the quantified human experience also known as datafication. Additionally, this research is interested in the manner in which creators navigate their relationships with social media platforms considering the opacity of how the recommendation algorithm operates and the unilateral decision-making power of the platform. This suggests that social media platforms behave less like intermediaries and more like arbiters who control the interactions among their various stakeholders. Lastly, the study interrogates the perception content creators have of the algorithm and their experience of algorithmic management, by studying their content as well as the process of making said content.