“We Can Remember It for You”: Location, Memory, and Commodification in Social Networking Sites

Abstract

This article explores the spatial self through the performative aspects of location sharing and geotagging in the process of self-representation on social networking sites (SNSs). Based on the legacy of early experimentations with location-based technologies for social interaction, the article asserts that the representation of location in SNSs has more temporal than spatial attributes. The article explores the immediacy of networks and the different kinds of temporality encountered in SNSs to address the commodification of geotagged content uploaded on SNSs. Location-based data are valuable commodities bought and sold in the market. Therefore, the act of archiving memories on SNSs is commodified and performed within the predetermined functions and actions set within the SNSs' interfaces. SNSs devise ways to keep users constantly interacting with the present moment in time and simultaneously create memories of the recent past while disclosing personal data that companies use for profit.

From Place-Memories to Active Citizenship: The Potential of Geotagged User-Generated Content for Memory Scholarship

“…Scholars have identified a shift in the evolution of locative media from an initial phase aimed at encouraging agency in the physical space, to recent practices of performing presence and building personal identities (Drakopoulou 2017). We argue however that this performative process of identity building through geolocative features on social media also inevitably contributes to place-making through personal narratives even though this might not be the main aim for the users.…”

“…We argue however that this performative process of identity building through geolocative features on social media also inevitably contributes to place-making through personal narratives even though this might not be the main aim for the users. If we assume that geotagged images contribute to the ongoing formation of personal digital archives of the recent past (Drakopoulou 2017), then a question about the specificities of the geotag as an organisational logic must follow. Indeed, our investigation was also guided by the hypothesis that retrieval possibilities anchored to specific locations could play differently than other components of the metadata.…”

Performing the Digital Self

“…(2) Conceptualized the locations marked by user moments in a chronologically recursive fashion, in order to reinforce the spatial and temporal dimensions that contribute to the reflective narrative and performances of a person's self-identity [34]. (3) Acknowledged GeoMoments as durational objects of "mediated memory" and treated user-generated moments as interconnected points of reference that can shape the present by bringing forward past events and project to the future [27,33]. (4) Considered solely owned territories in the hybrid space, and per the literature we considered this manifestation of territoriality as an attempt "to influence something or someone by controlling a geographic area through the production of social space" [28,45,71], and acknowledged territorial strategies.…”

What is remembered lives: Time and the disruptive animacy of archiving AIDS on Instagram

“…Geotagging too reflects a relentless emphasis on the present. Users are encouraged to post images and share their geographic locations synchronously in real-time during activities or to depict moments that took place in the very recent past (Drakopoulou, 2017). @theaidsmemorial ’s linkage to physical AIDS memorials powerfully mobilizes geotagging to reinsert AIDS into the urban material present.…”