Bridging the distance: The agencement of complex affordances on social media platforms

Abstract

This research focuses on the actualization of technological affordances in complex technological environments, such as social media, where in addition to human and material agents, algorithmic agents also proliferate. Unlike material agents, algorithmic agents can act in the absence of proximal instigation by human agents, and can influence the actions of other agents distanced in space and time. By borrowing from actor-network theory, this paper foregrounds the role of algorithmic agents in the actualization of complex affordances by advertisers on a social media platform. It is illustrated that a complex affordance is actualized through an agencement, that is, a collective enactment of heterogeneous agencies. Through such an enactment, human agents are able to act at a distance too. This research highlights that in addition to material features of the user-interface, the underlying algorithms of a complex technology also partake in the actualization of affordances.