Popular Communication Overview

Principles

Definition

Popular communication is an academic concept and interdisciplinary research field that examines the production, circulation, and reception of meanings, messages, and cultural forms within broad publics and everyday social life. It investigates the role of mass media, popular culture, and informal interactions in shaping cultural practices, social identities, and power relations, offering critical perspectives on the dynamics of widely shared communication phenomena.

Ontological type

Core Theories

Power and Ideology

Digital Media Practices

Key developments

Key Figures

Methodological Pluralism era

Emanuel A. Schegloff [1] was associated with the University of California, Los Angeles [3] and the University of California System [4] during this era. A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation [7] offered a rigorous, interactional approach to discourse that anchored the era's methodological pluralism. George Gerbner [2] anchored media effects research with the University of Pennsylvania [5] and Philadelphia University [6], producing Living with Television: The Violence Profile [8], Charting the Mainstream: Television's Contributions to Political Orientations [9], and The Many Worlds of the World's Press [10]. These works exemplify the era's integration of cross-method analyses and audience-centered inquiry across rhetoric, sociolinguistics, and media studies.

Participatory Interaction era

Joseph B. Walther [1] is a prominent communications scholar associated with Northwestern University [3] and Cornell University [4] during the Participatory Interaction era. His key contributions, as evidenced by Computer-Mediated Communication [7], Anticipated Ongoing Interaction Versus Channel Effects on Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction [9], and The Impacts of Emoticons on Message Interpretation in Computer-Mediated Communication [8], helped articulate how people form relationships and interpret textual cues in online settings, foundational for understanding social presence and self-presentation in networked communities. Katelyn Y. A. McKenna [2] is a scholar tied to New York College of Health Professions [5] and New York University [6] during this era. Her contributions, as reflected in Plan 9 From Cyberspace: The Implications of the Internet for Personality and Social Psychology [10] and Relationship Formation on the Internet: What’s the Big Attraction? [11], advanced understanding of how online environments shape personality expression and relationship formation, underscoring the era’s focus on online identity, social connection, and community practices.

Platformization and Algorithms era

Alice Marwick [1] is associated with Princeton University [3] and Duke University [4] in this era. Her key contributions, exemplified by the papers 'I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience' [7] and 'Instafame: Luxury Selfies in the Attention Economy' [8], illuminate how platform-driven visibility and imagined audiences shape performative self-presentation and engagement in this era of platformization and algorithms. danah boyd [2] is associated with Harvard University [5] and University of California, Berkeley [6] in this era. Her work in this era is reflected in the paper 'I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience' [7], which identifies context collapse and imagined audiences as central to platform publics and as driving factors shaping moderation and public discourse within platformized communication.