%0 Journal Article
%T Condemned to connection? Network communitarianism in Mark Zuckerberg¡¯s ¡°Facebook Manifesto¡±
%A David Murakami Wood
%A Karina Rider
%J New Media & Society
%@ 1461-7315
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1461444818804772
%X This article considers Mark Zuckerberg¡¯s 2017 open letter titled ¡°Building Global Community¡± as a political manifesto. Published just prior to an ongoing series of scandals involving Facebook and the misuse of customer data, the letter outlines Zuckerberg¡¯s plans for the future direction of the company. Using an approach based on Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello¡¯s connexionism, combined with Benjamin Bratton¡¯s understanding of platforms and John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney¡¯s, as well as Shoshana Zuboff¡¯s, analysis of surveillance capitalism, this article argues that the letter remains significant because it constitutes a coherent statement about ubiquitous social media and the future of government in an era characterized by a global turn to authoritarianism. Evoking Japanese philosopher Hiroki Azuma¡¯s reworking of Rousseau¡¯s concept of ¡°General Will¡± in the social media age, this article warns that one of the most dangerous aspects of the Manifesto is that it might be, in some ways, correct
%K Authoritarianism
%K connexionism
%K democracy
%K Facebook
%K government
%K platform
%K social media
%K surveillance
%K Zuckerberg
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444818804772