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    Published: 2019-02-041
    Vol. 1 No. 14 (2018)

    Reasons for the Popularity of Online Social Networking and Gossip Services

    Sebastian Dawid Kotuła
    Media - Culture - Social Communication
    Section: Articles
    https://doi.org/10.31648/mkks.2953

    Abstract

    With the advent of the Internet model known as Web 2.0, social media was born and, along with it, social networking and gossip services. Online social networking and gossip sites are steadily gaining in popularity, which results in the establishment of new ones, as well as continuing high rankings in their position (high number of visits). For many Internet users, they are the primary sources of information and, at the same time, they are also the most important social spaces for communication. The unceasing popularity of these kinds of sites has led to formulation of the question: where does this popularity come from? To answer this question, the works of psychologist Michael Tomasello were used. More specifically, the theory of cumulative cultural evolution and the main aspect of it, i.e. understanding relational categories. Eventually, it became possible to present the following conclusions. From social networking services, Internet users learn what is related to their life and growth, therefore they learn about friends, colleagues and relatives (relations to the subjects). From gossip services, Internet users learn about adventures and random events from the lives of famous people and celebrities. Learning about them, they carry out the experience of the everyday life of a star (the material and emotional sphere) on their own, thus they learn about specific objects (relations to the objects).

    Keywords:

    social networking service, gossip service, popularity, human cognition, ontogeny, relational categories

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    Citation rules

    Kotuła, S. D. (2019). Reasons for the Popularity of Online Social Networking and Gossip Services. Media - Culture - Social Communication, 1(14), 109–121. https://doi.org/10.31648/mkks.2953

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