Platforming Intersectionality: Networked Solidarity and the Limits of Corporate Social Media

Abstract

How do historically marginalized narratives spread on social media platforms? Developing research in collaboration with intersectional artists and community, or what we call “platforming intersectionality,” can reveal the promise and limitations of social media for bridging disparate, segregated communities, or “networked solidarity.” Using case studies of indie TV series about historically marginalized communities, we show that intersectionality can spread on corporate social media platforms, but the causes are largely visible outside of platforms, both online and offline. Basic conditions for spreading intersectional narratives may be met when the language used to describe them are simply communicated in ways algorithms and users can quickly understand. However, community members, including artists and publishers who produce for specific communities online and offline, serve as critical, under-appreciated nodes platforms leverage to spread intersectionality. We argue that reconceptualizing platforms as community-based media provides a better framework for understanding the power and limits of social media.