Dissecting the Gatekeepers : Relational Perspectives on the Power of Search Engines

• The paper engages in an in-depth discussion of the search engine Google, focusing on its relationship to webmasters and users. Attempts by webmasters to game the ranking system in order to boost the position of their websites are met by Google with a subtle combination of rewards and punishment. It is argued that this strategy involves the establishment of a disciplinary regime that enforces a certain norm for web publishing. Google’s relationship to the users, on the other hand, is characterized by less invasive forms of power. By inserting itself deeply into the users’ information environment, Google can collect and analyze unprecedented amounts of user data. It is argued that the modeling of segmented consumption behavior that these schemes are based upon involves a governmental form of power. It is a kind of power that aims at controlling differential behavior patterns by gaining an intimate statistical knowledge of a population and using this knowledge as a means of predictive risk management.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Medievetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Media Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Communication Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik med samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Systems, Social aspects (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Google

Governmentality

Actor-Network-Theory

Agency

Database

Media and Communication Studies

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Computer Science

Datavetenskap

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kap (subject category)