Ben Jacobsen and David Beer, Social Media and the Automatic Production of Memory: Classification, Ranking and the Sorting of the Past – Bristol University Press, April 2021

Social media platforms hold vast amounts of biographical data about our lives. They repackage our past content as ‘memories’ and deliver them back to us. But how does that change the way we remember? 

Drawing on original qualitative research as well as industry documents and reports, this book critically explores the process behind this new form of memory making. In asking how social media are beginning to change the way we remember, it will be essential reading for scholars and students who are interested in understanding the algorithmically defined spaces of our lives.

“This book illuminates how our memories are formatted by the interfaces of social media. Jacobsen and Beer have written an insightful analysis of what ‘technologies of memory’ look like in data-driven societies.” José van Dijck, Utrecht University

“Jacobsen and Beer’s book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the automatic production of memory on social media. This book is one to be remembered and revisited time and again.” Taina Bucher, University of Oslo.