Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Megatrends and Media 2021: Home Officetainment, Trnava, Slovakya, 21 Nisan 2021, cilt.8, sa.27297403, ss.155-163
Political communication is prominent in its role and essential for the political system in any models of public
sovereignty. The problem of this paper is to discuss the political potential of dark social networks which can be
recognized as closed virtual spaces, where personals are selected by others and then select others. Clubhouse
seems to be a perfect subject of dark social however, the platform should be considered with the emerging ones
following its example. Any political potential and supporting feature for public sphere can be existed with
contradictions from consumer society and life-styles. First, social network platforms and Internet communities
based on them are mainly commercial and it is not possible to be sure that platform owners would not make
profit from the data obtained from users. Second, commodification prevails not only for platforms themselves
but also communication and users are commodified. The situation can be considered as a consequence of the
mediatization in late-modern societies. Looking through the current samples and depended on the critics of
modernity, this paper concludes that structural logic of dark social networks oppresses any potential for political
criticism. In this context, massive admiration for life-styles and popular culture results in celebritization and the
rise of celebritizenship against citizenship.
Key words:
Clubhouse. Concept of the Political. Consumerism. Dark Social. Digital Capitalism. Life-World. Mediatization.
Prosumption. Public Sphere