ABSTRACT
Through a variety of case studies and topics, employing a multiplicity of techniques and approaches within the digital methods tradition, this book has illustrated the key dimensions concerning what we have described as the platformisation of consumer culture, providing examples of how to approach this phenomenon empirically. In doing so, we have outlined what we believe is the necessary array of tools and heuristics that consumer culture scholars are required to handle and be familiar with if they wish to study consumer practices and cultures and their relationship with platforms in a non-dualistic approach (cf. Caliandro and Gandini, 2017); that is, seeing online and offline consumption practices and cultures as processes that cannot be artificially separated. Indeed, the relevance of platformisation processes in consumption studies is not limited to what happens in the online domain but demands consideration of the offline-online dimensions as a continuum of practices whereby users – aka, consumers – position themselves according to individual needs and desires, taking advantage of social media in various ways to engage with brands, products, and services.
