David B. Nieborg

Hot off the press: Chris J Young, Daniel J Joseph and @nieborg.bsky.social trace a platform historiography of #Unity to discuss how workflows create dexterous corporate lockins in cultural production journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... enjoy!

Another kind review of our work by Andreas Rauscher about @nieborg.bsky.social and my book! For those who speak German, this may be a good one for you: mediarep.org/server/api/c...

👋👋

New on H-Sci-Med-Tech:

Check out Gabriel Antúnez De Mayolo Kou (UWisconsin-La Crosse)‬’s review of @nieborg.bsky.social (@utoronto.ca‬) & @maxwellfoxman.bsky.social‬ (@uoregon.bsky.social‬)’s book _Mainstreaming & Game Journalism_ (2023) @mitpress.bsky.social

Review avail @hnetreviews.bsky.social

Special issue introduction: reflecting on TikTok creators and digital economies From global trends to record-breaking growth, TikTok provides new playgrounds for popular culture, low barrier participation in public life, and new forces of creator labour that are reshaping cult...

ICYMI: the special issue "on TikTok creators and digital economies" in which Kaushar Mahetaji and I have a paper on TikTok's historical development as "platform tool" is out now. Here's the introduction: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... (& here's our paper: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....)

In our new article with @producing2power.bsky.social, we examine the tensions and labor dynamics faced by Latin American influencers working in the U.S. Published in the @ijcs-journal.bsky.social.

Read Jim’s book! Short review is it’s very good if you’re interested in game tools!

Dear universities,

I am begging you to stop requiring letters of recommendation for master's programmes. You and I both know you don't read them, so stop asking for them.

Instead, have applicants list a name and get in touch if it's a borderline case.

Signed,
Everyone.

The Hidden Dangers of Eliminating Taxes on Tips | Opinion Instead of holding consumers accountable for sharing their data responsibly as privacy laws currently do, we must hold platform companies and our government accountable for the responsible stewardship...

"No taxes on tips" was supposed to help low-wage workers, but because of the platforms used for tipping and Trump's steamrolling of data protections, it may instead
have dire consequences for them.

@hannahwohl.bsky.social, Lindsey Cameron, & I in Newsweek today. tinyurl.com/yc27dah7

This is really great, and a good reminder to every academic to always resist saying the reason your own research matters is because ‘no one else has done it’. It’s almost certainly wrong and, even if true, not a good reason for doing it being worthwhile.

🎺🎺 New draft paper 🎺🎺

From Murdoch to Musk: Social media ownership and the political economy of platform content governance

The question is simple: who owns the major social media companies, and how do these owners influence content governance outcomes?

osf.io/preprints/os...

Timely!

I look forward to read this!

It's official. I've been promoted to Full Professor at @uoft.bsky.social! Grateful to all those who made this happen.

💥 New article: Labour and migration in the games industry: circulation of workers and struggles across Brazilian and British contexts, with André Campos Rocha and Jamie Woodcock in Globalizations journal.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Tip for PhD applicants reaching out to prospective advisors: Don’t use an LLM to write these emails. It’s not a great first impression to express your admiration for a recent paper the faculty member published if that paper does not exist.

Frisian! ❤️

Analyzing institutional platform power: Evolving relations of dependence in the mobile digital advertising ecosystem - David B Nieborg, Thomas Poell, 2025 This article calls for systematic analysis of the accumulation and exercise of institutional platform power in the digital economy. We examine how the relativel...

Just out! Open access article with @nieborg.bsky.social on "Analyzing institutional platform power" journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... #power #platforms #digital #bigtech Preparing the ground for our book on Platform Power!