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Réseaux magazine looks at the activities carried out on digital platforms

Published on 27 March 2019
Update on 26 September 2022
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Summary

The journal Réseaux had published in 2018 (n°212) a series of contributions devoted to activities carried out on digital platforms. The journal continues in 2019 (n°213) the exploration of these activities, focusing on those related to cultural products and media.

Through these two dossiers, the journal seeks to account for "the work and power of platforms (in their ability to establish frameworks, draw categories, shape relationships, guide remuneration) and the commitment of participants in platform activities, which must be restored in a broader set of meanings and activities.

Platformization of the world

In a long introduction, at the opening of these two files, Jean-Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy, architects of these two special issues, endeavor to define this notion of "digital platform".

"The term platform has enjoyed considerable success in analyses of the development of digital infrastructures and the digitization of society. It is now used interchangeably to describe a wide variety of technical systems and economic actors, from social media to operating systems, from application stores to marketplaces. The flexibility and polysemy of the concept have also ensured that it is widely used in the various social science disciplines concerned with the digital world.  

Initially focused on social media, the platform research program has now been transposed to describe the new generation of platforms, focused on the exchange of goods and services, whose number and uses have exploded in recent years. " A very large number of activities have recently been "platformed": the sale of second-hand objects, which has benefited from the growth of generalist or specialized platforms that have taken over from eBay; the sharing of journeys; the rental of goods and objects between individuals; the exchange of services for small jobs, whether paid or not; meal delivery; immaterial services (graphic design, computer work, writing); etc.

Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy distinguish three main types of analysis.

  • The first perspective is in line with the development of social media and self-publishing.
  • The second, articulated around the terms "sharing economy" or "collaborative consumption", emphasizes the generalization of ordinary mutual aid and sharing activities, the scaling up of horizontal exchange practices distinct from ordinary consumption gestures; it highlights the opportunities offered by the change in scale of practices, in terms of people's capacities as well as in terms of reducing the ecological footprint.
  • As for the analysts of the "gig-economy" or the "on-demand economy", they rather emphasize " the formatting of contributors' activity by platforms. They denounce the exploitation of work set up by platforms, the competition between participants and with traditional employees, and the market distortion of platform activities.
None of these three narratives, according to Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy, is a satisfactory account of the platformization of the world. "The empirical studies that have been carried out on this or that platform show that platforms often have contradictory characteristics. Depending on the case and on the social world in which they develop, the shaping of activities will be more or less strong and constraining, the competition more or less intense, the capacities for action more or less well distributed. There is not a single movement for the formalisation of the world, but several competing movements, driven by different actors and users.

Activities on digital platforms (No. 212)

Anne Aguiléra, Laetitia Dablanc and Alain Rallet, in this first dossier, study the emblematic case of bicycle couriers. The originality of this article is to present a global analysis of this activity and to rely on a survey carried out with couriers on their working conditions.

Pauline Barraud de Lagerie and Luc Sigalo Santos take a look at micro-work. Rather than revisiting Amazon's Mechanical Turk case, they chose to study the French case of Foule Factory. "What was originally a space for mutual aid has become a space for online sociability, where people are all the more willing to spend time as tasks are lacking. But this pleasure of conversing online, while it seems very real, also serves the interests of the platform, which thus always has "fouleurs" available.

Bruno Chaves Ferreira, Anne Jourdain and Sidonie Naulin studied platforms for hobbyists or pluriactives who present handmade objects on Etsy or come to make a meal at home (La Belle Assiette). " These two platforms are characterized, like many others, by strong inequalities in activities and income. The classic power law noted by many studies on online cultural practices applies again here."

The originality of the survey conducted by Adrien Bailly and Florent Boudot-Antoine on a car rental platform (OuiCar) and another one for lending objects (Mutum) is to show that, " for the exchange to take place, it is necessary for the two partners to go beyond, distort and transgress the framework established by the platform.

Thomas Jammet was interested in the managers in charge of animating fan communities on behalf of brands. " These professionals in charge of animating these communities are always torn between the fickleness of fans who are far from having the same attachment to a brand as music fans and their dependence on social media platforms.

Activities on digital platforms (No. 213)

Deezer or Spotify have introduced another way of listening to music, halfway between the record collection and the radio. "The great novelty of these platforms is to assist the listener in his choices with recommendation algorithms. With this new media that offers us choices adapted to the singularity of our tastes, does the reception of music become passive or, on the contrary, does it favor the autonomy of the listener? To answer this question and, more broadly, to understand the effects of platforms on cultural consumption, Jean Samuel Beuscart, Samuel Coavoux and Sisley Maillard analyzed the traces of four thousand users of a music streaming platform.

On the same subject, Sophie Maisonneuve studies more broadly, with the help of a qualitative survey, the repertoire of tools, particularly digital, that young listeners use to discover new music." This economy of discovery is not limited to digital. Digital systems are embedded in personal links and experiences, in "traditional devices and arrangements", they propose new tools that articulate with those that were already available".

About YouTube, Xavier Levoin and Bastien Louessard abandon the point of view of reception to focus on the conception of cultural products made available by the platforms. They study the emergence of new fiction directors" who use the platform as the first step of an audiovisual career, which will then lead some of them to television channels. In order to survive in this risky universe, Youtubers have to build different strategies".

The case of the video game platform studied by Mathieu Cocq stands at the junction of the previous articles by studying the articulation between a production company and the most informed gamers. "The video game industry, like the music industry, is turning into a service industry. It is no longer a question of selling goods, game boxes or CDs, but a game or music listening service. They show how the game producer tries to involve the gamers as much as possible, mobilizing the fans and the most knowledgeable gamers by involving them in the design, not only to get new ideas, but also to find there representatives of the future gamers with whom they can test their new games".

Nathalie Pignard-Cheynel and Laura Amigo were interested in the people in charge of the digital social networks of the media. " This activity refers to various tasks: highlighting certain media content, interacting with Internet users, studying the audience, and monitoring to detect new topics. The authors of the article thus identify three logics that structure those in charge of digital social networks: a logic of content gatekeeper, a participatory logic and a marketing logic. They can oppose and combine each other".

In a more general article on work on platforms, Patrice Flichy shows what makes the unity of platforms: "the presence of an algorithm to bring supply and demand together, to organize activity, the development of independent work and the participation of amateurs. Behind this common element, we find a great diversity of platforms: Patrice Flichy distinguishes between culture and knowledge platforms, crowdworking (which can take two forms, freelancing and click work), and finally the provision of on-demand services with two forms: platform-market, platform-framework. Finally, he shows that "platform work can be a really chosen job, an extra job or a job for lack of anything better. Depending on the case, it is either open work (a continuum between amateur and professional activity) or a grey area between self-employment and salaried work, between autonomy and subordination.

Marie Alauzen, finally, proposes an in-depth ethnographic study of the FranceConnect application for identification and exchange of administrative data, created to facilitate access to various public services. In particular, she studies the choice of protocols, compliance with the law and the formulation of identity. "Here, the notion of a platform state refers less to the connection of supply and demand than to the desire to unify, to create common interfaces, to facilitate access to public services for all and to assert the digital sovereignty of the French state.

Summary of issues 212 and 213 of Réseaux magazine

No. 212 of the journal Réseaux
  • Jean-Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy : Digital platforms
  • Anne Aguilera, Laetitia Dablanc and Alain Rallet: The other side of the coin of instant delivery platforms: a survey of micro-entrepreneurs in Paris
  • Pauline Barraud de Lagerie and Luc Sigalo Santos: And for a few more euros. Crowdsourcing of micro-tasks and the commodification of time
  • Bruno Chaves Ferreira, Anne Jourdain and Sidonie Naulin: Are digital platforms revolutionizing work? A web scraping approach of Etsy and La Belle Assiette platforms
  • Adrien Bailly and Florent Boudot-Antoine: Reinforcement and transgression of the digital intermediation framework. The case of peer-to-peer access
  • Thomas Jammet: The activity of community management to the test of the algorithmic architecture of the social web
Summary of the issue 213 of the journal Réseaux (2019/1)
  • Jean-Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy : Presentation
  • Jean-Samuel Beuscart, Samuel Coavoux, Sisley Maillard, et al: Music recommendation algorithms and listener autonomy. Analysis of the listening of a panel of streaming users
  • Sophie Maisonneuve: The economy of musical discovery in the digital age. A revolution in amateur practices?
  • Xavier Levoin, Bastien Louessard: The displacement of uncertainty at the heart of the (re)configuration of a channel. The case of fiction on YouTube
  • Mathieu Cocq: The organization and exploitation of players' work. The case of the Sword project
  • Nathalie Pignard-Cheynel, Laura Amigo: The charge of socio-numerical networks within the media. Between gatekeeping, marketing and participative logics
  • Patrice Flichy: Platform work. An ambivalent activity
  • Marie Alauzen: The platform state and the digital identification of users. The FranceConnect design process

Réseaux magazine looks at the activities carried out on digital platforms

The journal Réseaux had published in 2018 (n°212) a series of contributions devoted to activities carried out on digital platforms. The journal continues in 2019 (n°213) the exploration of these activities, focusing on those related to cultural products and media.

Through these two dossiers, the journal seeks to account for "the work and power of platforms (in their ability to establish frameworks, draw categories, shape relationships, guide remuneration) and the commitment of participants in platform activities, which must be restored in a broader set of meanings and activities.

Platformization of the world

In a long introduction, at the opening of these two files, Jean-Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy, architects of these two special issues, endeavor to define this notion of "digital platform".

"The term platform has enjoyed considerable success in analyses of the development of digital infrastructures and the digitization of society. It is now used interchangeably to describe a wide variety of technical systems and economic actors, from social media to operating systems, from application stores to marketplaces. The flexibility and polysemy of the concept have also ensured that it is widely used in the various social science disciplines concerned with the digital world.  

Initially focused on social media, the platform research program has now been transposed to describe the new generation of platforms, focused on the exchange of goods and services, whose number and uses have exploded in recent years. " A very large number of activities have recently been "platformed": the sale of second-hand objects, which has benefited from the growth of generalist or specialized platforms that have taken over from eBay; the sharing of journeys; the rental of goods and objects between individuals; the exchange of services for small jobs, whether paid or not; meal delivery; immaterial services (graphic design, computer work, writing); etc.

Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy distinguish three main types of analysis.

  • The first perspective is in line with the development of social media and self-publishing.
  • The second, articulated around the terms "sharing economy" or "collaborative consumption", emphasizes the generalization of ordinary mutual aid and sharing activities, the scaling up of horizontal exchange practices distinct from ordinary consumption gestures; it highlights the opportunities offered by the change in scale of practices, in terms of people's capacities as well as in terms of reducing the ecological footprint.
  • As for the analysts of the "gig-economy" or the "on-demand economy", they rather emphasize " the formatting of contributors' activity by platforms. They denounce the exploitation of work set up by platforms, the competition between participants and with traditional employees, and the market distortion of platform activities.
None of these three narratives, according to Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy, is a satisfactory account of the platformization of the world. "The empirical studies that have been carried out on this or that platform show that platforms often have contradictory characteristics. Depending on the case and on the social world in which they develop, the shaping of activities will be more or less strong and constraining, the competition more or less intense, the capacities for action more or less well distributed. There is not a single movement for the formalisation of the world, but several competing movements, driven by different actors and users.

Activities on digital platforms (No. 212)

Anne Aguiléra, Laetitia Dablanc and Alain Rallet, in this first dossier, study the emblematic case of bicycle couriers. The originality of this article is to present a global analysis of this activity and to rely on a survey carried out with couriers on their working conditions.

Pauline Barraud de Lagerie and Luc Sigalo Santos take a look at micro-work. Rather than revisiting Amazon's Mechanical Turk case, they chose to study the French case of Foule Factory. "What was originally a space for mutual aid has become a space for online sociability, where people are all the more willing to spend time as tasks are lacking. But this pleasure of conversing online, while it seems very real, also serves the interests of the platform, which thus always has "fouleurs" available.

Bruno Chaves Ferreira, Anne Jourdain and Sidonie Naulin studied platforms for hobbyists or pluriactives who present handmade objects on Etsy or come to make a meal at home (La Belle Assiette). " These two platforms are characterized, like many others, by strong inequalities in activities and income. The classic power law noted by many studies on online cultural practices applies again here."

The originality of the survey conducted by Adrien Bailly and Florent Boudot-Antoine on a car rental platform (OuiCar) and another one for lending objects (Mutum) is to show that, " for the exchange to take place, it is necessary for the two partners to go beyond, distort and transgress the framework established by the platform.

Thomas Jammet was interested in the managers in charge of animating fan communities on behalf of brands. " These professionals in charge of animating these communities are always torn between the fickleness of fans who are far from having the same attachment to a brand as music fans and their dependence on social media platforms.

Activities on digital platforms (No. 213)

Deezer or Spotify have introduced another way of listening to music, halfway between the record collection and the radio. "The great novelty of these platforms is to assist the listener in his choices with recommendation algorithms. With this new media that offers us choices adapted to the singularity of our tastes, does the reception of music become passive or, on the contrary, does it favor the autonomy of the listener? To answer this question and, more broadly, to understand the effects of platforms on cultural consumption, Jean Samuel Beuscart, Samuel Coavoux and Sisley Maillard analyzed the traces of four thousand users of a music streaming platform.

On the same subject, Sophie Maisonneuve studies more broadly, with the help of a qualitative survey, the repertoire of tools, particularly digital, that young listeners use to discover new music." This economy of discovery is not limited to digital. Digital systems are embedded in personal links and experiences, in "traditional devices and arrangements", they propose new tools that articulate with those that were already available".

About YouTube, Xavier Levoin and Bastien Louessard abandon the point of view of reception to focus on the conception of cultural products made available by the platforms. They study the emergence of new fiction directors" who use the platform as the first step of an audiovisual career, which will then lead some of them to television channels. In order to survive in this risky universe, Youtubers have to build different strategies".

The case of the video game platform studied by Mathieu Cocq stands at the junction of the previous articles by studying the articulation between a production company and the most informed gamers. "The video game industry, like the music industry, is turning into a service industry. It is no longer a question of selling goods, game boxes or CDs, but a game or music listening service. They show how the game producer tries to involve the gamers as much as possible, mobilizing the fans and the most knowledgeable gamers by involving them in the design, not only to get new ideas, but also to find there representatives of the future gamers with whom they can test their new games".

Nathalie Pignard-Cheynel and Laura Amigo were interested in the people in charge of the digital social networks of the media. " This activity refers to various tasks: highlighting certain media content, interacting with Internet users, studying the audience, and monitoring to detect new topics. The authors of the article thus identify three logics that structure those in charge of digital social networks: a logic of content gatekeeper, a participatory logic and a marketing logic. They can oppose and combine each other".

In a more general article on work on platforms, Patrice Flichy shows what makes the unity of platforms: "the presence of an algorithm to bring supply and demand together, to organize activity, the development of independent work and the participation of amateurs. Behind this common element, we find a great diversity of platforms: Patrice Flichy distinguishes between culture and knowledge platforms, crowdworking (which can take two forms, freelancing and click work), and finally the provision of on-demand services with two forms: platform-market, platform-framework. Finally, he shows that "platform work can be a really chosen job, an extra job or a job for lack of anything better. Depending on the case, it is either open work (a continuum between amateur and professional activity) or a grey area between self-employment and salaried work, between autonomy and subordination.

Marie Alauzen, finally, proposes an in-depth ethnographic study of the FranceConnect application for identification and exchange of administrative data, created to facilitate access to various public services. In particular, she studies the choice of protocols, compliance with the law and the formulation of identity. "Here, the notion of a platform state refers less to the connection of supply and demand than to the desire to unify, to create common interfaces, to facilitate access to public services for all and to assert the digital sovereignty of the French state.

Summary of issues 212 and 213 of Réseaux magazine

No. 212 of the journal Réseaux
  • Jean-Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy : Digital platforms
  • Anne Aguilera, Laetitia Dablanc and Alain Rallet: The other side of the coin of instant delivery platforms: a survey of micro-entrepreneurs in Paris
  • Pauline Barraud de Lagerie and Luc Sigalo Santos: And for a few more euros. Crowdsourcing of micro-tasks and the commodification of time
  • Bruno Chaves Ferreira, Anne Jourdain and Sidonie Naulin: Are digital platforms revolutionizing work? A web scraping approach of Etsy and La Belle Assiette platforms
  • Adrien Bailly and Florent Boudot-Antoine: Reinforcement and transgression of the digital intermediation framework. The case of peer-to-peer access
  • Thomas Jammet: The activity of community management to the test of the algorithmic architecture of the social web
Summary of the issue 213 of the journal Réseaux (2019/1)
  • Jean-Samuel Beuscart and Patrice Flichy : Presentation
  • Jean-Samuel Beuscart, Samuel Coavoux, Sisley Maillard, et al: Music recommendation algorithms and listener autonomy. Analysis of the listening of a panel of streaming users
  • Sophie Maisonneuve: The economy of musical discovery in the digital age. A revolution in amateur practices?
  • Xavier Levoin, Bastien Louessard: The displacement of uncertainty at the heart of the (re)configuration of a channel. The case of fiction on YouTube
  • Mathieu Cocq: The organization and exploitation of players' work. The case of the Sword project
  • Nathalie Pignard-Cheynel, Laura Amigo: The charge of socio-numerical networks within the media. Between gatekeeping, marketing and participative logics
  • Patrice Flichy: Platform work. An ambivalent activity
  • Marie Alauzen: The platform state and the digital identification of users. The FranceConnect design process

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Réseaux magazine looks at the activities carried out on digital platforms