Traffic media: How algorithmic imaginations and practices change content production

Abstract

This study aims to explore the algorithmic imaginations and related practices of China’s independent content providers by situating them in the interaction network in relation to other actors, including algorithms, platforms, peers, and legacy media professionals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 informants who were experienced in traffic media, which are new media platforms that rely on traffic as their business model and control traffic through algorithmic technologies and policies. Through contrasting independent content creators to legacy media professionals and platform employees, the analysis showed that the content providers shared the normative expectation that algorithms should direct traffic based on their content although they were usually surprised or disappointed. They considered that the function of algorithms was a classifying and disciplining mechanism that exerted power through the distribution of traffic. They chose to “play with” or “please” algorithms by using individual or collective tactics. The relationships between their imaginations and their agency, as well as the fundamental limitations imposed by the Chinese state, are also discussed. An era of traffic media is argued to have emerged, and the network of power relations has evolved.