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  4. Vol 6, Issue 4, 2025

Spatial Production from a Media Perspective: How Social Platforms Constructs "Check-in Culture"

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DOI: 10.23977/mediacr.2025.060404 | Downloads: 6 | Views: 241

Author(s)

Yulin Wu 1

Affiliation(s)

1 School of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author

Yulin Wu

ABSTRACT

In the context of digital media, the "reproduction" logic of social platforms on social space has derived "check-in culture". This paper focuses on analyzing the generation logic of "check-in culture" from the perspective of mediatization theory, and analyzes the impact of "check-in culture" on user communication practice, social capital, and cultural capital commodification from three dimensions of interaction. The study shows that in the spatial domain, online check-ins "reproduce" concrete space, interweaving reality and virtuality, but also making urban landscapes converge; in the temporal domain, the "presence" logic of the media strengthens the "synchronous presence" of online check-ins. Under the influence of the platform storage and push mechanism, the "past tense" of check-ins can be continuously circulated, becoming the eternal presence of "moments", making personal memory a cultural product controlled by algorithms; in the data domain, check-in behavior is digitized by the platform and incorporated into the traffic distribution system. The user's communication practice is subject to the allocation of visible resources. High-influence users and brands have the advantage of information dissemination, while the expression space of ordinary users is limited.

KEYWORDS

Mediatization, Online Check-In, Spatial Production, Algorithm

CITE THIS PAPER

Yulin Wu, Spatial Production from a Media Perspective: How Social Platforms Constructs "Check-in Culture". Media and Communication Research (2025) Vol. 6: 29-40. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/mediacr.2025.060404.

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