{"product_id":"to-know-is-to-compare-isbn-9780262545938","title":"To Know Is to Compare","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow systematic comparative research can unlock the potential of social media scholarship.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough diverse and fruitful, social media scholarship too often focuses on single platforms in single countries, disconnected from other media that people use. Mora Matassi and Pablo J. Boczkowski’s alternative approach offers a framework based on the epistemological principle that everything we know emerges from comparing two or more entities. Drawing on a wealth of real-life cases, Matassi and Boczkowski examine key aspects of social media from three comparative dimensions (nations, media, and platforms) and two topics (history and language) to propose a blueprint that encourages researchers and lay readers alike to think about social media from new perspectives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMatassi and Boczkowski illustrate their theoretical points with examples that link multiple media, illuminate an array of platforms, cover different countries and eras, and address various languages and both textual and non-textual signifiers. The result is an original conceptual account that allows for the study of social media in ways that are global, de-westernized, transmedia, and multiplatform. In addition, the authors review the major texts that use a comparative treatment and suggest topics, theories, and methods for engaging in comparative studies in the future.Acknowledgments vii\u003cbr\u003e1 Nations, Media, and Platforms 1\u003cbr\u003eI Foundations\u003cbr\u003e2 Cross-National and Regional Comparisons 19\u003cbr\u003e3 Cross-Media Comparisons 43\u003cbr\u003e4 Cross-Platform Comparisons 63\u003cbr\u003eII Pathways\u003cbr\u003e5 Histories 87\u003cbr\u003e6 Languages 113\u003cbr\u003e7 Blurred Genres, Trading Zones, and Heterogeneous Inquiries 139\u003cbr\u003eNotes 159\u003cbr\u003eReferences 165\u003cbr\u003eIndex 203“Matassi and Boczkowski’s comparative insights from around the world invite us to contemplate new and ambitious pathways for social media research.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics, author of \u003ci\u003eParenting for a Digital Future\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“An innovative, much needed perspective on comparative media research and how it should be done.”\u003cbr\u003e­\u003cb\u003e—José van Dijck, Utrecht University, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Platform Society\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“The authors deftly systematize the 'comparative imagination'. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand - and change - our complex mediated world.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Rodney Benson, New York University, author of \u003ci\u003eShaping Immigration News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Innovative in approach and accessible in style, this book amplifies research engaged with the major questions in the field and our worlds.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Amanda D. Lotz, Queensland University of Technology, author of \u003ci\u003eMedia Disrupted\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press)\u003c\/b\u003eMora Matassi is a PhD candidate in Media, Technology, and Society at Northwestern University. Pablo J. Boczkowski is Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304903725285,"sku":"NP9780262545938","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262545938.jpg?v=1767742707","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/to-know-is-to-compare-isbn-9780262545938","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}