What Is the Value of Cultural Analytics? Discerning Value in Digital Environments

Abstract

How do we measure the contribution of online content creators toward our social fabric, particularly when platforms use bespoke measurement systems? Embedded in the value theory and social media visibility literature, this article provides an overview of the variety of metrics currently available within our everyday platformization experiences. In doing so, this article explores how metrics can move toward a system that engages cultural analytics to better understand our digital media environment. These insights have implications for online content creators, agencies who manage those creators, cultural institutions, and the digital intermediation processes that determine cultural production. With a better-informed measurement system for online content creation within digital media environments, policy makers are also better equipped to begin to answer emerging regulatory questions around generative AI practices to reflect important societal issues of our time, not just those that are “popular” or “visible.”