The cultural ecology of social media

Most research on social media considers them as supports for information transmission, explaining online success (and pathologies) by focusing on consumers’ biases and interests. This article takes a different perspective, applying ideas from an ecological approach to culture. Success online depends both on the intrinsic appeal of content to receivers and on how well content serves producers’ strategic goals within the constraints and affordances of specific platforms. These goals include reputation management, coalition building and identity management, and coordination or participation in shared activities. Transmission is often a by-product of these motivations, and replication fidelity plays a limited role compared with transformations that adapt content to local incentives. Finally, the article suggests that platforms and communities can be understood as distinct niches, each characterised by different audience structures, affordances, metrics, and algorithmic pressures. This perspective reframes persistent debates on social media dynamics, including misinformation, radicalisation and polarisation, and the reasons behind online success.

Acerbi, A. (2026), The cultural ecology of social media, Evolutionary Human Sciences, 8, e24