Interaction and Risk: A Study on the “Communicative Figurations” Power of Short Videos in a Deeply Mediated Society
Abstract
Based on the context of a deeply mediatized society, this paper examines how short videos reshape social communication and trigger potential risks from the perspective of three dimensions of "Communicative Figurations". The study finds that at the thematic framework dimension, the visual narrative logic of short videos promotes the transfer of power relations to the sensory level; at the actor network dimension, multiple nodes such as algorithms, users, and institutions form a new type of interactive network; at the communication practice dimension, embodied behaviors such as "checking-in" reconstruct individuals' spatial experience of the integration of virtuality and reality. The research indicates that while the "Communicative Figurations" of short videos expand connections, they also change the operational mechanism of social power. For instance, the priority of senses over rational cognition, the dissolution of public order dominated by algorithms, and the reshaping of reality perception through the integration of virtuality and reality all require dialectical examination.
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