Today, platforms act as intermediaries for interpersonal communication and the infrastructure for the Internet of Things, reshaping the ways individuals connect with one another and with society. While current studies focus on platform governance, the platform economy, and platform labor, the “platformized existence” of individuals has yet to be fully explored. Examining this emerging phenomenon at the individual level entails not only reflecting upon people’s everyday mediatized life but also shifting from a functional paradigm to an existential paradigm in platform research.

At the core of media logic lies connection, accessibility, and communicability. This logic is responsible for digitizing, symbolizing, and informatizing all aspects of life, making them visible to society and subject to global scrutiny. In a deeply mediatized world, individuals themselves become platformized. Unlike traditional media, platforms integrate with individual agents in an unobtrusive manner, co-participating in social life.

Platformization denotes the process by which online platforms exert influence on various spheres of society, with individuals actively or passively involved. Research on platformization builds upon two traditions: the meso-level institutional tradition emphasizing media logic, and the micro-level social constructivist tradition examining dynamic social processes. Investigating platformized existence from the individual perspective aligns with the social constructivist tradition, studying the interaction and mutual construction between individuals and platforms.

Individuals can present themselves, interact with others, and meet their daily needs via platforms. Concurrently, platforms subtly influence users’ thoughts, behavior, and habits. Furthermore, platform users autonomously choose to create, publish, and receive content. Platforms stimulate and unlock users’ productive potential, while also deriving substantial benefits from users’ activities.

Platformized existence represents a structural mode of connection between individuals and society, continuously shaping new social relations. Platforms increasingly permeate everyday life, becoming a fundamental driving force for social construction. Platformized existence integrates content, individual, and emotional connections, constituting not only a technological upgrade but also a comprehensive reconstruction of individual subjectivity, social structures, and cognition.

The essence of platformized existence lies in the gradual dissolution of boundaries between platform practices and individuals’ daily lives, extending and reconstructing both the existential value and modes of existence for individuals. The core logic of the internet is connection, and with technological advancements, individuals can now access boundless interactive networks through online platforms anytime and anywhere. This platformization of individuals is thus characterized by “never losing touch” and “ubiquitous connections.”

Platformized existence also involves the reproduction of individual identities and social roles. Digital identities are shaped on platforms and continuously optimized and presented through algorithmic selection and recommendations. Such digital identities are not merely part of self-presentation but also function as bridges for individuals to establish connections with society. Through platforms, individuals can autonomously seek out, establish, and create new connections, engaging in social interactions in the physical world while simultaneously reconstructing social relationships in virtual space. In doing so, they challenge the constraints of power and relationships within traditional social structures.

On a deeper level, platformized existence reflects the increasing complexity of social systems and the reconstruction of individual subjectivity within networked societies. Platforms redefine the relationship between individuals and society. On platforms, individuals no longer exist in isolation but become nodes within social systems, forming a highly complex network through continuous connection and interaction. Within this network, the value of an individual lies not only in their ability to connect with others or access information, but also in their potential influence and expansiveness as network nodes.

This signifies the emergence of a new value system for individuals. Platforms, through data and algorithms, endow individuals with unprecedented agency and creativity in the digital world. Platforms are not only places where resources converge, but also spaces where individual identities and social relations develop. Within these spaces, individuals continually enhance their social value through connection and interaction, extending their capabilities and becoming creators and agents of change in a symbiotic network of technology and society.

In summary, platformized existence represents a profound transformation of individual modes of being and social structures in the digital age, signifying the emergence of a new existential logic that transcends the boundaries of the real and the virtual worlds.

Zhang Xiuli is a professor at Xi’an Fanyi University. Li Yusi is a research fellow from the Institute of Communication and Global Public Opinion at Xi’an International Studies University.