[ecrea] New book: Social Media and Everyday Politics

I am delighted to announce the publication of my first book, Social 
Media and Everyday Politics, out now in paperback and hardback in the 
UK, Europe, and Australia through Polity (with the ebook and US release 
to come in the next months). Publication details can be found at 
Polity's site: http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745691343 -- the 
paperback especially is available at a pretty decent price of US$25, and 
for orders through the publisher's site 
(http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0745691358.html) 
there is a 20% discount available using the code PY720.

While this is, clearly, a book about social media and politics, it’s not 
just about politicians and elections and Twitter and blogs – after 
all, there’s far more to both 'social media' and 'politics' than just 
those topics. Rather, here's the blurb:

"From selfies and memes to hashtags and parodies, social media are used 
for mundane and personal expressions of political commentary, 
engagement, and participation. The coverage of politics reflects the 
social mediation of everyday life, where individual experiences and 
thoughts are documented and shared online.

In Social Media and Everyday Politics, Tim Highfield examines political 
talk as everyday occurrences on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Tumblr, 
Instagram, and more. He considers the personal and the political, the 
serious and the silly, and the everyday within the extraordinary, as 
politics arises from seemingly banal and irreverent topics. The analysis 
features international examples and evolving practices, from French 
blogs to Vine loops from Australia, via the Arab Spring, Occupy, 
#JeSuisCharlie, Eurovision, #BlackLivesMatter, Everyday Sexism, and 
#illridewithyou.

This timely book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars 
in media and communications, internet studies, and political science, as 
well as general readers keen to understand our contemporary media and 
political contexts."

And reviews:
"Politics is personal and the personal is political. As new media 
platforms enhance our ability to express ourselves and connect with 
others, everyday politics are performed in public spheres interconnected 
by social media. Tim Highfield makes this abundantly clear in Social 
Media and Everyday Politics, a must read volume for those interested in 
how the language, the practice, and the meaning of political expression 
evolve in contemporary societies. His approach offers rich theoretical 
terms, methodological insight, and analytical rigor to our understanding 
of how social media reorganize political realities." -- Zizi 
Papacharissi, University of Illinois at Chicago

"This is an excellent book. It is comprehensive and up-to-date. It is a 
great introduction to social media in general – but especially delivers 
handsomely on its topic of everyday politics and social media. The range 
of examples and cases are terrific and well-analysed. I especially like 
the authorial voice; grounded, funny, lively, sharp." -- Gerard Goggin, 
University of Sydney

I have also put up additional information on my website, including 
Amazon and Book Depository listings, and more: 
http://timhighfield.net/?page_id=670

If you're going to ICA in Japan in June, too, I will be there with the 
book for its first major public appearance (with more to come)!

I hope it's an interesting and useful read (and entertaining, too), and 
I look forward to any feedback and thoughts.


Dr Tim Highfield
Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow, Digital Media
Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, 
Brisbane, Australia
(t.highfield /at/ qut.edu.au) | timhighfield.net | @timhighfield

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