Re-Configuring Participation and Engagement in Social Media-Mediated Co-creation

This paper explores how participation in co-creation is reconfigured in online environments, building on the initial premise that the design of social media facilitates specific forms of engagement. Today’s engagement with stakeholders in the design process entails a socio-technical assemblage of various entities, encompassing not only the heterogeneity of stakeholders and decision-making processes but also technological mediation and interpersonal dynamics that are generated and reinforced therein. Apprehending how social technologies afford participation is the first step in infrastructuring for co-creation that utilizes social media for group communication. This study examines a community design process that took place in a group chat room through the lens of small stories and social network analysis. Three dimensions of participation and engagement—exercising agency through programmed modes, developing interpersonal dynamics, and reflecting based on data—that are facilitated by the design of the group chat room are defined. Critically unpacking the design of social technologies and the mediated interactions can inform design practitioners on how to better leverage group chat infrastructure and effectively facilitate co-creation values, such as empowerment, emancipation, and mutual learning. This study seeks to offer essential insights into comprehending participation enacted through everyday social technologies and to serve as a stepping stone toward positioning active human-centred co-creation amid the rapid integration of generative AI technologies into our lives.