Periodic Reporting for period 4 - DigitalValues (The Construction of Values in Digital Spheres)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-02-01 bis 2025-07-31
Every morning, billions of people around the world check social media before brushing their teeth. They scroll through political comments and smile at cute kittens, post birthday greetings, and support charity challenges. Through each of these acts, social media users construct shared values. Broadly defined as ideas of the good, values shape our decisions, behaviors, and evaluations. However, social media users do not express values in a void. The platforms they interact on have distinct interests and promote values of their own. Principles such as affiliation and authenticity, which we identify as communication-oriented values, play a central role on digital platforms. Moreover, with major platforms operating transnationally, social media creates new entanglements between the local and global. However, until recently, we knew very little about social media values: where they are expressed, how people invoke them, and to what extent they are shared across cultures.
Six years ago, we embarked on a large-scale collaborative project to explore some of these questions. We analyzed social media content in five languages—English, German, Italian, Japanese, and Korean—across five major social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. We addressed the following overarching questions: How are values constructed through social media? Which values are emphasized in these spheres? To what extent are social media platforms associated with the globalization of values?
Throughout the project, we explored three facets of value construction:
(a) The meanings that social media users ascribe to the term “values” and its social functions in digital spheres.
(b) The explicit and implicit construction of values in popular social media genres.
(c) Users’ interpretation and evaluation of the values embedded in user-generated genres.
We aimed to fulfill three main objectives. First, we sought to develop a novel analytical framework for understanding value expression on social media, focusing on everyday communication. Second, we aimed to develop new methods for detecting and measuring values in verbal, visual, and audio-visual social media texts. Finally, we sought to use these methods to investigate the complex intersections between “local” and “global” values in digital spheres.
Six years ago, we embarked on a large-scale collaborative project to explore some of these questions. We analyzed social media content in five languages—English, German, Italian, Japanese, and Korean—across five major social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. We addressed the following overarching questions: How are values constructed through social media? Which values are emphasized in these spheres? To what extent are social media platforms associated with the globalization of values?
Throughout the project, we explored three facets of value construction:
(a) The meanings that social media users ascribe to the term “values” and its social functions in digital spheres.
(b) The explicit and implicit construction of values in popular social media genres.
(c) Users’ interpretation and evaluation of the values embedded in user-generated genres.
We aimed to fulfill three main objectives. First, we sought to develop a novel analytical framework for understanding value expression on social media, focusing on everyday communication. Second, we aimed to develop new methods for detecting and measuring values in verbal, visual, and audio-visual social media texts. Finally, we sought to use these methods to investigate the complex intersections between “local” and “global” values in digital spheres.
In October 2019, an international team of doctoral and postdoctoral fellows from Asia, Europe, and America convened at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to explore how values are constructed on social media. Using mixed methods, we traced popular genres and rituals in five languages, analyzed thousands of social media posts and hashtags, and conducted interviews, surveys, and focus groups in Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. We complemented this with analyses of platforms’ policy documents and developed a theoretical framework, identifying values relevant to social media and the overarching orientations they serve.
Our work has produced 17 publications, with more underway. Five key findings include:
1.We identified 45 values relevant to social media, spanning both general and communicative dimensions. We also distinguished broad orientations cutting across discourses—purposes that values serve in context. For example, freedom may be framed as serving the public good or self-realization. We highlighted three general orientations (do well, do good, feel good) and four communicative ones (inform, influence, bond, express) as fundamental online.
2.We found a gap between what people say and what they show. Messages about improving the world (do good) appear mainly in words, while success (do well) is expressed visually and aurally, and satisfaction (feel good) combines both. Looking beyond the explicit expression of values is important precisely because of the ubiquity and influence of non-verbal communication.
3.Despite local variations, social media platforms share core “platform values”: aesthetics, pleasure, self-presentation, affiliation, and authenticity. These transcend place and genre, reflecting the global logic of social media.
4.When evaluating content, users apply a narrow set of principles tied to communication itself. For instance, gym selfies are often disliked for seeming inauthentic. Overall, judgments hinge on whether content feels authentic, inspirational, resonant, or agreeable.
5.Our findings challenge dichotomies between “Eastern” and “Western” cultures. While localization matters, we observed collectivistic behaviors in Western contexts and individualism in Asia. For example, Koreans openly embrace self-focused “show off” genres, unlike users in other countries.
You are invited to access our publications here: https://digitalvalues.huji.ac.il/publications(öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Our work has produced 17 publications, with more underway. Five key findings include:
1.We identified 45 values relevant to social media, spanning both general and communicative dimensions. We also distinguished broad orientations cutting across discourses—purposes that values serve in context. For example, freedom may be framed as serving the public good or self-realization. We highlighted three general orientations (do well, do good, feel good) and four communicative ones (inform, influence, bond, express) as fundamental online.
2.We found a gap between what people say and what they show. Messages about improving the world (do good) appear mainly in words, while success (do well) is expressed visually and aurally, and satisfaction (feel good) combines both. Looking beyond the explicit expression of values is important precisely because of the ubiquity and influence of non-verbal communication.
3.Despite local variations, social media platforms share core “platform values”: aesthetics, pleasure, self-presentation, affiliation, and authenticity. These transcend place and genre, reflecting the global logic of social media.
4.When evaluating content, users apply a narrow set of principles tied to communication itself. For instance, gym selfies are often disliked for seeming inauthentic. Overall, judgments hinge on whether content feels authentic, inspirational, resonant, or agreeable.
5.Our findings challenge dichotomies between “Eastern” and “Western” cultures. While localization matters, we observed collectivistic behaviors in Western contexts and individualism in Asia. For example, Koreans openly embrace self-focused “show off” genres, unlike users in other countries.
You are invited to access our publications here: https://digitalvalues.huji.ac.il/publications(öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Overall, our project demonstrates the analytical power of values. Since values are central to individuals and communities, studying them reveals what people care about, moving beyond broad political dichotomies. In addition, our work makes theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions.
Theoretically, we created a framework capturing the diverse values guiding daily social media interactions. Public discussions often limit values to moral principles such as equality or altruism, but values like aesthetics and fame also play major roles in digital culture. Our framework lists general values (freedom, tradition) and communication-related values (authenticity, privacy), plus seven value orientations: three general (Do well, Do good, Feel good) and four communicative (Inform, Influence, Bond, Express). This dual structure enables both detailed and comparative analyses of online content.
Methodologically, we developed ways to detect and measure how values appear in text, images, and videos. Our approach captures both explicit and implicit communication, crucial since images and videos dominate social media. Building on our findings, we compiled a value list and guidelines adaptable to any content.
Empirically, we identified values common in popular content and those people use when evaluating it. We traced how global platforms shape local expressions, and how marketing logics influence portrayals of concepts like “freedom”—and even “values” themselves. Our findings also challenge cultural divides between “East” and “West,” or “individualistic” and “collectivistic.” Finally, we show tensions in expression: users often avoid discussing values such as wealth directly while promoting them through images and sound.
Together, these insights support a new approach: analyzing social media as it is, not as we wish it to be. Rather than dismissing motivations like fame or aesthetics as shallow, our framework treats them as legitimate values. This broader view allows more accurate mapping of social media’s value landscape—the full range of what people communicate online every day. Ultimately, recognizing this spectrum is the first step toward improving digital societies.
Theoretically, we created a framework capturing the diverse values guiding daily social media interactions. Public discussions often limit values to moral principles such as equality or altruism, but values like aesthetics and fame also play major roles in digital culture. Our framework lists general values (freedom, tradition) and communication-related values (authenticity, privacy), plus seven value orientations: three general (Do well, Do good, Feel good) and four communicative (Inform, Influence, Bond, Express). This dual structure enables both detailed and comparative analyses of online content.
Methodologically, we developed ways to detect and measure how values appear in text, images, and videos. Our approach captures both explicit and implicit communication, crucial since images and videos dominate social media. Building on our findings, we compiled a value list and guidelines adaptable to any content.
Empirically, we identified values common in popular content and those people use when evaluating it. We traced how global platforms shape local expressions, and how marketing logics influence portrayals of concepts like “freedom”—and even “values” themselves. Our findings also challenge cultural divides between “East” and “West,” or “individualistic” and “collectivistic.” Finally, we show tensions in expression: users often avoid discussing values such as wealth directly while promoting them through images and sound.
Together, these insights support a new approach: analyzing social media as it is, not as we wish it to be. Rather than dismissing motivations like fame or aesthetics as shallow, our framework treats them as legitimate values. This broader view allows more accurate mapping of social media’s value landscape—the full range of what people communicate online every day. Ultimately, recognizing this spectrum is the first step toward improving digital societies.