The Value of Mobile Communication for Social Belonging: Mobile Apps and the Impact on Social Interaction

Abstract

This paper deals with the relevance of mobile media in shaping online activities and patterns of interaction and its relation with industrial stakeholders and individual users' perspectives on the technology. The concepts of mediation and mediatization, as well as the processes of belonging and social cohesion are discussed and operationalized in the context of an empirical study. Data from mobile internet adoption and use will be discussed in the light of the above mentioned theoretical approaches. Two complementary views are approached -mobile internet stakeholders' and users'-encouraging a discussion on the interdependencies between individual adoption patterns and market derived determinants in a socio-cultural environment where technology adoption and diffusion happens. Results will provide contributions for the understanding of this type of technology adoption processes and the increasing importance of mobility in cultural and social practices, promoting an exciting discussion on the centrality of media nowadays and the current transformation processes society is undergoing.