2. Longer Single Book Reviews

exchanges, rallying around prosocial causes, etc. On the other hand, Redditors often come across harboring the mob mentality such as involvement in the Boston Marathon Bombing and the ‘‘cringeworthy’’ postings. Chapter 4 details the socialization process of novice Reddit members becoming full-fledged Redditors and what this status change means for their relationship with the Reddit community at large. It also details the scornful attitude toward default subreddits and the varied ways Reddiquette (informal Reddit community rules) is viewed in the Reddit community. Chapter 5 concerns both the humorously clever and serious ways Redditors express themselves in the platform. It details how the Reddit platform features enable innovative expressions from memes to novelty accounts to reaction GIFs and how Redditors value meaningful contributions and ridicule repetitive ‘‘shitposting’’ and ‘‘karmawhoring.’’ Chapter 6 addresses the dark side of Reddit discourse that further marginalizes women and minority groups such as ‘‘male gaze’’ and geek masculinity that excludes women and minority groups. Chapter 7 concludes the book by providing a summary of findings, situating them in a broader context of Reddit platform politics and participatory culture, and suggesting possible directions for future research in this area. Reddit as a content and repost sharing social networking site has been documented in having the ability to form various online communities. I am surprised to find the book only gives passing treatment of the important concepts of social capital and civic engagement. It does not adequately cover another important research domain in selective exposure and polarization on social networking sites though it mentions ‘‘echo chamber’’ in passing. Despite the limitations already mentioned, the book is arguably the first to fill a scholarly void by examining one of the social networking sites—Reddit, its formation and development of relationships within the platform, its dual role for charity, prosocial causes and further marginalization of women and minority groups. The author’s ethnography method has a big advantage of capturing Reddit community actions in real time. Overall, this is a solid booklength treatment of a dynamic social networking site.