You can't use this app for that: Exploring off-label use through an investigation of Tinder. Issue 1 (1st January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Duguay, Stefanie
• Is Part Of: Information society. Volume 36:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 30
• Page End: 42
• Publication Date: 2020-01-01
• Subjects: Appropriation -- dating app -- disruption -- governance -- mobile apps -- platforms -- social media; Technology -- Social aspects; Information storage and retrieval systems -- Social aspects; Information science -- Periodicals; Sciences de l'information -- Périodiques; 303.483
• DOI: 10.1080/01972243.2019.1685036
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0197-2243

Abstract

Abstract: This article reconceptualizes the pharmacological term "off-label use" in the context of platforms and apps. It combines literature on technological appropriation with research on platforms' sociotechnical arrangements to understand off-label use as platform appropriation. This conceptual work is applied to an investigation of Tinder, involving analysis of the platform, media articles, and interviews. Findings show that off-label use, such as marketing and campaigning, appropriates Tinder's infrastructure and sociocultural meanings. Tinder also responds to disruptive off-label uses with changes in governance and infrastructure. This analysis shows how off-label use can locate user agency while uncovering shifting relations among users and platforms.