In Following Searle on Twitter: How Words Create Digital Institutions, Adam Hodgkin draws upon the work of John Searle to explore Twitter as a distinctive social institution constituted through speech acts. As an academic who utilises Twitter, Christopher May welcomes this book for deepening understanding of the social media platform and for encouraging reflection on one’s own practice

May, Christopher

LSE Research Online

Book	Review:	Following	Searle	on	Twitter:	HowWords	Create	Digital	Institutions	by	Adam	HodgkinIn	Following	Searle	on	Twitter:	How	Words	Create	Digital	Institutions,	Adam	Hodgkin	draws	upon	the	workof	John	Searle	to	explore	Twitter	as	a	distinctive	social	institution	constituted	through	speech	acts.	As	anacademic	who	utilises	Twitter,	Christopher	May	welcomes	this	book	for	deepening	understanding	of	the	socialmedia	platform	and	for	encouraging	reflection	on	one’s	own	practice.	Following	Searle	on	Twitter:	How	Words	Create	Digital	Institutions.	Adam	Hodgkin.	University	of	ChicagoPress.	2017.Find	this	book:	This	book	immediately	piqued	my	interest	as	I	have	written	extensively	on	thesocial	construction	of	institutions	(albeit	only	recently	coming	to	appreciate	JohnSearle’s	perspective),	and	I	have	a	lively	Twitter	account	(@chrismayLU,	since	youask),	to	which	I	dedicate	a	fair	amount	of	time	to	posting	and	curating.	Thus,	I	waswell	disposed	towards	Following	Searle	on	Twitter:	How	Words	Create	DigitalInstitutions?,	and	I	am	happy	to	report	that	it	does	not	disappoint.If	you	think	the	link	between	Searle	and	Twitter	is	a	classic	bit	of	modern	academicsophistry,	Adam	Hodgkin	starts	his	book	with	a	detailed	analysis	of	the	seventweets	Searle	himself	sent	during	a	ten-month	period	around	2010.	While	Hodgkinargues	that	Searle	was	clearly	(and	rightly)	interested	in	Twitter,	he	was	by	nomeans	committed	to	it,	but	most	importantly	he	did	not	follow	Noam	Chomsky	indismissing	it	for	its	trivialisation	of	communication.	Like	Searle,	Hodgkin	wants	totake	Twitter	seriously,	regarding	it	as	an	interesting	new	social	institution,	and	hereutilises	Searle’s	ideas	to	understand	how	this	conclusion	can	be	substantiatedcontra	critics	sharing	Chomsky’s	view	of	its	negative	social	effects.Hodgkin’s	book	is	based	on	two	key	premises:	firstly,	that	Twitter	is	a	particularly	contemporary	form	of	socialinstitution,	built	through	the	deployment	of	(digital)	language(s)	and	existing	(for	the	most	part)	virtually	rather	thanphysically;	and	secondly,	that	utilising	Searle’s	notion	of	speech	acts,	tweets	can	be	usefully	regarded	as	StatusFunction	Declarations	(SFDs)	and,	as	such,	are	the	building	blocks	of	this	social	institution.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Following Searle on Twitter: How Words Create Digital Institutions by Adam Hodgkin Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-09-11Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/09/11/book-review-following-searle-on-twitter-how-words-create-digital-institutions-by-adam-hodgkin/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/Image	Credit:	(Esther	Vargas	CC	BY	SA	2.0)Most	readers	will	be	familiar	with	the	idea	of	a	social	institution,	but	it	might	be	helpful	to	say	something	briefabout	the	character,	purpose	and	role	of	SFDs.	For	Searle,	the	SFD	qua	spoken/acted	declaration	is	the	mannerin	which	humans	create	and	maintain	our	institutional	reality	in	a	continuing	and	recursive	manner:	this	is	to	say,SFDs	can	act	on	prior	declarations,	reinforcing	them,	shifting	or	even	(re)formulating	them.	What	Searle	is	tryingto	get	at	is	the	common	underlying	function	that	brings	a	multi-faceted	and	variable	world	of	sociality	into	being	forus.	While	speech	acts	are	a	product	of	human	intention,	SFDs,	through	their	repetition	promptinginstitutionalisation,	move	beyond	the	intention	of	the	individual	speech	act	and	become	structural	social	elements.As	Hodgkin	notes,	for	Searle,	‘our	collective	enterprises	are	driven	by	SFDs,	and	our	social	arrangements	can	bemapped	by	the	SFDs	of	which	they	are	composed’	(21).	As	Searle	himself	regards	the	SFD	as	an	empiricallytestable	proposition,	this	is	exactly	what	Hodgkin	sets	out	to	do	in	the	rest	of	the	book.Following	Searle	on	Twitter	is	a	journey	into	Twitter	starting	with	the	process	of	joining	the	social	media	site	andthen	choosing	a	name.	In	a	detailed	discussion,	Hodgkin	defends	admirably	the	claim	that	by	the	time	we	haveinitiated	out	Twitter	account,	we	have	undertaken	four	SFDs.	We	have	firstly	sought	to	join	Twitter,	our	first	SFD:commencing	the	act	of	joining	in	itself	reinforces	the	institutional	solidity	of	Twitter.	We	then	perform	a	couple	offurther	highly	individualised	SFDs	in	revealing	our	own	details	to	the	site	and	deciding	on	a	password:	again,each	reinforcing	the	social	medium’s	institutional	structure.	Lastly,	we	choose	our	Twitter	username.These	SFDs	may	seem	highly	constrained	by	the	technology	underlying	Twitter,	but	Hodgkin’s	point	is	that	ourcollective	activity	in	fulfilling	these	‘requests’,	by	which	we	open	an	exchange	of	rights	and	responsibilities	withTwitter,	is	a	direct	example	of	the	sorts	of	fundamental	institution-building	mechanisms	that	Searle	has	identified:without	people	undertaking	these	SFDs,	there	would	be	no	Twitter	(or,	in	parallel,	any	other	social	mediainstitution).	This	leads	to	a	fascinating	discussion	of	the	institutional	production	effects	of	following,	unfollowing,listing	and	blocking;	in	this	sense,	as	Hodgkin	points	out,	the	institution	is	in	some	ways	self	(re)producing.Although	it	appears	the	book	was	written	ahead	of	Twitter’s	shift	from	‘favourites’	to	‘liking’,	nevertheless	thecoherence	of	Hodgkin’s	deployment	of	Searle’s	insights	requires	the	reader	to	do	little	extra	work	to	easily	slot‘likes’	in	as	a	further	example	of	institution-enhancing	SFDs.One	of	the	key	aspects	to	tweeting,	as	any	user	knows,	is	the	retweet,	and	here	Hodgkin,	in	perhaps	his	onlyslight	analytical	misstep,	is	a	little	too	quick	to	move	on.	Certainly,	he	recognises	the	potential	for	retweets	to	be‘deceptive,	ironic	or	playful’	(84)	–	to	which	one	might	add	that	retweeting	with	additional	commentary,	at	least	inacademic	networks,	has	become	the	default	mode	of	engagement	with	the	Twittersphere.	While	he	offers	anoutline	of	how	the	retweet	can	be	seen	as	a	form	of	SFD,	here	I	wanted	to	see	the	depth	of	coverage	that	isevident	elsewhere;	but	equally,	the	strength	of	Hodgkin’s	depiction	of	a	Searlian	approach	is	that	it	is	easy	for	thereader	to	see	how	such	an	analysis	of	retweeting	would	proceed.Otherwise,	Hodgkin	shows	a	sure	command	of	his	subject,	matching	a	knowledge	of	the	technical	history	ofTwitter,	refracted	through	Searle’s	conceptual	lens,	and	discussing	a	range	of	notable	Twitter	moments,	from	theinfamous	furore	around	a	tweeted	‘joke’	about	Robin	Hood	Airport	to	the	increasing	use	of	Twitter	to	comment	onunfolding	events.	As	he	notes,	this	is	a	‘bottom-up’	theorisation	of	Twitter	and,	as	such,	is	not	merely	applicable	tothis	one	particular	social	media	institution.	Thus,	in	the	final	chapters,	Hodgkin	widens	the	analysis	to	ask	whetherother	institutions	built	on	digital	language	are	amenable	to	a	similar	analysis.	Here,	perhaps	the	key	point	is	thatthese	institutions	are	built	from	SFDs	that	require	very	little	(or	small)	investment,	but	perhaps	more	importantlyhave	a	zero	marginal	cost.There’s	plenty	more	to	Hodgkin’s	excellent	book,	but	for	academics	using	Twitter,	its	main	value	is	an	analysisthat	will	deepen	understanding	of	this	ubiquitous	tool/pastime	and	will	offer	real	insight	into	one’s	own	practice.	Asan	invitation	to	be	self-reflexive	about	your	own	tweeting,	you	could	not	ask	for	a	better	guide	than	Hodgkin.	Ireally	enjoyed	this	book,	and	fellow	tweeting	social	scientists,	I	know	you	will	too.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Following Searle on Twitter: How Words Create Digital Institutions by Adam Hodgkin Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-09-11Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/09/11/book-review-following-searle-on-twitter-how-words-create-digital-institutions-by-adam-hodgkin/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/Christopher	May	is	Professor	of	Political	Economy	at	Lancaster	University,	UK.	His	most	recent	book	is	GlobalCorporations	in	Global	Governance	(Routledge	2015)	and	he	is	currently	editing	The	Edward	Elgar	ResearchHandbook	on	The	Rule	of	Law	(2017).	He	has	published	widely	on	the	interaction	between	law	and	politicaleconomy,	and	wrote	the	first	independently	authored	study	of	the	World	Intellectual	Property	Organisation.	Readmore	by	Christopher	May.Note:	This	review	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	and	not	the	position	of	the	LSE	Review	of	Books	blog,	or	of	theLondon	School	of	Economics.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Following Searle on Twitter: How Words Create Digital Institutions by Adam Hodgkin Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-09-11Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/09/11/book-review-following-searle-on-twitter-how-words-create-digital-institutions-by-adam-hodgkin/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/

Book review: following Searle on Twitter: how words create digital institutions by Adam Hodgkin

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