Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (Special issue)

Deadline: October 1, 2026

Guest Editors: Yingwen Wang (London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, UK); Dr. Hui Lin (King’s College London, UK); Dr Zoetanya Sujon (London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, UK); Dr Rafal Zaborowski (King’s College London, UK)

Full CFP: https://journals.sagepub.com/page/con/call-for-papers/algorithmic-sociality?_gl=1*1grcp7y*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTkxODIwMTg4Ny4xNzgzNDk4OTMz*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODM0OTg5MzIkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODM0OTkwMzEkajU3JGwxJGgxMjE5MjI2ODMx

Across the social media landscape, platform architectures are increasingly organised around algorithmic recommendation systems. Platforms such as TikTok, Douyin, Instagram, X, Spotify, YouTube, Tinder and Substack curate users’ experiences through algorithmic recommendations of content, people and cultural objects decoupled from users’ networks and explicit choices. This marks a significant departure from earlier forms of social media centred on self-presentation, the social graph, mutual following and networked publics (boyd, 2010). In recommendation-driven environments, encounters with unfamiliar others are generated, ranked and governed through platform systems, transforming the conditions under which social ties form and are maintained.

This special issue proposes algorithmic sociality as a concept for understanding how recommendation systems reconfigure social relations. Building on scholarship on programmed sociality, the algorithmic self, platformed connection and the contested meaning of “the social” in social media, the issue asks what happens to social relations when the pathways through which others become visible, encounterable and consequential are algorithmically organised. Rather than treating recommendation systems only as content-filtering technologies or behavioural optimisation tools, the special issue approaches them as relational infrastructures that shape who meets whom, under what conditions, and with what social, cultural, economic and political consequences.

The concept of algorithmic sociality also helps distinguish recommendation-driven human–human relations from the increasingly prominent discussion of artificial sociality, which often centres on human–machine attachment, AI agents, chatbots and synthetic companions. Algorithmic sociality foregrounds intersubjective relations between people, while examining how those relations are structured, filtered and made possible through platform logics, interface design, metrics, governance arrangements and monetisation systems. Recommendation systems do not replace the social other; they reorganise the conditions under which social others become visible and meaningful. As such, the special issue aims to expand existing debates on platforms, algorithms and sociality beyond questions of visibility and engagement.

We invite contributions that test, refine, extend or critique algorithmic sociality across different platforms, national contexts, social groups and methodological traditions. The issue is particularly interested in work that moves beyond short-video platforms; examines underexplored platform ecologies such as music streaming, dating apps, newsletter networks, livestreaming, gaming, messaging or professional platforms; addresses creative production and media industries under recommender logics; or brings perspectives from the Global South and other non-dominant platform contexts. We strongly encourage submissions from early career researchers and researchers from historically underrepresented groups and regions, including ethnic minority, disabled, queer and Global South scholars.

Potential Topics:

• The shift from social-graph-based to recommendation-driven platform architectures
  
• Human-algorithm relations and their implications for human-human communication
  
• Recommendation systems as relational infrastructure
  
• Theoretical and conceptual approaches to algorithmic sociality, including programmed sociality, algorithmized selfhood and disconnected sociability
  
• Opportunities and challenges that algorithms introduce to social relations, such as platform-bounded relationships, cross-platform friending and the organisation of social distance
  
• The reconfiguration of content production, relational labour, distributed sociality and modular connection through algorithmic platforms
  
• Algorithmic curation, optimization, recommendation bias, (in)visibility, unequal distribution and prioritization
  
• The role of inequality, age, migration, gender, sexuality, class, race and other structural dimensions in shaping algorithmic sociality
  
• The regulation of social behaviour on algorithmic platforms, including governance, moderation, surveillance and compliance
  
• Affective, embodied and economic dimensions of algorithmically mediated connection
  
• Comparative studies of TikTok/Douyin, Instagram, YouTube, X, Spotify, Tinder, Substack, WeChat, RedNote, Bilibili and other platforms
  
• Global North/Global South comparisons and studies of non-Western or regionally specific platform ecosystems
  
• Generative AI, conversational agents and emerging systems that extend or reconfigure algorithmic sociality beyond feed-based architectures
  

Please submit an extended abstract of approximately 500 words, including references, together with a short author biography of approximately 100 words for each author.

Abstracts should clearly identify the research question or problem, argument, theoretical framework, methodology or source materials, and the proposed article’s contribution to the special issue theme.

Please send proposals to algorithmicsociality.cnmt28@gmail.comby 1st October 2026.

Authors of accepted abstracts will be contacted on 1st November 2026 and invited to submit full manuscripts by 15th March 2027.