Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006) and later Instagram and TikTok turned ordinary users into a vast networked publishing system, where text, images and video could spread to mass audiences without traditional gatekeepers. These platforms became central tools for organising and broadcasting protest, for marketing places and businesses, and for circulating public sentiment in real time. Their feeds, algorithms and image-sharing reshaped how urban places were seen, judged and visited. They also concentrated attention and advertising revenue in a few global companies.
They reshaped how cities are imaged, contested and politically mobilised, from the 2011 square occupations of the Arab uprisings and Occupy to the rise of place branding. The pursuit of 'Instagrammable' backdrops began to influence the design and curation of urban space itself.
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