platformization

For [Anne] Helmond, the platformization of the web is a process whereby social media platforms[…]extend their tentacles into the rest of the web, following users in their browsing activities, using API plugins to permit Facebook commentary on far-flung websites, allowing Facebook the ability to sell users ads about things they were browsing, and generally connecting the web at large back into the closed Facebook platform.

These developments are framed conceptually by the distinctions between platforms and portals and, in turn, the processes of platformization and portalization.