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Do digital cultures emerge from the ideas and free behaviours of groups of people online or do the spaces these people inhabit and the mechanical interventions they experience shape the cultures that emerge?

In this essay I will consider how cyborg and post human meshing of humans and machines map to the use of social media sites and the types of automated manipulation that can take place in these spaces. I am particularly interested in ways in which the design and automated prompts of online social spaces model behaviour, social interactions and emergent cultures at least within such sites' (virtual) walls but also with potentially wider impact.

This essay is structured as a webpage and although the text does have a linear pathway it can also be explored in whatever order you choose. The design will suggest a route around the text but, as in all online spaces, you do not need to adhere to the manipulations or intended navigation of the site. All elements of this digital essay are intended so any surveys, videos, embedded pages, and poor quality puns etc. should be seen as intentional manipulative flourishes to, in a small way, reflect the spirit of the topic.