#rp26 speaker Annekathrin Kohout

Social media is no longer primarily about ideas and arguments, but rather revolves around ritualized practices of outrage designed to maximize engagement on platforms. Cultural scientist Annekathrin Kohout therefore speaks not of an attention economy, but of a reaction culture, whose logic increasingly shapes both private and public discourse.

Why does online communication seem to be constantly characterised by polarization, misunderstandings and mistrust? What methods are used to gain interpretative power on social media? Annekathrin Kohout answers these questions in her new book ‘Hyperreaktiv. Wie in Sozialen Medien um Deutungsmacht gekämpft wird’ (Hyperreactive: How the battle for interpretive power is fought on social media). In it, she draws on personal experiences, representative case studies, and theoretical reflections to shed light on precisely these ‘dynamics of excitement on social media’ that define today’s (online) culture of reaction.

Annekathrin Kohout is a freelance author and cultural scientist. From 2016 to 2022, she was a research assistant at the German Studies Department of the University of Siegen, where she earned her PhD in 2021 with a dissertation on the nerd as a social figure. She is co-editor of the book series ‘Digitale Bildkulturen’ (Digital Image Cultures) and the magazine ‘POP. Kultur und Kritik’ (POP. Culture and Critics) as well as a member of the editorial board of the international ‘Journal of Global Pop Cultures’. She is also a member of AICA (Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art) and the German Goethe Institute. As a non-fiction author, she has published books on net feminism, nerds and k-pop. Since 2024, she has been writing the monthly column ‘Feed Interrupted’ for the taz newspaper. In addition to her journalistic work, she regularly teaches at various colleges and universities.