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International Journal of Law and Social Justice

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ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijlsj.2025.12.006

An Exposition to the Coinage, ‘Somezen’—The Social Media Citizen

Ebi Robert

Faculty of Law, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, Amassoma 520101, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author: Ebi Robert

Published: August 18,2025

Abstract

Michael Hauben opined on how broad and famous the term 'netizen' has become and how the popular meaning deviates from the original denotation. Hauben's meaning significantly separates the actives from the lurkers. This article argues that this distinction actually robs the social media lurkers of any form of standing. So it makes a case for the social media citizens and claims that, unlike the said limited perspective of netizenship, the social media citizens are both ac-tives and lurkers. It adds that even the lurkers may be actives in a sense. The term 'somezen' is a portmanteau of 'social media citizen' which is distinct from 'netizen' meaning 'citizen of the net'. Summarily, somezen denotes users who gain standing through contractual agreements with platforms, irrespective of their activity level. This work draws from the famous Jean-Jacques Rousseau's claim on the social pact to adequately show that somezens get their standing from signing up to the somezen contract. To theorize somezenship, this work also adapts Rousseau's body politic analogy, treating platforms as the 'head' (governance) and users as the 'imbs' (citizens), thereby framing digital rights and responsibilities.

Keywords

Social Media Citizen (Somezen); Netizen; Lurker; Social Media Law; Social Media Reader

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How to cite this paper

An Exposition to the Coinage, ‘Somezen’—The Social Media Citizen

How to cite this paper: Ebi Robert. (2025). An Exposition to the Coinage, ‘Somezen’—The Social Media Citizen. International Journal of Law and Social Justice1(1), 26-38.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijlsj.2025.12.006