Abstract

This study investigates how meaning is constructed and experienced in contemporary digital culture, focusing on interactivity as a key feature of the digital semiosphere. Building on biosemiotic concepts such as Umwelt and scaffolding, we develop a model that shifts semiotic analysis from traditional logocentric, discursive frameworks to one that emphasizes the dynamic and participatory nature of digital meaning. We argue that social media platforms represent a paradigm shift, where meaning is no longer a static informational construct but an experiential phenomenon shaped by user-platform interactions. We conceptualize social media as platfospheres—semiotic ecosystems where recursive cycles of interpretation and action shape users’ internal meaning models (Umwelts). Here, signs function not only as interpretative entities but as interactive sites, granting users semiotic agency to shape their meaning pathways. Applying this framework to X (formerly Twitter), we demonstrate how meaning is co-constructed through the platform’s participatory architecture, rendering semiosis a fluid, emergent process linked to users’ interpretation-interaction cycles. By framing meaning through biosemiotics, this approach reveals how digital platforms make meaning increasingly interactive, inferentially complex, fragmented, and time-sensitive, underscoring the need for ecological and interactive frameworks to capture the complexities of digital meaning-making.