Twitter, the Public Sphere, and the Chaos of Online Deliberation

This volume provides a critical view of the nature and quality of political and civic communication on Twitter. The introduction lays out the current state of research, showing the continuum of views, from the more optimistic to more pessimistic, regarding the platform’s potential to facilitate civic conversations. The eleven empirical case studies in the book provide new insights, addressing a variety of topics through a diverse array of methodological approaches. Together, the chapters provide a counter position to recent studies that offer more celebratory assessments of Twitter’s potential. The book draws attention to the chaotic, insular, uncivil, and emotionally charged nature of debate and communication on Twitter. Contents 5 Notes on Contributors 11 List of Figures 17 List of Tables 19 Chapter 1: Communication in the Age of Twitter: The Nature of Online Deliberation 20 Twitter and Democracy 21 Twitter Revolutions and Radicals 22 Twitter and Political Communication 23 Funny, Banal, and Highly Personal: Citizenship on Twitter 26 Affective Connectivity and Emotions on Twitter 28 Community Building, Inclusion, and Marginalization 30 Talking Points 32 References 34 Part I: Political Contention and Civic Engagement 42 Chapter 2: Going “Rogue”: National Parks, Discourses of American Identity and Resistance on Twitter 43 Introduction 43 Foucault and Identity Construction 45 The National Park Imaginary and US Identity 46 Twitter Activism and the National Park Service 48 National Identity in Connection to Land on Twitter 50 Methods 51 Findings 53 Evoking Nationalism 53 Upholding Democratic Values 62 Resisting the Government 63 Discussion 64 Conclusion 66 References 66 Chapter 3: Political Candidates’ Discussions on Twitter During Election Season: A Network Approach 70 Introduction 70 The Dutch Electoral System 72 Twitter and Political Communication 73 Reciprocity and Network Homophily 73 Opinion Leadership 75 Preferential Attachment 76 Normalization Versus Equalization 77 Statistical Controls: Populism, Ideology, and Incumbency 78 Data, Measurements, and Analysis 79 Data 79 Measurements 80 Method 81 Results 81 Communication Centrality 83 Homophily and Reciprocity 85 Predictive Analysis 87 Discussion 89 Conclusion 91 Appendix 92 References 92 Chapter 4: #PeoplesVoteMarch or #LosersVoteMarch? Tracing the Collective Identity of a Post-Brexit Referendum Movement on Twitter 96 Introduction: The Multiple Identities of Brexit 96 The Hostile Environment of a Post-Referendum UK 98 The Brexit Identity Conundrum: Ephemerality in a Commentary Pit 100 Researching #PeoplesVoteMarch on Twitter 101 Tracing People’s Vote March’s Identities on Twitter 103 Cognitive Definitions: Goals, Plans for Action, and Tactics 104 Active Relationships: How Protestors Relate to Each Other 105 Emotional Investments: Frustration, Sensitivity, and Emotional Responses 107 Adversaries and the #PeoplesVoteMarch 109 Conclusion: Building an Ambiguous Collective Identity 110 References 113 Part II: Inside Twitter Communities: Communication Strategies in Networked Publics 116 Chapter 5: Civic Debate and Self-Care: Black Women’s Community Care Online 117 Description of Study 119 Literature Review 120 Black Feminist Thought 120 Civic Debate Online 121 Personal and Communal Care 123 Method: Focus Groups 124 Results: Civic Debate on Twitter Defined 126 Black Twitter 126 Navigating Misogynoir: Necessitated Care 127 “I Can Advocate for Myself”: Agency as Care 128 “Why don’t we hear about the Black women?”: Amplification as Care 130 Conclusion 133 References 134 Chapter 6: The Voices of Twitter: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Racial Discourses on Twitter Following the Alt-Right March on Charlottesville, Virginia 137 Introduction 137 Discourse 139 Public Sphere 140 Counterpublics 141 Post-Racial, Colorblind Racism 142 Resistance: Analyzing Charlottesville 144 Methodology 145 Data Collection 145 Data Analysis 146 Trustworthiness 147 Findings 148 Overt Racism on Twitter 150 Tweeting a Colorblind Discourse 152 Resistance on Twitter 155 Engagement Across Discourses 157 Talking Across Difference 158 Discussion 159 Conclusion 160 References 162 Chapter 7: Covert Hate Speech: White Nationalists and Dog Whistle Communication on Twitter 166 Introduction 166 ‘Dog Whistle’ as a Discursive Strategy 168 Data and Methods 172 White Supremacist Dog Whistles on Twitter 174 Signaling Hate 174 Dog Whistles as Identity Markers 177 Conclusion and Discussion 180 References 183 Part III: The Role and Nature of Affect in Twitter Interactions 188 Chapter 8: Patterns of Emotional Tweets: The Case of Brexit After the Referendum Results 189 Emotions, Dialogue, and Social Media 190 Emotion Before and in the Age of Social Media 190 Affect, Judgment, and Appreciation 192 Identifying the Unit of Analysis 194 (Dis)Alignment in a Polarized Public Space on Twitter 196 Method 199 Data Collection, Bot Detection, and Tweet Selection 199 Manual Descriptive Content Analysis 200 LIWC Analysis 204 Results 204 Manual Coding: Interpersonal Functions, Writers, Speech Functions, and Emotions 204 The Valence of Tweets: Comparing Manual Coding to LIWC 207 Assessing Associations 208 Discussion 209 Conclusion 213 References 214 Chapter 9: An Exploratory Mixed-Method Analysis of Interpersonal Arguments on Twitter 218 Interpersonal Arguments Offline and Online 220 Face-to-Face Arguing 220 Online Arguing 222 Method 226 Participants 226 Procedures 227 Measures 227 Results 230 Descriptive Characteristics of Twitter Arguments 230 Arguing Goals and Stress in Twitter Disagreements 233 Discussion 236 Conclusion 240 References 240 Part IV: The Use of Humor and Popular Culture in Political Conversations on Twitter 245 Chapter 10: Bros Before Donald Trump: Resisting and Replicating Hegemonic Ideologies in the #BROTUS Memes After the 2016 Election 246 The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election and Memetic Citizenship 248 Social Media, Memetic Citizenship, and Everyday Politics 250 Analyzing Memes: #BROTUS and the 2016 Presidential Election 252 Methodology 253 Humor and Resistance in the #BROTUS Memes 254 Moving from Grief to Hope 255 (Re)Constituting a Public Through Play 257 Replicating Gendered and Racial Hegemonies in the #BROTUS Memes 260 Bromance and Hetero/Sexism 260 Masculinity, Race, and Nation 264 Conclusion 267 References 269 Chapter 11: #FamilyTravelHacks: Humor and Political Commentary in Hashtag Hijacking 277 Introduction 277 Situating #FamilyTravelHacks: Public Sphere and Echo Chambers 279 Government-Citizen Interaction in Online Spaces 280 Networked (Counter)Publics and the Role of Humor 281 @TravelGov 282 Zero-Tolerance Family Separation Policy 284 Methodology 285 Government Twitter Gone Wrong: Interactions and Negative Comments 286 Affiliative Humor, Interaction, and Counterpublics: #FamilyTravelHacks Migrates Beyond Twitter 288 Conclusion 291 References 293 Chapter 12: Women in Horror, Social Activism, and Twitter: Asia Argento, Anna Biller, and the Soska Sisters 301 Introduction: Blood Ties and Strong Ties 301 Social Media, Social Ties, and Aesthetics 303 Aim and Method 306 Blood Drive: Women in Horror Month 309 American Mary and the Soska Sisters 312 Horror Witches: Aesthetics and Anna Biller 314 Loss of Focus: Asia Argento 317 Conclusion 319 References 321 Chapter 13: Afterword: Twitter and the Democratization of Politics 324 The Meaning of Political 326 Dissecting Resistance, Marginalization, and Dialogue 328 Community Formation on Twitter 330 Talking Points: Reconsidering Political Participation 330 References 331 Index 334 Front Matter ....Pages i-xix Communication in the Age of Twitter: The Nature of Online Deliberation (Gwen Bouvier, Judith E. Rosenbaum)....Pages 1-22 Front Matter ....Pages 23-23 Going “Rogue”: National Parks, Discourses of American Identity and Resistance on Twitter (Joanne Marras Tate, Vincent Russell, Rachel Larsen, Ellie Busch)....Pages 25-51 Political Candidates’ Discussions on Twitter During Election Season: A Network Approach (Maurice Vergeer)....Pages 53-78 #PeoplesVoteMarch or #LosersVoteMarch? Tracing the Collective Identity of a Post-Brexit Referendum Movement on Twitter (Photini Vrikki)....Pages 79-98 Front Matter ....Pages 99-99 Civic Debate and Self-Care: Black Women’s Community Care Online (Raven Maragh-Lloyd)....Pages 101-120 The Voices of Twitter: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Racial Discourses on Twitter Following the Alt-Right March on Charlottesville, Virginia (Sarah J. V. Dyer, Leah Hakkola)....Pages 121-149 Covert Hate Speech: White Nationalists and Dog Whistle Communication on Twitter (Prashanth Bhat, Ofra Klein)....Pages 151-172 Front Matter ....Pages 173-173 Patterns of Emotional Tweets: The Case of Brexit After the Referendum Results (Catherine Bouko, David Garcia)....Pages 175-203 An Exploratory Mixed-Method Analysis of Interpersonal Arguments on Twitter (Amy Janan Johnson, Ioana A. Cionea)....Pages 205-231 Front Matter ....Pages 233-233 Bros Before Donald Trump: Resisting and Replicating Hegemonic Ideologies in the #BROTUS Memes After the 2016 Election (Roberta Chevrette, Christopher M. Duerringer)....Pages 235-265 #FamilyTravelHacks: Humor and Political Commentary in Hashtag Hijacking (Nathan J. Rodriguez)....Pages 267-290 Women in Horror, Social Activism, and Twitter: Asia Argento, Anna Biller, and the Soska Sisters (Ernest Mathijs)....Pages 291-313 Afterword: Twitter and the Democratization of Politics (Gwen Bouvier, Judith E. Rosenbaum)....Pages 315-324 Back Matter ....Pages 325-340