Hashtags for Gatekeeping of Information on Social Media

Since the inception of gatekeeping research in the 1940s, most studies on gatekeeping have been human‐centric, treating and studying individuals as gatekeepers, who perform their gatekeeping role using a combination of the following mechanisms: forming communities, and/or broadcasting, discovering‐searching, collecting, organizing, or protecting information. However, the nature of communication channels and how information is produced by and shared with users has fundamentally changed in the last 80 years. One significant change is the growing use of technology‐enabled metadata like hashtags when sharing information on social media. Rarely any study investigates whether hashtags can perform gatekeeping of information and what it means for information gatekeeping. This paper fills in the gap by conducting a content analysis of 77 interdisciplinary studies on hashtags and gatekeeping to confirm how they can implement six gatekeeping mechanisms. This study shows that hashtags expand our understanding of the role of technology solutions in gatekeeping and advance research on hierarchical gatekeeping. The benefits of hashtags for gatekeeping suggest that they act as “information anchors” for online communities, thereby highlighting the utility of information gatekeepers for society

Exploring Sentiment Analysis on Twitter: Investigating Public Opinion on Migration in Brazil from 2015 to 2020

openTechnology has reshaped societal interaction and the expression of opinions. Migration is a prominent trend, and analysing social media discussions provides insights into societal perspectives. This thesis explores how events between 2015 and 2020 impacted Brazilian sentiment on Twitter about migrants and refugees. Its aim was to uncover the influence of key sociopolitical events on public sentiment, clarifying how these echoed in the digital realm. Four key objectives guided this research: (a) understanding public opinions on migrants and refugees, (b) investigating how events influenced Twitter sentiment, (c) identifying terms used in migration-related tweets, and (d) tracking sentiment shifts, especially concerning changes in government. Sentiment analysis using VADER (Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner) was employed to analyse tweet data. The use of computational methods in social sciences is gaining traction, yet no analysis has been conducted before to understand the sentiments of the Brazilian population regarding migration. The analysis underscored Twitter's role in reflecting and shaping public discourse, offering insights into how major events influenced discussions on migration. In conclusion, this study illuminated the landscape of Brazilian sentiment on migration, emphasizing the significance of innovative social media analysis methodologies for policymaking and societal inclusivity in the digital age

#Democracy : a case study of social media use amongst members of the public sphere during the 2014 South African general election.

Master of Arts in English, Media and Performance Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2016.At present social media is used by 28% of the world’s population. The use has naturally penetrated the political sphere where social media presence in election periods is a global growing phenomenon. However, limited research has been conducted examining political social media use in South Africa despite calls for social media research in developing contexts and the pervasiveness of social media use amongst the country’s netizens. In addressing this the dissertation defines the uses of social media during election periods and illustrates how social media was used during the 2014 South African general election. Finally, the study also determines whether social media contributed to the democracy of the country. The researcher used Jϋrgen Habermas’s theory of the public sphere as the theoretical underpinning of the study. An exploratory case study method was employed as the main research method with web archiving, a thematic analysis of Twitter trends and observation adopted as sub-methods. Research was limited to the most popular social media sites in the country: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Mxit. The findings demonstrate that social media was used by the country’s public, the traditional mass media, politicians and political parties, civil society actors and the IEC as part of their undertakings during the election period. The study also found that during the election period an online public sphere was realised in the country and, as a result, facilitated the creation of public opinion by creating communication channels between the electorate and other electoral actors. The dialogues that took place online showed signs of deliberation and was given consideration by the relevant authorities. Finally, the online public sphere regulated the state by enlightening them on public concerns and holding them accountable for their actions

Internet Memes as Instruments of Subversion in the Context of Islam and Muslims

This research investigates the nature of internet memes as instruments of subversion in the context of Islam and Muslims. For the purpose of this research, internet memes including Twitter hashtags have been conceived as idea units. The study employed network analysis to examine roughly 208,000 Twitter hashtags related to Islam and Muslims. Based on this data, actor and hashtag networks were created in order to understand the relationship between leading actors, co- occurring hashtags, dominant discursive practices, and their subversion. Thematic analysis of internet memes was also undertaken in order to study the visual and textual elements in the larger context in which the memes were set. Two major themes emerged: ‘Everyday life and Lived Religion’, and ‘Terrorism, Security and Surveillance’. The study provides evidence of agency of individuals to create fissures in the institutional narratives by reappropriating and subverting the popular symbols originally created by social structures as well as creating their own set of language which is unique to the format of internet memes. The findings derived from the network analysis as well as the thematic analysis also demonstrated the relevance of Richard Dawkins’s (1976) gene-meme analogy

Hot weather, hot topic:Polarization and sceptical framing in the climate debate on Twitter

Extreme weather events like the heat wave of 2018 reinforce public attention for climate change. Social media platforms facilitate, define and amplify debate about this topic. They give rise to counterpublic spaces through which counterpublics such as climate sceptics get a stage they would not easily get in mainstream media. Previous research suggests that sceptics use these spaces as safe havens, but also as bases for interventions in the hegemonic debate. Applying a multideterminant frame model, we analyse the Twitter debate among climate change ‘sceptics’ and ‘believers’. We study all tweets in which the heat wave was related to climate change and which were shared by Dutch and Flemish users between 28 July 2018 and 4 August 2018. Laying bare the worldviews underlying the frames of sceptics and non-sceptics, we first demonstrate the diversity of – unilaterally interacting – ideological interests. Building upon this analysis of the scope of the debate and analysing its form, we show that both groups mostly use similar antagonistic strategies to delegitimize and denaturalize their out-groups. We argue that these interventions promote polarization rather than a constructive agonistic debate. As such, this study refutes previous studies that consider sceptic frames as deconstructive and non-sceptic frames as constructive

Nepotistic relationships in Twitter and their impact on rank prestige algorithms

Micro-blogging services such as Twitter allow anyone to publish anything, anytime. Needless to say, many of the available contents can be diminished as babble or spam. However, given the number and diversity of users, some valuable pieces of information should arise from the stream of tweets. Thus, such services can develop into valuable sources of up-to-date information (the so-called real-time web) provided a way to find the most relevant/trustworthy/authoritative users is available. Hence, this makes a highly pertinent question for which graph centrality methods can provide an answer. In this paper the author offers a comprehensive survey of feasible algorithms for ranking users in social networks, he examines their vulnerabilities to linking malpractice in such networks, and suggests an objective criterion against which to compare such algorithms. Additionally, he suggests a first step towards ―desensitizing‖ prestige algorithms against cheating by spammers and other abusive use

#identity: Hashtagging Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Nation

"Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has served as a major platform for political performance, social justice activism, and large-scale public debates over race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and nationality. It has empowered minoritarian groups to organize protests, articulate often-underrepresented perspectives, and form community. It has also spread hashtags that have been used to bully and silence women, people of color, and LGBTQ people. #identity is among the first scholarly books to address the positive and negative effects of Twitter on our contemporary world. Hailing from diverse scholarly fields, all contributors are affiliated with The Color of New Media, a scholarly collective based at the University of California, Berkeley. The Color of New Media explores the intersections of new media studies, critical race theory, gender and women’s studies, and postcolonial studies. The essays in #identity consider topics such as the social justice movements organized through #BlackLivesMatter, #Ferguson, and #SayHerName; the controversies around #WhyIStayed and #CancelColbert; Twitter use in India and Africa; the integration of hashtags such as #nohomo and #onfleek that have become part of everyday online vernacular; and other ways in which Twitter has been used by, for, and against women, people of color, LGBTQ, and Global South communities. Collectively, the essays in this volume offer a critically interdisciplinary view of how and why social media has been at the heart of US and global political discourse for over a decade.

Improving seafood systems with social network analysis : The case of cuttlefish marketing in Catalonia

Article number 105517 The EU (European Maritime and Fisheries Fund) and Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda Department of the Catalan Government provided funding for this research through the project "Advice to the CoManagement Committee of the cuttlefish of the bays of Roses and Pals for the implementation of a socio-economic program" under the grant agreement ARP163/21/000023. We acknowledge all fishers and seafood distributors that kindly participated in the project as well as we express our appreciation to all persons who shared with us their valuable knowledge by collaborating. We would also like to thank Eva Visauta, from the public administration and secretary of the cuttlefish comanagement committee, who is always available to help and provide information.Innovation in seafood marketing has multiplied, resulting in a constellation of emerging marketing initiatives from the fishing sector and seafood distributors to cope with resources scarcity, uncertainty, and climate change. Wholesalers, and retailers drawn on Social Network Sites (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter, Youtube, TikTok) to disseminate the values associated with fish products. This study analyses the distribution network channels of the cuttlefish market in Catalonia (Spain) and the social media users. The methodology combines social network analysis, digital ethnography, and qualitative analysis based on structured, semi-structured, indepth interviews and images. Results suggest the existence of a paradox between the values of seafood products associated with "proximity," "local," and "seasonal products" cohabiting with market values adapted to the contemporary lifestyle of "convenience" and accessibility. The spread of gastronomic culture has popularised the demand for cuttlefish, increasing market diversification and growing competition between the buying and selling network actors. While distributors can obtain resources from different sources, fishers must cope with the limitations of natural resources. We conclude that management plans should consider the integration of fishers in marketing channels and media discourses to improve the marketing of seafood products in pursuit of sustainability