“Go, Vote, and Tweet It”: Interactivity in Online Protest-Related Discussions About the 2014 Catalan Referendum for Independence

Authors

  • Teresa Gil-Lopez University of Koblenz-Landau
  • Cuihua Shen University of California, Davis

Keywords:

political discussion, Twitter, social movements, interactivity, expressive participation

Abstract

While studies abound that examine protest-related citizen communicative behaviors taking place online, there is still a limited understanding of the factors associated with social media users’ engagement in 2-way interactive exchanges about the issue of protest. Using discussion threads as the unit of analysis, this study looks at potential predictors associated with users’ engagement in interactive discussions in the context of the 2014 Catalan Referendum of Independence. Results show low overall levels of interactivity in discussions, with user status, media content sharing, negative emotion, and linguistic and ideological heterogeneity being related to lower interactivity levels. Findings are discussed within the framework of collective expressive modes of online citizen participation.

Author Biographies

Teresa Gil-Lopez, University of Koblenz-Landau

Teresa Gil-Lopez (Ph.D. Communication, University of California, Davis) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Communication Psychology and Media Pedagogy at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany. She writes about protest media coverage and its impact on public perceptions about dissenting groups and the legitimacy of protest as a political tool. She investigates the ways in which digital technologies may have altered the relationships between social movements, the media, and the citizen discourse. Address: Institute for Communication Psychology and Media Pedagogy (IKM), University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829 Landau in der Pfalz, Germany: Email: gillopez@uni- landau.de 

Cuihua Shen, University of California, Davis

Cuihua Shen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Communication, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue Davis, CA, 95616, USA. Email: cuishen@ucdavis.edu

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Published

2021-08-26

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021)

Section

Articles

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