Which Person Walks Into a Bar? A Typology of Globally Spread Humor on Twitter

Authors

  • Asaf Nissenbaum The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • David Freud The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Keywords:

humor, failure, digital culture, globalization, localization

Abstract

Our study examines user-generated global humor through an analysis of comic items spread on Twitter. By addressing the inherent conflict between the locality of humor and the globalizing digital participatory sphere, we aim to uncover the features of global user-generated humor. A long-term sample of humor keywords in multiple languages, including more than 250 million tweets, was processed and filtered to locate items reaching global audiences (N = 734), which were then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively (a subset of 143). We found that such items focused on “the universal” rather than on a multicultural exchange. Additionally, the comic failures featured in the sample were outlined, ranging from the personal and concrete to the societal and abstract. These findings portray digital global humor as a liminal space existing everywhere and nowhere at once and as balancing individual failures through collective laughter while presenting ambiguous subversive messages.

Author Biographies

Asaf Nissenbaum, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

PhD graduatePhone no. +972-54-6678371

David Freud, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

PhD candidate

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Published

2021-11-29

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021)

Section

Articles

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