The Online Social Movement of #NeverAgain: How Social Networks Build a Sense of Membership, Influence, Support and Emotional Connection on Twitter
Keywords:
social network analysis, social and political movements, Twitter, #NeverAgainAbstract
The purpose of this research is to better understand the ways in which social media is utilized to further political and social causes. The research focuses on the aftermath of the 2018 shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida and the rise of the #NeverAgain movement. The study takes a social networks approach to look at a social movement that forms on and through the use of social media. As social and political movements develop, social networks form not as monolithic communities but rather operate in the guise of clusters and niches based on particular interests or the situational relevance of the issue. The research, based on an analysis of 100 thousand tweets that utilized the #NeverAgain hashtag, found four categories of tweets that ranged from spreading information to sharing personal stories. A sentiment analysis was conducted that indicated that language was contextual, meaning that an overtly negative term might be utilized in a more positive vein. Data visualizations demonstrate how social networks while lead by elite, non-elite and core moderators, also represent diffused groups that are comprised of weak ties.
References
Aalai, A. (April 2018). What the real impact of hashtag activism? Psychology Today Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/experts/azadeh-aalai-phd
Ansari, A. (2012). The role of social media in Iran’s Green Movement (2009-2012). Global Media Journal-Australian Edition, 6, pp. 1–6.
Andone, D. (February 2019). Parkland survivors turned into activists and inspired a wave of new gun safety laws. CNN.com. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/us/parkland-change-gun-control-legislation/index.html
Agarwal, N, Liu, H., Murthy, S., Sen, A, & Wang, X. (2009). A Social Identity Approach to Identify Familiar Strangers in a Social Network. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Retrieved from: http://www.public.asu.edu/~huanliu/papers/icwsm09a.pdf
Barnett, E. (August 2018). Parkland student activists aim to register voters, boost turnout in November Road to Change tour seeks to gain support for stricter gun safety laws in midterm elections. NBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/parkland-student-activists-aim-register-voters-boost-turnout-november-n899616
Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), pp.739–768.
Brown, D. (October 13, 2018). 19 million tweets later: A look at #MeToo a year after the hashtag went viral. USA Today. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/13/metoo-impact-hashtag-made-online/1633570002/
Burch, A. & Mazze, P. (February 14, 2018). Death Toll Is at 17 and Could Rise in Florida School Shooting. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/us/parkland-school-shooting.html.
Christiansen, J. (2009). Four stages of social movements. EBSCO Research Starters. Retrieved from: https://www.ebscohost.com/uploads/imported/thisTopic-dbTopic-1248.pdf
Conway, B. A., Kenski, K., & Wang, D. (2015). The rise of Twitter in the political campaign: Searching for intermedia agenda-setting effects in the presidential primary. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20, 363–380.
Farrow, R. (October 23, 2017). From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories. The New Yorker. Retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories
Filipovic, J. (April 10, 2018). The right's insane sliming of David Hogg. CNN.com. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/opinions/insane-right-wing-sliming-of-david-hogg-filipovic/index.html
Granovetter, M. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology. (May) 78:6, pp. 1360-1380. Retrieved from: https://sociology.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/the_strength_of_weak_ties_and_exch_w-gans.pdf
Grunig, J. (2005). Situational theory of publics. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of public relations (Vol. 1, pp. 779-780). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412952545.n392
Gruzd A. (2011). Exploring virtual communities with the Internet Community Text Analyzer (ICTA). In: Daniel B, editor. Handbook of Research on Methods and Techniques for Studying Virtual Communities: Paradigms and Phenomena. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing. pp. 205-223.
Gruzd, A., Wellman, B., & Takhteyev, Y. 2011. (2018). Imagining Twitter as an Imagined Community. American Behavioral Scientist. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764211409378
Hermida, A., Lewis, S. C., & Zamith, R. (2014). Sourcing the Arab Spring: A case study of Andy Carvin’s sources on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19, pp. 479–499.
Hodges, H. E., & Stocking, G. (2016). A pipeline of tweets: Environmental movements’ use of Twitter in response to the Keystone XL pipeline. Environmental Politics, 25, 2, pp. 23–247.
Hussain, M. M., & Howard, P. N. (2013). What best explains successful protest cascades? ICTs and the fuzzy causes of the Arab Spring. International Studies Review, 15, pp. 48–66.
Isa, D., & Himelboim, I. (2018). A Social Networks Approach to Online Social Movement: Social Mediators and Mediated Content in #FreeAJStaff Twitter Network. Social Media + Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118760807
Miller, S. (June 14, 2018). All of The Most Powerful Lines from Emma Gonzalez's Speeches. Elle Magazine, Retrieved from: https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a21051343/emma-gonzalez-elle-list-2018/
Newkirk, V. (February 22, 2018). The Power of the Parkland Town Hall. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-power-of-the-parkland-town-hall/553949/
NPR.org (December 17, 2017). The Arab Spring: A Year of Revolution. NPR.org. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/2011/12/17/143897126/the-arab-spring-a-year-of-revolution
Parmelee, J. H. (2013). Political journalists and Twitter: Influences on norms and practices. Journal of Media Practice, 14, pp. 291–305.
Ranney, K. (2014). Social media use and collective identity within the occupy movement (Doctoral dissertation). University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI. Retrieved from https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/101130/1/Ranney_Kathryn_r.pdf
Robinson, M. (March 25, 2018). A Generation Under Siege. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/march-for-our-lives/556475/
Sauer, P. (2019). Author Dave Cullen on Finding Hope in Parkland, 20 Years After Columbine. Intelligencer. Retrieved from: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/columbine-author-dave-cullen-on-his-new-book-parkland.html
Ansari, A. (2012). The role of social media in Iran’s Green Movement (2009-2012). Global Media Journal-Australian Edition, 6, pp. 1–6.
Andone, D. (February 2019). Parkland survivors turned into activists and inspired a wave of new gun safety laws. CNN.com. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/us/parkland-change-gun-control-legislation/index.html
Agarwal, N, Liu, H., Murthy, S., Sen, A, & Wang, X. (2009). A Social Identity Approach to Identify Familiar Strangers in a Social Network. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Retrieved from: http://www.public.asu.edu/~huanliu/papers/icwsm09a.pdf
Barnett, E. (August 2018). Parkland student activists aim to register voters, boost turnout in November Road to Change tour seeks to gain support for stricter gun safety laws in midterm elections. NBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/parkland-student-activists-aim-register-voters-boost-turnout-november-n899616
Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), pp.739–768.
Brown, D. (October 13, 2018). 19 million tweets later: A look at #MeToo a year after the hashtag went viral. USA Today. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/13/metoo-impact-hashtag-made-online/1633570002/
Burch, A. & Mazze, P. (February 14, 2018). Death Toll Is at 17 and Could Rise in Florida School Shooting. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/us/parkland-school-shooting.html.
Christiansen, J. (2009). Four stages of social movements. EBSCO Research Starters. Retrieved from: https://www.ebscohost.com/uploads/imported/thisTopic-dbTopic-1248.pdf
Conway, B. A., Kenski, K., & Wang, D. (2015). The rise of Twitter in the political campaign: Searching for intermedia agenda-setting effects in the presidential primary. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20, 363–380.
Farrow, R. (October 23, 2017). From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories. The New Yorker. Retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories
Filipovic, J. (April 10, 2018). The right's insane sliming of David Hogg. CNN.com. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/opinions/insane-right-wing-sliming-of-david-hogg-filipovic/index.html
Granovetter, M. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology. (May) 78:6, pp. 1360-1380. Retrieved from: https://sociology.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/the_strength_of_weak_ties_and_exch_w-gans.pdf
Grunig, J. (2005). Situational theory of publics. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of public relations (Vol. 1, pp. 779-780). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412952545.n392
Gruzd A. (2011). Exploring virtual communities with the Internet Community Text Analyzer (ICTA). In: Daniel B, editor. Handbook of Research on Methods and Techniques for Studying Virtual Communities: Paradigms and Phenomena. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing. pp. 205-223.
Gruzd, A., Wellman, B., & Takhteyev, Y. 2011. (2018). Imagining Twitter as an Imagined Community. American Behavioral Scientist. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764211409378
Hermida, A., Lewis, S. C., & Zamith, R. (2014). Sourcing the Arab Spring: A case study of Andy Carvin’s sources on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19, pp. 479–499.
Hodges, H. E., & Stocking, G. (2016). A pipeline of tweets: Environmental movements’ use of Twitter in response to the Keystone XL pipeline. Environmental Politics, 25, 2, pp. 23–247.
Hussain, M. M., & Howard, P. N. (2013). What best explains successful protest cascades? ICTs and the fuzzy causes of the Arab Spring. International Studies Review, 15, pp. 48–66.
Isa, D., & Himelboim, I. (2018). A Social Networks Approach to Online Social Movement: Social Mediators and Mediated Content in #FreeAJStaff Twitter Network. Social Media + Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118760807
Miller, S. (June 14, 2018). All of The Most Powerful Lines from Emma Gonzalez's Speeches. Elle Magazine, Retrieved from: https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a21051343/emma-gonzalez-elle-list-2018/
Newkirk, V. (February 22, 2018). The Power of the Parkland Town Hall. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-power-of-the-parkland-town-hall/553949/
NPR.org (December 17, 2017). The Arab Spring: A Year of Revolution. NPR.org. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/2011/12/17/143897126/the-arab-spring-a-year-of-revolution
Parmelee, J. H. (2013). Political journalists and Twitter: Influences on norms and practices. Journal of Media Practice, 14, pp. 291–305.
Ranney, K. (2014). Social media use and collective identity within the occupy movement (Doctoral dissertation). University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI. Retrieved from https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/101130/1/Ranney_Kathryn_r.pdf
Robinson, M. (March 25, 2018). A Generation Under Siege. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/march-for-our-lives/556475/
Sauer, P. (2019). Author Dave Cullen on Finding Hope in Parkland, 20 Years After Columbine. Intelligencer. Retrieved from: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/columbine-author-dave-cullen-on-his-new-book-parkland.html
Downloads
Published
2020-12-18
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
