Alternative and Traditional Media on Twitter: Ecuador National Strike of 2019

Abstract

The constant demands of citizens to be informed in real time have made Twitter an ideal tool for mass use. This social network has originated a new user of social communication, and is used to present public images and appeal to the population, at the same time that it is displacing the pre-eminence of traditional communication media. During the national strike in Ecuador in October 2019, alternative and conventional media used this platform to inform, generate debate, carry out calls and mobilizations, and position perspectives. This study analyzes the tweets and hashtags published on the most viral days of the strike. A mixed methodology was applied, i.e., qualitative and quantitative. The techniques applied were discourse analysis and the systematic review of each hashtag. The sample was taken from the hashtags published by traditional and alternative media from October 3 to 13. As the main result, it was concluded that the published hashtags had a high impact on informing users and, to a certain extent, on the calls that were made.