Communication of Scientific Knowledge About Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Through Social Media (SM)

Abstract

Traditional print media has been the most common source of science communication to date, even for innovative technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS). Generally, print media simplifies discourse about science and technology in an effort to improve deficit in public understanding of science. Research has indicated that social media, may also be used to fill this deficit of public understanding. However, simple interpretations have the potential to increase misunderstanding of new science and technology. CCS, as a technology is proposed mainly for use by the fossil fuel industry and other industrial high energy users for carbon mitigation and is relatively unknown beyond this group. This paper focuses on the discourse about CCS in selected social media through netnography, which is a form of ethnographic analysis of data that people share freely through the Internet (1). The aim of the paper is to ascertain the patterns of discourse surrounding CCS deployment. The paper identifies scientific, social and economic aspects of the technology that are being discussed through social media – Facebook and Twitter. For this purpose, data has been scraped using the software “SocialReaper” from the Facebook and Twitter pages of 19 pro-CCS institutes and 11 industry players. Leximancer has then been used to analyse the text and identify the key themes and most frequently used terms through the use of concept maps. This identification of the key themes indicates the information about CCS and other key themes like alternative energy sources, finance and banking institutes, main countries involved, and also the ecological aspects of climate change. The information that is being communicated to public are using simple communication models-deficit model and transmission model. This paper shows that the pro-CCS institutes/networks are informing the public about CCS through social media, instead of the industry players.