Abstract
Following the death of George Floyd, Facebook posts about the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) surged, creating the opportunity to examine reactions by race and sex. This study employed a two-part mixed methods approach beginning with an analysis of posts from a single college student’s Facebook newsfeed over a 12-week period, commencing on the date of George Floyd’s death (25 May 2020). A triangulation protocol enhanced exploratory observational–archival Facebook posts with qualitative data from 24 Black and White college students queried about their views of BLM and policing. The Facebook data revealed that White males, who were the least active in posting about BLM, were most likely to criticize BLM protests. They also believed incidents of police brutality were exceptions that tainted an otherwise commendable profession. In contrast, Black individuals commonly saw the case of George Floyd as consistent with a longstanding pattern of injustice that takes an emotional toll, and as an egregious exemplification of racism that calls for indictment of the status quo. The exploratory data in this article also illustrate how even for a cause célèbre, attention on Facebook ebbs over time. This phenomenon obscures the urgency of effecting change, especially for persons whose understanding of racism is influenced by its coverage on social media. The need to recognize the divergence of views—how they vary by sex and race and their connection to social media—remains critical for progress in determining the best steps forward in race relations and police reform.
Highlights
With the growing role of social media as a source of news (Anspach 2017; Boczkowski et al 2018; Fletcher and Nielsen 2018; Hopp et al 2020), videos of violence by police posted on social media have become an increasingly prominent source of hashtags and an impetus for mobilizing social justice movements (Anderson 2016; Bowman 2017; Clark et al 2017; Lake et al 2018)
Facebook posts with qualitative data from 24 Black and White college students queried about their views of Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) and policing
White males were least supportive of BLM
Summary
With the growing role of social media as a source of news (Anspach 2017; Boczkowski et al 2018; Fletcher and Nielsen 2018; Hopp et al 2020), videos of violence by police posted on social media have become an increasingly prominent source of hashtags and an impetus for mobilizing social justice movements (Anderson 2016; Bowman 2017; Clark et al 2017; Lake et al 2018) Social media sites such as Facebook are one means to rally the public (Miethe et al 2019), allowing users to discuss police brutality in online settings, independent of an incident’s coverage in traditional media (Bordonaro and Willits 2018; Umamaheswar 2020). Nationwide and international outrage about the death of Floyd emerged by June 1
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