Abstract
In light of the need for political plurality and informed debate this study questions information distribution and curation on Twitter. We contribute to the understanding of ideological homophily by exploring the notion of the ‘echo chamber’. Using a sample of two weeks of Dutch Twitter data, we combine network analysis of retweet networks, with qualitative reading and categorisation of engagement with media content in tweets within political topic communities. We found that media references were predominantly framed in affirmative ways in relation to the referenced medium content. Our findings show that users consciously select media messages that correspond with the general sentiment within their topic community, or frame them accordingly. We see this as a willful ‘echo chamber’, or a ‘repillarisation’.
Highlights
In the wake of Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, and the rise of nationalist populism in Europe, policy makers are concerned about the way social media affect public opinion
We focus on social filtering as it applies to information dispersal on Twitter amongst politically interested topic communities, and their engagement with that media content
Studying how mainstream and alternative media news from Reddit and 4Chan spread to Twitter, Zannettou et al (2017) demonstrate that alt-right communities can influence dissemination of fringe content to mainstream social media platforms. These publications (Benkler et al, 2017; Zannettou et al, 2017) and our study demonstrate that topic communities, and even fringe communities are intertwined with mainstream media through social media and other mediators
Summary
In the wake of Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, and the rise of nationalist populism in Europe, policy makers are concerned about the way social media affect public opinion. This paper analyses users’ media practices of selecting and disseminating media messages in political topic communities on Twitter For this purpose, we investigated the Dutch Twittersphere, paying particular attention to ways in which media content such as diverse journalistic contributions taken from mainstream media and alternative outlets are framed. Looking at the media practices, our analysis reveals conscious choices made by users about which media messages to select and how to frame them for the intended audience in different political topic communities on Twitter. Sampling media references from both the ‘center-left’ and ‘(far-)right’ communities allowed us to analyse the particular ways in which this content is received, framed, and negotiated within the overall Dutch Twittersphere and within said ‘echo chamber’ of a politically interested topic community. We offer new insights in how politically interested communities engage with media content, such as news, opinion pieces and so forth, derived from traditional media, as well as other diverse media outlets
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