Social Media Debate Research Articles

Public perceptions of international genetic information sharing for biomedical research in China: a case study of the social media debate on the article “A Pangenome Reference of 36 Chinese Populations” published in Nature

BackgroundThe international disclosure of Chinese human genetic data continues to be a contentious issue in China, generating public debates in both traditional and social media channels. Concerns have intensified after Chinese scientists’ research on pangenome data was published in the prestigious journal Nature.MethodsThis study scrutinized microblogs posted on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media site, in the two months immediately following the publication (June 14, 2023–August 21, 2023). Content analysis was conducted to assess the nature of public responses, justifications for positive or negative attitudes, and the users’ overall knowledge of how Chinese human genetic information is regulated and managed in China.ResultsWeibo users displayed contrasting attitudes towards the article’s public disclose of pangenome research data, with 18% positive, 64% negative, and 18% neutral. Positive attitudes came primarily from verified government and media accounts, which praised the publication. In contrast, negative attitudes originated from individual users who were concerned about national security and health risks and often believed that the researchers have betrayed China. The benefits of data sharing highlighted in the commentaries included advancements in disease research and scientific progress. Approximately 16% of the microblogs indicated that Weibo users had misunderstood existing regulations and laws governing data sharing and stewardship.ConclusionsBased on the predominantly negative public attitudes toward scientific data sharing established by our study, we recommend enhanced outreach by scientists and scientific institutions to increase the public understanding of developments in genetic research, international data sharing, and associated regulations. Additionally, governmental agencies can alleviate public fears and concerns by being more transparent about their security reviews of international collaborative research involving Chinese human genetic data and its cross-border transfer.

Affective, defective, and infective narratives on social media about nuclear energy and atomic conflict during the 2022 Italian electoral campaign

In the digital age, poor public communication catalyzes the spread of disinformation within public opinion. Anyone can produce political content that can reach a global audience, and social media has become a vital tool for political leaders to convey messages to the electorate. The 2022 Italian election campaign has seen the term “nuclear” debated with two different declinations: on the one hand, regarding nuclear energy for civilian use, and on the other hand, regarding the fear of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and the use of atomic weapons. This research aims to analyze the social media debate by exploring multiplatform dynamics to qualitatively identify and analyze the connections between social media platforms that we have termed Bridges, a concept drawn from Transmedia Theory to describe the narrative relationship between platforms. The methodological approach will follow an explanatory sequential design that will rely on digital methods to identify connections between platforms (bridges) and then apply an exploratory qualitative approach to enrich the data and capture the nuances of the debate. As expected, we found polarized positions and fragmentation on both issues of civilian nuclear energy and the atomic conflict narrative. Primary evidence shows bridges spreading affective, defective, and infective content across platforms in a multifaceted social media ecosystem. Affective refers to rhetoric that appeals to people’s feelings. Defective means the discussion that brings attention to hyper-partisan news channels, fake news, and misinformation. Infective means bridges with below-the-radar platforms, niche channels, or pseudo-information channels. They use bridges with mainstream platforms to gain the potential to go viral. The paper highlights the importance of cross-platform and interdisciplinary approaches to addressing disinformation in a media ecosystem where social media plays an increasing role in a country’s democratic dynamics.

Threat, fixable or opportunity? Contested smart home futures in the German social media debate

The idea of the ‘smart home’ envisions futures of a transformed day-to-day life. However, contrary to the glossy visions of the smart home industry, the public discourse in Germany is marked by skepticism due to concerns about data protection, security risks and state surveillance. This paper seeks to illustrate how certain social groups imagine the smart home and how fears and promises related to the digitalized home shape the public social media debate in Germany. We advance the analysis of smart energy futures with a novel methodological approach which combines quantitative network analysis with qualitative discourse analysis. We apply our approach to the online discourse around ‘#smarthome’ on Twitter and related media spaces in Germany in 2018 and 2019, which unveils the contested German smart home imaginaries.We identify five discourse coalitions that constitute shared understandings and perceptions of smart home futures in the social media sphere in Germany: Threat, Hackable, Useless, Fixable and Opportunity. Those discourse coalitions form around specific storylines that reveal partly opposing perspectives and competing ideas on what smart home systems might or should entail for society. Our empirical analyses reveal that in Germany, the envisioned smart home is highly contested and public discourse on social media is dominated by actors who critically interrogate the promises and prospects of smart home futures.

The Genderbread Person: mapping the social media debate about inclusive sexuality education

ABSTRACT In June 2021, a member of the Belgian conservative political party (N-VA) sparked online controversy regarding inclusive sexuality education by criticising the Genderbread Person, an educational tool used to explain gender identity and sexual orientation. This study analyses the notion of childhood innocence in online debate about the Genderbread Person utilising a mixed-methods approach. Using the framework of anti-genderism and heteroactivism, it analyses resistance against and the support for informing children about gender and sexual diversity. Based on 673 tweets, the study identifies who features in this debate, which positions are articulated, and which discursive themes (de)legitimise inclusive sexuality education. Using qualitative analysis, we identify four discursive themes against and three in favour of inclusive sexuality education based on how children are represented in this online discussion. Our quantitative analysis indicates that social media debate is primarily supportive of inclusive sexuality education. However, the findings suggest anti-gender beliefs are beginning to find their way into Belgian online debate.

Excessiveness in a German Social Media Debate on Gender-fair Language

Gender-fair language is a contested topic in contemporaryGermany. Many reports on the introduction of language changes meantto reduce discrimination result in heated debates in print, online andsocial media.In this article, I qualitatively analyse a selected debate on gender-fairlanguage on Twitter to find out how excessive the language use is andwho makes use of what kind of excessive language. The time frame ofanalysis covers a critical discourse moment in 2018 during which theCouncil for German Orthography for the first time dealt with new gen-der-fair spelling variants. Since the Council, being the only official lan-guage planning institution for German, publishes the official regulationson orthography valid in schools and administrative bodies in Germany,its decision was highly anticipated and disputed.The analysed debate contained only a few argumentative exchangeson the topic. In general, it can be said that Twitter was mostly used to takea stance, not to engage in discussions. The overall style of the debate waspolemic and exhibited many and various instances of excessive languageuse, mostly by opponents of gender-fair language. This group made useof vulgar language, pejoratives and in some cases direct insults. Theyespecially questioned their adversaries’ mental health. Only a few pro-ponents used excessive language when they insinuated a lack of mentalcapacity in their adversaries.

Victims or agents for change?

This paper analyzes the social media debate on sustainable fashion on the basis of a multilingual dataset of Instagram posts and tweets. We focus on how women are discursively represented in terms of agentivity and how this is associated to different argumentative strategies. Our findings reveal a clear link between an argumentation denouncing the “ill” of the fashion system and women represented as victims; and between arguments proposing a “cure” to the problem and women represented either as recipients of a positive action or as agents bringing about change. Positive representation of women as agents is often made through arguments based on concrete examples, which show that change is already happening.

Modelling argumentation in short text: A case of social media debate

The technological leaps of artificial intelligence (AI) and the rise of machine learning have triggered significant progress in a plethora of natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding tasks. One of these tasks is argumentation mining which has received significant interest in recent years and is regarded as a key domain for future decision-making systems, behaviour modelling, and natural language understanding problems. Until recently, natural language modelling tasks, such as computational argumentation schemes, were often tested in controlled environments, such as persuasive essays, reducing unexpected behaviours that could occur in real-life settings, like a public debate on social media. Additionally, the growing demand for enhancing the trust and the explainability of the AI services has dictated the design and adoption of modelling schemes to increase the confidence in the outcomes of the AI solutions. This paper attempts to explore modelling argumentation in short text and proposes a novel framework for argumentation detection under the name Abstract Framework for Argumentation Detection (AFAD). Moreover, different proof-of-concept implementations are provided to examine the applicability of the proposed framework to very short text developing a rule-based mechanism and compare the results with data-driven solutions. Eventually, a combination of the deployed methods is applied increasing the correct predictions in the minority class on an imbalanced dataset. The findings suggest that the modelling process provides solid grounds for technical research while the hybrid solutions have the potential to be applied to a wide range of NLP-related tasks offering a deeper understanding of human language and reasoning.

The breaking of secrecy: Analysis of the hashtag #MeTooInceste regarding testimonies of sexual incest abuse in childhood

BackgroundIncest remains one of the great taboos of contemporary society. Secrecy is also crucial in this type of sexual abuse against children, and many victims do not disclose their testimony. This situation changed, when in France in mid-January 2021, the #MeTooIncest movement emerged, and thousands of victims began to reveal the abuse they had suffered as children. ObjectiveTo analyze the discourse on Twitter regarding this hashtag to understand how incest abuse has been dealt with through social media debate. In so doing, we expected to identify the main elements that could explain how people have symbolically constructed and engaged with childhood sexual abuse in general and with incest abuse in particular. Participants and settingIn total, 20,556 tweets with the hashtag #MeTooIncest written in French were selected by streaming API from January 14 to February 15, 2021. MethodsTheir content was analyzed by lexical analysis using Iramuteq software (Reinert method). ResultsVictims found a space for disclosure in this movement, where they felt believed, protected, and supported. This movement also embraced the victims of celebrity abusers, denouncing them and calling for their exclusion from public life. Likewise, at the societal level, this movement pushed for changes in public policies to protect children and emphasized the importance of breaking the public silence or secrecy about incest abuse. ConclusionsThis wave of testimonies represents a turning point as it has broken the law of silence and allowed the victims to exist in the media space without being questioned.

Can We Trust Social Media?

The paper presents a social media debate and introduces four position papers on social media as information sources. False information, uneven quality of information, bias, manipulation, and insufficient control of false information are the main reasons against trusting information on social media. Providing a level playing field for all voices, disseminating information efficiently, making valuable information more accessible, and balancing the power in scholarly communication are the reasons for trusting information on social media. The paper also examines the reasons for social media use and applies the concept of trust from e-commerce management literature to assess social media information.

Social Media Debate Position 3: Social Media as a Credible Source of Information

This article examines the ways in which social media has grown into a commonly used source of information and news. It considers the ways social media can be both an asset and a hindrance to the spread of true, verifiable information. The article delves into the many ways that social media is utilized by society, from situations in which it is used to spread useful information during public emergencies to the unfortunate reality of the spread of misinformation. Social media can be a place for people to come together and share true and accurate information, as well as a place where misinformation is spread. Society must be made aware of the risks that an over reliance on social media poses, especially in terms of how it can spread misinformation and cause division in the world.

Social Media Debate Position 2: A Problematic Environment- Against the Use of Social Media for Credible Information

This paper seeks to argue against the use of social media as an information resource and, in particular, that social media should not presently be considered a credible source of information for information professionals and the general public. Based on an exploration of the current literature, the authors discuss negative aspects of using social media for information purposes, namely, in terms of the dubious credibility of social media content, the commonality of echo chambers, and the effect of emotional content on users. There are several benefits of social media within our society, but ultimately social media should be approached with caution when it is used as a source of information for news, health-related information, or scholarly topics. Although this paper critiques social media primarily in terms of its implications for the library and information science field, it also views these various issues associated with social media more broadly in terms of their implications for the general public in shaping contemporary American culture, society, and politics.

Social Media Debate Position 4: Social Media and Information Services

Social media provides a constant stream of information and offers everyday citizens an easy way to connect with breaking news. The authors of this report conducted a literature review to analyze the impact of social media on information services. This research indicated that social media can be used as a reliable information source, but its use comes with benefits and drawbacks. This report focuses on social media and information accessibility; the open playing field concept; the history and future impact of social media; research inclusivity; and the qualities of scholarly communication through social media platforms. Finally, the authors present recommendations for both public social media users and information professionals to consider when retrieving information from social media.

Waved and unwaved flags: Nation and sexuality in a social media debate in Cyprus

AbstractThis article focuses on the ways in which LGBT+ flag raising in a university at the Republic of Cyprus was debated in a social media environment. It aims to examine the ways in which discourses around sexuality intersect with discourses around the nation in a postcolonial, ethnically divided, European context. One hundred four comments posted on the university Facebook page were analysed through Thematic and Rhetorical analysis. Analysis revealed three main ways of accounting for the flag incident in which sexuality and LGBT+ issues are represented as (a) inferior to national issues, (b) symbolic and/or tangible threat to the nation and (c) personal (instead of collective) identity that should not be waved in public. The discussion focuses on the ways in which the findings differentiate from literature on homonationalism and on their implications for constructing collectiveness and understanding citizenship.

Surveilling COVID-19 Emotional Contagion on Twitter by Sentiment Analysis.

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic seems to encompass a social media debate, possibly resulting in emotional contagion and the need for novel surveillance approaches. In the current study, we aimed to examine the flow and content of tweets, exploring the role of COVID-19 key events on the popular Twitter platform. Using representative freely available data, we performed a focused, social media-based analysis to capture COVID-19 discussions on Twitter, considering sentiment and longitudinal trends between January 19 and March 3, 2020. Different populations of users were considered. Core discussions were explored measuring tweets' sentiment, by both computing a polarity compound score with 95% Confidence Interval and using a transformer-based model, pretrained on a large corpus of COVID-19-related Tweets. Context-dependent meaning and emotion-specific features were considered. We gathered 3,308,476 tweets written in English. Since the first World Health Organization report (January 21), negative sentiment proportion of tweets gradually increased as expected, with amplifications following key events. Sentiment scores were increasingly negative among most active users. Tweets content and flow revealed an ongoing scenario in which the global emergency seems difficult to be emotionally managed, as shown by sentiment trajectories. Integrating social media like Twitter as essential surveillance tools in the management of the pandemic and its waves might actually represent a novel preventive approach to hinder emotional contagion, disseminating reliable information and nurturing trust. There is the need to monitor and sustain healthy behaviors as well as community supports also via social media-based preventive interventions.

Mask and Ye Shall Receive.

A physician engages in a social media debate regarding mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic and searches for truth and virtue, primarily charity. While wearing masks is commonplace and vital during the COVID-19 pandemic to those working in healthcare, the lay perspective on wearing masks is more varied and can be skewed by politicization, pseudoscience, and misinterpretation. The practicing Catholic physician serves as an important witness to the truth of science and Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The question of mask-wearing is transformed from merely being a scientific question to more of a moral and theological question.

Dialectic nature of digital culture: theoretical analysis of evolutionary ‘digital Buddhism’ of social media debate

International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (IJMS) is published by the Faculty of Graduate Studies - University of Sri Jayewardenepura. IJMS provides a supportive environment for multidisciplinary researchers to publish their contribution to the academy of knowledge and wisdom. Focus of the journal is on multidisciplinary research which should cover at least two distinct disciplines.

Assisted dying in New Zealand: what is known about the values underpinning citizens’ positions?

ABSTRACT In New Zealand, aiding and abetting a person to commit suicide or euthanasia even with consent, is unlawful. The introduction of a third Bill on assisted dying to the House of Representatives following a high profile court case, afforded an opportunity for examining how assisted dying is discussed in the public sphere. Social media postings include the voices of citizens who may not participate in formal public consultation processes. Contributors’ posts reveal deeply held socio-cultural values, as well as tensions about the relationship between citizens and the apparatus of government. In this article, we report on a discourse analysis of a selection of social media postings to illustrate the values that underpin the positions taken by contributors to these fora. These illustrate what many New Zealand citizens perceive to be at stake. The social media debate over how we should die reveals deeper issues about the nature of the society we want to live in, and the relationship between the State and citizens.

Social Media Debate Position 1: Against the Use of Social Media as a Credible Source of Information

There are ongoing conversations among information professionals on whether social media can be considered a credible source of information. The very features of social media platforms that make them attractive to users, such as their ability to create and share content, also make these platforms very open to false and misleading content, which calls all content on these platforms into question. The platforms themselves have not yet perfected moderation processes to filter out all misleading and harmful misinformation. This paper contends that for these and other reasons, the social media landscape in its current state cannot be considered a credible source of information. These issues negatively affect user expectations; however, the platforms continue to attract users and thereby present opportunities for misinformation to cause harm. All of these concerns affect the efforts of information professionals to instruct users on identifying false content, as well as the online behavior of these information organizations themselves. This paper discusses the issues of mis- and dis-information and lack of effective content moderation, and examines how information professionals and other users are affected by these issues.

Out of office replies and what they can say about you.

An automated e-mail response posted on Twitter unleashed a social-media debate about the importance of work–life balance. An automated e-mail response posted on Twitter unleashed a social-media debate about the importance of work–life balance.

Bare Flesh and Sticky Milk: An Affective Conflict Over Public Breastfeeding

On New Year’s Day 2016, a photograph of a breastfeeding woman taken by a Finnish celebrity sparked a social media debate over mothers nursing in public. By analyzing Instagram posts and a discussion forum thread, this article explores the affective body politics involved in this short-lived yet intense social media debate. It examines the power of hashtags and images in mobilizing motherhood as a site of political agency. Concurrently, it investigates how social media users negotiated the appropriate public presentations of the female body and how the celebrity’s gayness became an object of negative affect. The analysis of the incident makes visible how social norms concerning motherhood and heteronormativity are articulated in social media. It also demonstrates how affect sticks to images, texts, and bodies and becomes a binding force in social media discussions concerning them. The article argues that Instagram’s hashtag practices facilitated affective engagement for those following #teriniitti. It further argues that the affective dynamics of the case demonstrate how affective intensities stick on gay bodies and lactating bodies as objects of disgust, fascination, and desire.