Access and appropriation of journalistic news on social networks in Brazil: Refining the notion of “participation”

Abstract

This article examines forms of appropriation and mediated deliberation of news on the page of the centennial Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo accessed through the global social networking platform Facebook. The study focuses on interactions among users from the point of view of quality of participation, going beyond common practices of (dis)liking and/or sharing. Comments to news articles posted by the newspaper are taken as a more active and detailed kind of participation for exchanging public communication argued by reasons. A comparative corpus of analysis was selected in the months of October 2015 and October 2016, totaling 386 posts and 1,911 comments, in order to understand and differentiate valid and responsible forms of participation able to construct and sustain democratic debate. One of the main findings was that 185 posts of the Estadão newspaper in our studied period of October 2015 generated 1,195 comments, but only 38% of these comments were considered to be qualified ones. One year later, data revealed completely different evidence. Although there were more posts on the Estadão page on Facebook, totaling 201, there were considerably fewer comments. Participation is discussed within the troubled political context and its relationship with the dramatic economic recession in the country.