Pub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1177/20563051251385438
Lydia Cheng, Bunty Avieson
Guided by boundary work, this study aims to investigate how lifestyle journalism’s boundaries are changing in response to the rise of creator culture. Specifically, this study seeks to understand how lifestyle journalists define and perceive new creators in their profession and what kind of boundary-making strategies they enact in reaction to such new actors. Through 31 interviews with Singaporean lifestyle journalists, the findings show that there is currently a dynamic and evolving ecosystem of distinct digital lifestyle players comprising lifestyle journalists, digital natives, bloggers, key opinion leaders and influencers, and that the journalists perceive a complex ‘frenemy’ relationship with these actors. Lifestyle journalists engage in a combination of expansion, expulsion and protection of autonomy boundary strategies to guard their profession’s boundaries against the incursions of these new lifestyle actors, but there is a clear shift towards expansion-led strategies. Lifestyle journalists seem to be increasingly welcoming of both newer social media actors and practices into their profession, signalling that lifestyle journalism now exists in a digital reputation economy where online visibility, above all else, serves as the foremost marker of professional success.
{"title":"A Complex New Media Ecology: Mapping Shifting Digital Players and Evolving Boundaries in Lifestyle Journalism","authors":"Lydia Cheng, Bunty Avieson","doi":"10.1177/20563051251385438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251385438","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by boundary work, this study aims to investigate how lifestyle journalism’s boundaries are changing in response to the rise of creator culture. Specifically, this study seeks to understand how lifestyle journalists define and perceive new creators in their profession and what kind of boundary-making strategies they enact in reaction to such new actors. Through 31 interviews with Singaporean lifestyle journalists, the findings show that there is currently a dynamic and evolving ecosystem of distinct digital lifestyle players comprising lifestyle journalists, digital natives, bloggers, key opinion leaders and influencers, and that the journalists perceive a complex ‘frenemy’ relationship with these actors. Lifestyle journalists engage in a combination of expansion, expulsion and protection of autonomy boundary strategies to guard their profession’s boundaries against the incursions of these new lifestyle actors, but there is a clear shift towards expansion-led strategies. Lifestyle journalists seem to be increasingly welcoming of both newer social media actors and practices into their profession, signalling that lifestyle journalism now exists in a digital reputation economy where online visibility, above all else, serves as the foremost marker of professional success.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"117 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145397911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1177/20563051251386721
Macau K. F. Mak, Michael W. Wagner
Many individuals regularly use multiple social media platforms, and their information exposure is shaped by the various networks they maintain across these platforms. Given the rising trend of multi-platform social media use, this article introduces a two-step approach to investigate how networks across platforms conjointly and distinctly relate to incidental exposure to news and political information. Our analysis of survey data from the United States showed that greater immersion in multiple politically heterogeneous networks across platforms predicted higher counter-attitudinal incidental exposure, while greater immersion in multiple politically homogeneous networks across platforms predicted higher pro-attitudinal incidental exposure. Among the popular platforms, immersion in networks on Facebook, X (Twitter), and YouTube played a particularly influential role in these relationships. Surprisingly, we also found that greater immersion in homogeneous networks across multiple platforms predicted higher counter-attitudinal exposure, even though immersion in any single platform’s homogeneous network was not a significant predictor.
{"title":"Multi-Platform Social Media Use and Incidental Exposure: A Two-Step Analysis of the Conjoint and Distinct Roles of Network Heterogeneity and Homogeneity Across Platforms","authors":"Macau K. F. Mak, Michael W. Wagner","doi":"10.1177/20563051251386721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251386721","url":null,"abstract":"Many individuals regularly use multiple social media platforms, and their information exposure is shaped by the various networks they maintain across these platforms. Given the rising trend of multi-platform social media use, this article introduces a two-step approach to investigate how networks across platforms <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">conjointly</jats:italic> and <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">distinctly</jats:italic> relate to incidental exposure to news and political information. Our analysis of survey data from the United States showed that greater immersion in multiple politically heterogeneous networks across platforms predicted higher counter-attitudinal incidental exposure, while greater immersion in multiple politically homogeneous networks across platforms predicted higher pro-attitudinal incidental exposure. Among the popular platforms, immersion in networks on Facebook, X (Twitter), and YouTube played a particularly influential role in these relationships. Surprisingly, we also found that greater immersion in homogeneous networks across multiple platforms predicted higher counter-attitudinal exposure, even though immersion in any single platform’s homogeneous network was not a significant predictor.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145397918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The “News Finds Me” (NFM) perception captures the common belief that one can stay informed without actively seeking news. This study aims to extend previous research by comparing the widely used general NFM measure with topic-specific perceptions of entertainment, sports, politics, COVID-19, and climate change news. We assess the strength, predictors, and outcomes of NFM perceptions across those different thematic domains. Our findings show that NFM perceptions are stronger for soft news (entertainment and sports) compared to hard news (politics, COVID-19, climate change). In addition, interest in a news topic is associated with lower NFM perceptions for hard news and higher perceptions for soft news. While the traditional NFM measure reflects “News Finds Me” perceptions in politics and COVID-19 well, it is not as effective in capturing perceptions of climate change and soft news. Our results emphasize the need to explore different news genres to better understand news consumption beliefs and behaviors.
{"title":"From Politics to Entertainment: Exploring “News Finds Me” Perceptions Across News Topics","authors":"Afrooz Mosallaei, Luxuan Wang, Katherine Ognyanova","doi":"10.1177/20563051251382442","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251382442","url":null,"abstract":"The “News Finds Me” (NFM) perception captures the common belief that one can stay informed without actively seeking news. This study aims to extend previous research by comparing the widely used general NFM measure with topic-specific perceptions of entertainment, sports, politics, COVID-19, and climate change news. We assess the strength, predictors, and outcomes of NFM perceptions across those different thematic domains. Our findings show that NFM perceptions are stronger for soft news (entertainment and sports) compared to hard news (politics, COVID-19, climate change). In addition, interest in a news topic is associated with lower NFM perceptions for hard news and higher perceptions for soft news. While the traditional NFM measure reflects “News Finds Me” perceptions in politics and COVID-19 well, it is not as effective in capturing perceptions of climate change and soft news. Our results emphasize the need to explore different news genres to better understand news consumption beliefs and behaviors.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145314547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-19DOI: 10.1177/20563051251350978
Laia Castro, Yannis Theocharis, Agnieszka Stępińska, David Nicolas Hopmann, Christian Schemer, Toril Aalberg, Ana Sofia Cardenal, Nicoleta Corbu, Claes de Vreese, Frank Esser, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Jörg Matthes, Tamir Sheafer, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyer, Jesper Strömbäck, Václav Štětka, Peter Van Aelst, Alon Zoizner
Social media provide unprecedented opportunities for public deliberation. However, a growing number of users perceive negativity in political debate taking place in those venues and are increasingly frustrated when discussing politics with those they disagree with. In this article, we test the proposition that perceiving online discussions as healthier (i.e. more polite and civil) than offline discussions invigorates online political participation. We rely on an online survey fielded in 17 European countries on more than 28,000 individuals. Our findings indicate that being embedded in healthier discussions on social media is more of an important predictor of online participation for those respondents reporting higher political discussion fatigue and less so for those perceiving online discussions as fun. Overall, our study offers cross-national evidence of why and for whom exposure to healthy political discussions online might be mobilizing.
{"title":"How do Healthy Political Discussions Invigorate Online Participation? Evidence from 17 European Countries","authors":"Laia Castro, Yannis Theocharis, Agnieszka Stępińska, David Nicolas Hopmann, Christian Schemer, Toril Aalberg, Ana Sofia Cardenal, Nicoleta Corbu, Claes de Vreese, Frank Esser, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Jörg Matthes, Tamir Sheafer, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyer, Jesper Strömbäck, Václav Štětka, Peter Van Aelst, Alon Zoizner","doi":"10.1177/20563051251350978","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251350978","url":null,"abstract":"Social media provide unprecedented opportunities for public deliberation. However, a growing number of users perceive negativity in political debate taking place in those venues and are increasingly frustrated when discussing politics with those they disagree with. In this article, we test the proposition that perceiving online discussions as <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">healthier</jats:italic> (i.e. more polite and civil) than offline discussions invigorates online political participation. We rely on an online survey fielded in 17 European countries on more than 28,000 individuals. Our findings indicate that being embedded in healthier discussions on social media is more of an important predictor of online participation for those respondents reporting higher political discussion fatigue and less so for those perceiving online discussions as fun. Overall, our study offers cross-national evidence of why and for whom exposure to healthy political discussions online might be mobilizing.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145314518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-18DOI: 10.1177/20563051251392686
{"title":"Corrigendum to “How to Spark Joy: Strategies of Depoliticization in Platform’s Corporate Social Initiatives”","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/20563051251392686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251392686","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"91 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145311033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-28DOI: 10.1177/20563051251366907
Nathaniel Tkacz, Robert W. Gehl
This article argues that a profound change has occurred in the spaces of social media, centring on the region formerly occupied by Twitter. More than Twitter rebranding as X, After Twitter refers to a historical punctuation point in the timeline of social media and an emerging social media reality. After Twitter registers the slow death of a set of ideals and related practices specific to platforms like Twitter, but also to the waning of ideals in relation to the communicative potentials of the open web more generally. We make three broad claims which characterise social media After Twitter: First, by way of an overview of alternatives and competitors including Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, Truth Social and more, we observe a social media fragmentation. Such fragmentation is not solely driven by economic forces or technological development and instead is understood along explicitly political lines. Second, we observe the rise of polarised platform polities. These polities reflect divergent political positions, create distinct political realities and foster different modes of interaction and belonging. Third, we observe a general shift from connective to protective forms of sociality, where users approach social media as if they are constantly in the presence of adversaries, and the ‘weak ties’ that once defined a web of opportunities are replaced by an assumed toxicity of ties. We conclude by reflecting on the nostalgia for the Twitter-that-was, suggesting the need to foster a critical and reflective relationship with the Twitter of old.
本文认为，社交媒体领域发生了深刻的变化，主要集中在以前被Twitter占据的领域。不仅仅是将Twitter重新命名为X， After Twitter指的是社交媒体时间轴上的一个历史标点点和新兴的社交媒体现实。Twitter记录了一系列特定于Twitter等平台的理想和相关实践的缓慢死亡，但也标志着与开放网络的交流潜力相关的理想的减弱。首先，通过对包括Bluesky、Mastodon、Threads、Truth social等在内的替代品和竞争对手的概述，我们观察到社交媒体的碎片化。这种分裂不仅仅是由经济力量或技术发展驱动的，而是按照明确的政治路线来理解的。其次，我们观察到两极分化的政纲政治正在兴起。这些政治反映了不同的政治立场，创造了不同的政治现实，促进了不同的互动和归属模式。第三，我们观察到一种从连接到保护的社交形式的普遍转变，在这种情况下，用户接触社交媒体时，就好像他们一直处于对手面前，曾经定义机会网络的“弱关系”被假定的毒性关系所取代。最后，我们反思了人们对Twitter过去的怀念，并建议我们与旧Twitter建立一种批判和反思的关系。
{"title":"After Twitter: Fragmentation, Platform Polities and Protective Sociality","authors":"Nathaniel Tkacz, Robert W. Gehl","doi":"10.1177/20563051251366907","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251366907","url":null,"abstract":"This article argues that a profound change has occurred in the spaces of social media, centring on the region formerly occupied by Twitter. More than Twitter rebranding as X, After Twitter refers to a historical punctuation point in the timeline of social media and an emerging social media reality. After Twitter registers the slow death of a set of ideals and related practices specific to platforms like Twitter, but also to the waning of ideals in relation to the communicative potentials of the open web more generally. We make three broad claims which characterise social media After Twitter: First, by way of an overview of alternatives and competitors including Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, Truth Social and more, we observe a social media fragmentation. Such fragmentation is not solely driven by economic forces or technological development and instead is understood along explicitly political lines. Second, we observe the rise of polarised platform polities. These polities reflect divergent political positions, create distinct political realities and foster different modes of interaction and belonging. Third, we observe a general shift from connective to protective forms of sociality, where users approach social media as if they are constantly in the presence of adversaries, and the ‘weak ties’ that once defined a web of opportunities are replaced by an assumed toxicity of ties. We conclude by reflecting on the nostalgia for the Twitter-that-was, suggesting the need to foster a critical and reflective relationship with the Twitter of old.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"90 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145181196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-28DOI: 10.1177/20563051251382473
Sarah Witmer
This study examines digital vigilantism videos on TikTok and their role in highlighting systemic barriers to traditional justice. Through textual analysis of 50 TikTok “vigilante videos” and the 244,600 comments supporting them, this research explores how women employ weaponized exposure to pursue informal justice across a spectrum of experienced harms. While prevailing scholarship highlights the risks of digital vigilantism, this project provides a critical feminist perspective, emphasizing the tension between carceral and anticarceral approaches to justice. Findings reveal “vigilante videos” serve three key functions: (1) facilitating retributive action against perpetrators, (2) transforming victims’ shame into collective empowerment, and (3) creating protective networks safeguarding potential future victims. By engaging with these videos, TikTok users foster a sense of crowd-sourced justice, amplifying the voices of women who have been failed by traditional legal avenues. These digital practices reflect a broader critique of the carceral state and demonstrate how women navigate justice outside of formal systems. This research contributes to scholarship on TikTok, cultural criminology activism, and anitcarceral feminism.
{"title":"Video Vigilantes: The Digital Fight for Vengeance Against Perpetrators on TikTok","authors":"Sarah Witmer","doi":"10.1177/20563051251382473","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251382473","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines digital vigilantism videos on TikTok and their role in highlighting systemic barriers to traditional justice. Through textual analysis of 50 TikTok “vigilante videos” and the 244,600 comments supporting them, this research explores how women employ weaponized exposure to pursue informal justice across a spectrum of experienced harms. While prevailing scholarship highlights the risks of digital vigilantism, this project provides a critical feminist perspective, emphasizing the tension between carceral and anticarceral approaches to justice. Findings reveal “vigilante videos” serve three key functions: (1) facilitating retributive action against perpetrators, (2) transforming victims’ shame into collective empowerment, and (3) creating protective networks safeguarding potential future victims. By engaging with these videos, TikTok users foster a sense of crowd-sourced justice, amplifying the voices of women who have been failed by traditional legal avenues. These digital practices reflect a broader critique of the carceral state and demonstrate how women navigate justice outside of formal systems. This research contributes to scholarship on TikTok, cultural criminology activism, and anitcarceral feminism.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145181204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-28DOI: 10.1177/20563051251382451
Melissa Carolee Brown, Reyna Rajkumar, Kaitlin Webster
This study examines how women of color on TikTok engage with the viral “outfit transition” trend to assert ethnic pride, resist cultural assimilation, and build digital communities. Our research builds on literature exploring TikTok’s affordances and digital fashion culture, focusing on how women of color use the application to challenge aesthetic assimilation and celebrate ethnocultural identity. Using critical technocultural discourse analysis (CTDA) and digital ethnography, we analyzed 63 TikTok videos to explore how audiovisual features (e.g., audio, hashtags, and comments) enable marginalized creators to challenge western aesthetic dominance. The findings reveal that women of color strategically use TikTok to construct a subaltern digital commons, celebrating ethnic pride while fostering solidarity across diaspora communities. These creators promote cross-cultural engagement by inviting non-ethnic viewers to learn about and respectfully engage with their cultures on their terms. This study expands on studies of digital fashion culture to show how TikTok’s outfit transition trend functions as an online space to resist Eurocentric beauty standards while centering non-white femininities and cultural aesthetics. In addition, our analysis sheds light on how these creators navigate algorithmic biases that often limit visibility for marginalized groups. Women of color creatively rework viral trends to enhance their visibility, asserting control over how they and their communities are represented online. Ultimately, the study underscores TikTok’s potential as a site for community building and intercultural exchange, where women of color challenge colonial legacies in fashion while sustaining digital spaces for ethnocultural uplift.
{"title":"Fashioning Ethnic Pride: Women of Color and the Outfit Transition Trend on TikTok","authors":"Melissa Carolee Brown, Reyna Rajkumar, Kaitlin Webster","doi":"10.1177/20563051251382451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251382451","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines how women of color on TikTok engage with the viral “outfit transition” trend to assert ethnic pride, resist cultural assimilation, and build digital communities. Our research builds on literature exploring TikTok’s affordances and digital fashion culture, focusing on how women of color use the application to challenge aesthetic assimilation and celebrate ethnocultural identity. Using critical technocultural discourse analysis (CTDA) and digital ethnography, we analyzed 63 TikTok videos to explore how audiovisual features (e.g., audio, hashtags, and comments) enable marginalized creators to challenge western aesthetic dominance. The findings reveal that women of color strategically use TikTok to construct a subaltern digital commons, celebrating ethnic pride while fostering solidarity across diaspora communities. These creators promote cross-cultural engagement by inviting non-ethnic viewers to learn about and respectfully engage with their cultures on their terms. This study expands on studies of digital fashion culture to show how TikTok’s outfit transition trend functions as an online space to resist Eurocentric beauty standards while centering non-white femininities and cultural aesthetics. In addition, our analysis sheds light on how these creators navigate algorithmic biases that often limit visibility for marginalized groups. Women of color creatively rework viral trends to enhance their visibility, asserting control over how they and their communities are represented online. Ultimately, the study underscores TikTok’s potential as a site for community building and intercultural exchange, where women of color challenge colonial legacies in fashion while sustaining digital spaces for ethnocultural uplift.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145183149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-27DOI: 10.1177/20563051251378233
Angeline Marie Letourneau
Social media platforms are crucial for political and social engagement, where identity profoundly shapes public opinion. While existing research explores social media and identity, the rise of sophisticated bots complicates this relationship; bots programmed to mimic human identity groups may influence discourse and sway opinion on critical issues like elections and climate change. Addressing a gap in theoretical work, this article proposes the concept of instrumental bot identities, explaining how bots can be strategically designed to leverage and co-opt social identity processes for enhanced impact. By developing a theoretical framework, I outline the characteristics (e.g. relevance, familiarity, anonymity) and interaction patterns (e.g. influencing ingroup/outgroup dynamics) that could make specific identities instrumental for bot campaigns. Using the case of fossil fuel workers, a politically salient group in energy transition discussions, the article illustrates how bots could simulate classed and gendered characteristics to reinforce stereotypes, shape group norms, and ultimately influence public attitudes toward decarbonization policies. This framework highlights that bot effectiveness may stem from exploiting identity-motivated reasoning, offering crucial insights for understanding and mitigating online manipulation in polarized contexts.
{"title":"Instrumental Bot Identities and the Politics of Online Discourse","authors":"Angeline Marie Letourneau","doi":"10.1177/20563051251378233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251378233","url":null,"abstract":"Social media platforms are crucial for political and social engagement, where identity profoundly shapes public opinion. While existing research explores social media and identity, the rise of sophisticated bots complicates this relationship; bots programmed to mimic human identity groups may influence discourse and sway opinion on critical issues like elections and climate change. Addressing a gap in theoretical work, this article proposes the concept of instrumental bot identities, explaining how bots can be strategically designed to leverage and co-opt social identity processes for enhanced impact. By developing a theoretical framework, I outline the characteristics (e.g. relevance, familiarity, anonymity) and interaction patterns (e.g. influencing ingroup/outgroup dynamics) that could make specific identities instrumental for bot campaigns. Using the case of fossil fuel workers, a politically salient group in energy transition discussions, the article illustrates how bots could simulate classed and gendered characteristics to reinforce stereotypes, shape group norms, and ultimately influence public attitudes toward decarbonization policies. This framework highlights that bot effectiveness may stem from exploiting identity-motivated reasoning, offering crucial insights for understanding and mitigating online manipulation in polarized contexts.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145181202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-24DOI: 10.1177/20563051251380480
Dien Nguyen An Luong, Hong Tien Vu
Grounded in the conceptual frameworks of protest framing and digital repression, this study examines the adaptive messaging strategies employed by Vietnamese environmental activists in response to escalating repression, through physical coercion, across two key periods: before and after mid-2021. Our analysis of the Facebook content of one of Vietnam’s leading environmental groups indicates significant changes in the group’s adoption of protest frames, topical frames, and narrative roles, highlighting how activists balance public engagement with safety under authoritarian constraints. Specifically, after a wave of arrests of high-profile environmental activists, activists shifted their message framing strategies from motivational to diagnostic, focusing more on information provision rather than encouraging public engagement. In addition, after the arrests, activists increasingly shifted their narrative roles, increasing their blame on corporations as villains, while positioning the environment as a primary victim. This study enriches our understanding of digital activism in authoritarian contexts, offering theoretical insights and practical guidance for movements under similar constraints.
{"title":"Framing Under Fire: Navigating Environmental Activism on Social Media Amid Digital Repression","authors":"Dien Nguyen An Luong, Hong Tien Vu","doi":"10.1177/20563051251380480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251380480","url":null,"abstract":"Grounded in the conceptual frameworks of protest framing and digital repression, this study examines the adaptive messaging strategies employed by Vietnamese environmental activists in response to escalating repression, through physical coercion, across two key periods: before and after mid-2021. Our analysis of the Facebook content of one of Vietnam’s leading environmental groups indicates significant changes in the group’s adoption of protest frames, topical frames, and narrative roles, highlighting how activists balance public engagement with safety under authoritarian constraints. Specifically, after a wave of arrests of high-profile environmental activists, activists shifted their message framing strategies from motivational to diagnostic, focusing more on information provision rather than encouraging public engagement. In addition, after the arrests, activists increasingly shifted their narrative roles, increasing their blame on corporations as villains, while positioning the environment as a primary victim. This study enriches our understanding of digital activism in authoritarian contexts, offering theoretical insights and practical guidance for movements under similar constraints.","PeriodicalId":47920,"journal":{"name":"Social Media + Society","volume":"103 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145141501","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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