AEJMC presentation of "Disaster Memes: A Thematic Study of Social Media Content in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey"

2. A THEMATIC STUDY OF
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT IN
THE WAKE OF HURRICANE
HARVEY
DISASTER MEMES By Andrew B Church

3. HURRICANE HARVEY
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DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

4. ▸New area of study
▸Internet memes as a genre of new media.
▸Theoretical framework
▸Visual framing.
▸Purpose
▸Identify and analyze themes that typify disaster response memes;
▸Expand literature on new media from a visual framing perspective of natural disaster response.
▸Method
▸Content analysis of Hurricane Harvey memes appearing on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
▸Findings
▸Social media users focus on relief efforts, devastation, and government response…
▸…but there are some surprising results that are centered around aspects of sexism and religion.
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH
ABSTRACT

5. ▸“Laughter is the best medicine.”
▸Memetic humor deployed as an emotional catharsis during crises.
▸Memes:
▸Digitally created and virally shared images, usually intended to be humorous, that predominantly identifies current
events using popular culture references.
▸Communicate complex ideas using a reduction process of satirical humor.
▸Visual Framing:
▸Simplifies complex concepts into more accessible forms of visual-verbal communication.
▸Other Studies:
▸Activism / feminism;
▸Advice animal memes;
▸Political rioting.
LIT. REVIEW: HIGHLIGHTS
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

6. ▸Richard Dawkins (1976): coined the term meme to describe a self-replicating unit of cultural evolution that
may take the form of “tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building
arches” (2006, p. 192).
▸Marta Dynel (2016): focuses on the digital space of memes to provide context for her definition, which she
argues is “an idea, style, or action that spreads via the Internet in the form of mimicry, which may be variously
expressed (e.g., by planking in public places, dancing to the Harlem Shake, or creating a picture-based joke)”
(2016: p. 662).
▸Wiggins & Bowers (2015): differentiates memes by their stages of development (spreadable media,
emergent memes, and memes), emphasizing their online presence through participatory culture.
▸Piñeiro-Otero & Martínez-Rolán (2016): virality is as an essential trait of memes.
▸Knobel & Lankshear (2007): that memes have four purposes: social commentary, absurdist humor, media
fandom, and hoaxes or pranks.
MEMES
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

7. ▸Entman (2007): the bedrock principle of framing is “the process of culling a few elements of
perceived reality and assembling a narrative that highlights connections among them to promote
a particular interpretation.”
▸Powell (2015), Ben-Porath & Shaker (2010), Abraham & Appiah (2006): media act as visual
gatekeepers by emphasizing certain images or types of images with specific visual content.
▸Rodriguez & Dimitrova (2011): “images are powerful framing tools because they are less
intrusive than words and as such require less cognitive load… to create stronger emotional and
immediate cues” (p. 50).
▸Fahmy, Kelly, & Kim (2007): analyzes visual framing in photographic wire services and
newspapers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
FRAMING / VISUAL FRAMING
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

8. ▸Laineste & Voolaid (2017): underscore the use of humor as a globalizing and socializing agent in Internet
cultures, and that memes are sometimes the first places people turn to in reaction to an event or crisis.
▸Dynel (2016): examines the mechanics of humor use in memes and elaborates more about how memes are
funny, rather than merely why humor is used in the first place.
▸Shifman (2011): acknowledges humor as a defining characteristic of memes, yet argues that humor is used as a
means, rather than an end.
▸Ladegaard (2013): “laughter is used to create cohesion and enhance in-group solidarity,” as well as to “deal with
adversity without being destroyed by it” (p. 406-7).
▸Rutchick (2013): analyzes how trauma survivors express humor in therapy and argues, in part, that humor has
physical and psychological benefits.
▸Martin (2001), Hasan & Hasan (2009): demonstrate competing theories about levels of humor used in therapy.
HUMOR, COPING, AND MEMES
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

9. ▸RQ1: What visual framing techniques are used in Hurricane Harvey memes?
▸RQ2: What are the recurring themes found within Hurricane Harvey memes?
▸RQ3: What common sociopolitical critiques can be found within Hurricane
Harvey memes?
▸RQ4: How do social media users use memes to characterize the U.S.
government response to Hurricane Harvey?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

10. ▸Keyword search: hurricane, harvey, and meme.
▸Date range: on or after Aug. 23, 2017
▸Media sources: Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest
▸Memes were aggregated into separate spreadsheets, and each meme was given a unique
identifying number.
▸A random number generator was used to randomly select 50 memes from each of the
three social media sites. Thus, a corpus of 150 memes were randomly selected in equal
amounts from Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
▸Qualtrics was used to codify the sample, manage data, and provide statistical analyses.
METHODOLOGY
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

11. ▸A content analysis of the sample (n = 150) was conducted using cyclical,
focused coding technique.
▸Included:
▸General examination of each meme to reveal recurring themes, tone, apparent
intent, and tenor, as well as to register visual elements (e.g., subject matter) and
to textually summarize the meme.
▸Themes were reduced to find narrower characterizations of Hurricane Harvey.
▸Further condensation of the characterizations identified visual frame use.
MEASURES
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

12. ▸Tone
▸Disposition of visual and textual elements toward positivity, neutrality, or negativity.
▸Tenor
▸Assessment of the meme’s emotional tendency toward anger, evilness/corruption,
happiness, joviality, racism, seriousness, or sexism.
▸Intent
▸The apparent and dominant purpose of the meme in terms of the categories: humor,
social statement, religious statement, political statement, informational, Texas/Houston
pride, and inspirational.
TONE, TENOR, & INTENT
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

13. THEME USE
27
21
14
11
10
8
8
6
5
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
0 6 12 18 24 30
Relief efforts
anti-Osteen
Emergency preparedness
anti-Trump
anti-Media
Global warming
Resource availability
Christian mythology
anti-Obama
Forgot my...
Reality check
Hurricane cat
anti-Democrat
Fidget spinners
Count
Thematic Survey of Memes
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

14. VISUAL FRAME USE
28
22
20
18
15
11
10
10
7
7
2
0 6 12 18 24 30
Social Critique
Destruction
Political
Religion
Response
Absurdity/Humor
Emotional
Storm Personification
Adaptation
Pride/Inspiration
Environment/Global Warming
Count
Dominant Frame Used in Memes
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

15. MEME INTENT
Humor
(52.0%)
Social Statement
(12.7%)
Religious Statement
(11.3%)
Political Statement
11%
Informational
9%
Texas/Houston Pride
3%Inspirational
2%
Intent of MemesDISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

16. MEME TONALITY
Negative
60.7%Neutral
14.0%
Positive
25.3%
Overall Tonality of Memes
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

17. MEME TENOR
Jovial
32.0%
Serious
44.7%
Happy
1.3%
Angry
3%
Evil / Corrupt
12%
Sexist
6%
Racist
1%
Tenor of Memes
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

18. CONTEXTUALITY OF MEMES
Contextual Word Cloud of Meme
Summaries
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

19. ▸Words with most prominence in word cloud are Trump, Osteen, Harvey, patriarchal, and Texans,
among others.
▸Social critique memes accounted for 52 of the 150 (34.7%).
▸Top gripes:
▸Texas minister Joel Osteen
▸Sexism
▸President Trump
▸Top praises:
▸Responders and volunteers.
SOCIOPOLITICAL CRITIQUES
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

20. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE - METHOD 1
Government Response Themes by Tonality
Tone
Positive Neutral Negative Total
Gov’t
Response
Theme
Relief Efforts 14 35.0% 0 0.0% 13 32.5% 27 67.5%
Anti-Trump 1 2.5% 0 0.0% 7 17.5% 8 20.0%
Anti-Obama 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 2 5.0% 2 5.0%
Anti-Republican 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 2 5.0% 2 5.0%
Anti-Democrat 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 2.5% 1 2.5%
Total 15 37.5% 0 0.0% 25 62.5% 40 100%
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

21. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE - METHOD 2
Political Frame Cross Tabulation of Tone and Tenor
Tone
Positive Neutral Negative Total
Serious 4 20.0% 0 0.0% 9 45.0% 13 65.0%
Evil/Corrup
t
0 0.0% 0 0.0% 4 20.0% 4 20.0%
Tenor Angry 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 5.0% 1 5.0%
Happy 1 5.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 5.0%
Jovial 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 5.0% 1 5.0%
Total 5 25.0% 0 0.0% 15 75.0% 20 100%
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

22. ▸Considering both methods of answering RQ4…
▸U.S. government response memes were:
▸Mostly negative;
▸Politicized;
▸Shaped by some form of political blaming.
▸On the other hand, other memes praised relief efforts made by volunteers and responders.
▸It seems that as meme politicization increases, so does negativity. Although future studies
should work toward clarifying this relationship.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE - SUMMARY
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

23. ▸Food preference memes use stereotypes about Texans to make fun of their
preference (or non-preference) for certain types of food.
▸Humor plays a central role throughout the majority of memes, which is evident in the
prominence of humor intent (52%) and jovial tenor (32%).
▸While the destruction frame was used in 14.7% of the time, its intersectionality with
humor (11.3%) suggests humor is not only one of the principal goals of meme
propagation and communication (Laineste and Voolaid, 2017; Dynel, 2016).
▸Could also be a coping mechanism for psychological distress.
▸This is also in line with Ladegaard’s (2013) argument that humor is not always about
entertainment, but can also be used to bring people together and overcome
adversity.
▸Memetic response to the storm, as it relates to humor, may be shaped by both
psychology and the mode of communication.
▸Hence, Hurricane Harvey memes may be unifying and strengthening forces on
social media — through the use of humor.
▸Further studies should more directly sample the effects of meme proliferation on the
psychosocial health of those affected by natural disasters.

24. ▸Political and religion frames: together make up 25.3%
▸Relief efforts, devastation, and anti-Osteen themes:
together 41.3%
▸And predominance of negativity: 60.7% of the sample
▸This alignment of meme politicization with negativity reflects
Powell et al. (2015) in that “emotionally charged images are
a powerful vehicle for the framing of political messages” (p.
997).
▸With respect to Osteen, the conflagration on social media
suggests that there was some disappointment with the
Houston-based church’s response to hurricane evacuees.
▸May have been artificially sparked by viral media feedback
loop — echo chamber.

25. ▸“Woman cradles and protects child. Man carries and protects both. This
is how it ought to be, despite what your gender studies professor says.”
▸The meme was textually summarized in this study as “Patriarchal
structure should be upheld,” and its reappearance in the sample nine
times (6%) accounts for the weight given to the term patriarchal in the
word cloud
▸The comments were made by popular conservative blogger Matt Walsh
▸The meme’s visibility on social media was driven by disagreement with
Walsh, rather than agreement.
▸The meme often linked to an indy100.com article:
▸“A man made a sexist comment about Hurricane Harvey and instantly
became a meme” (Doré, 2017, August 30).
▸Two interrelated factors seem to have affected the prominence of this
meme on social media: the meme’s inflammatory nature, and Walsh’s
social media engagement.

26. ▸Most dominant visual frame in the sample was the social critique frame.
▸Used as a discursive tool to comment on relief efforts and hurricane response.
▸Suggests that disaster response is chiefly concerned about relief efforts, emergency
preparedness, and political involvement.
▸Unexpected results:
▸Prominence of the food preference theme
▸Focus on Joel Osteen
▸Sexism and gender comments
SUMMARY
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

27. ▸Meme research, as it relates to natural disasters or other psychosocially traumatic events, is an area of
scholarship that is understudied.
▸The present study expands the existing literature concerning Internet memes, specifically with respect to the
examination of visual frames used in Hurricane Harvey-related memes on social media.
▸Hurricane Harvey memes use eleven visual frames to magnify and comment on complex social, political, and
religious topics.
▸Moreover, the results highlight the use of humor as a probable coping mechanism, not just to manage the
emotional stress generated by the storm, but also to mediate social, political, and religious criticisms.
▸Far from being merely visual jokes, memes represent dynamic resources that allow us unique insights into social
and political perspectives.
▸Studying memes using the lens of visual framing provides important access points to these perspectives, on both
the micro- and macroscopic levels.
TAKE AWAY
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

28. ▸Limited number of unique memes.
▸This method yielded 100 memes from Facebook (with some repetition), 181 from Twitter, and
207 from Pinterest.
▸A larger sample (greater than 150 memes), may reshape the statistical results in unexpected
ways, particularly with respect to meme source.
▸While Facebook and Twitter includes date of post information — the precise date the meme was
posted or tweeted — Pinterest simply did not.
▸Temporality could be important to content analysis, particularly with respect to emerging events
in a dynamically changing situation, such as Hurricane Harvey.
▸Competing frames — overlap.
LIMITATIONS
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH

29. QUESTIONS
DISASTER MEMES — CHURCH