SAINT LOUIS
UNIVERSITY
#FERGUSON STRATEGIC MESSAGING
HOW LOCAL JOURNALISTS AND ACTIVISTS
USED TWITTER AS A COMMUNICATION TOOL
Amber Hinsley, Ph.D.
Hyunmin Lee, Ph.D.
http://blogs.wsj.com/dispatch/2014/08/18/how-ferguson-has-unfolded-on-twitter/
SAINT LOUIS
UNIVERSITY
#Ferguson strategic messaging
Would using Twitter in a time of crisis
alter journalists’ norms and practices
and affect the approach used by activists?
SAINT LOUIS
UNIVERSITY
Local journalists
Job roles
• Objectivity
• Autonomy
• Immediacy
• Analysis
• Watchdogs
Journalists on Twitter
• Share info & breaking news
• Engage in conversations
• Express opinions
SAINT LOUIS
UNIVERSITY
Local activists
Communication tactics
• Informational (facts)
• Symbolic (protests)
• Organizing (face-to-face)
• Litigious (petitions, lawsuits)
• Civil disobedience (trespass, illegal)
• Emotional (appeals, evocative)
• Dialogic (conversations)
SAINT LOUIS
UNIVERSITY
General Twitter practices
No differences
• Original tweets v. retweets
• Use of hashtags
• Favorites & retweets
Frequent hashtags
• #Ferguson
• #MikeBrown
• #STL
• #FergusonSolidarity
• #JusticeforMike
SAINT LOUIS
UNIVERSITY
Takeaways
• Journalists & activists used
message strategies &
frames in ways consistent
with established practices
• Focus on information-
sharing
• Lack of reflection
How journalists and activists used Twitter to disseminate information about the events in Ferguson
How their tactics varied in the week following Brown’s death
Shared gatekeeping space
How were they helping to make meaning via Twitter of the events in Ferguson
Local journalists & activists: comparable analysis of people connected to the area
More than half of all journalists use social media – enact their job roles – see utility
Crises
Journalists rely on professional routines
Public relies on news workers to help them make sense of the unfolding unrest
Continuous presence at scene=importance & drama of event
Research on all types of journalists
Breaking with objectivity norm during crisis to express opinion helps validate journalists as truth-tellers in eyes of public
Cover crises in predictable ways: chaos, confrontations, arrests – social order
Reinforce status quo – focus on conflict, not larger issues
Would local journalists act in the same way when the crisis was in their community?
Ferguson activists: unique bc not part of organized group in days after Brown’s death
Activist individuals: Community members, clergy, politicians
No central strategic communication strategy
Social systems created confrontational relationships between minorities and law enforcement
limited opportunities for education, employment and advancement in minority populations across the country
Content analysis of tweets from activists & journalists based on these communication strategies
Did activists rely on these known strategies?
How were they communicated on Twitter?
How did activists & journalists use Twitter as a communication tool?
Did local journalists use some of these same tactics?
Looked at primary message frame in each tweet
Journalists & activists: different vested interests, would frames be different?
Would their shared connection to the area contribute to similar ways of talking about the situation?
Pilot study: 10 local journalists & activists who produced ## tweets in week following Brown’s death
Total tweets: About 4,000
This study: About 700
More likely to use original tweets v RTs
Recognized public’s desire for new information
Similar numbers in use of HTs
Contributing to developing narratives about Ferguson
Consistent use: Certain ones became dominant & set agenda for how story would trend on Twitter
Similar numbers in tweets being favorited/RT’d by others
Averages: two groups’ tweets resonated with other users
Likely helped spread familiarity with particular hashtags
Hashtags: 60% of tweets used them
Looked at first and second HTs
Similar understanding of common Twitter practice
Level playing field: approach to message strategies and framing those messages
Statistically significant differences
Coded for multiple strategies within each tweet
Both groups acting as gatekeepers to provide info
Journalists more likely to do so – rely on professional standards & uphold status quo in crisis
Activists: providing info helps shape Ferguson narrative
Activists desire to influence others=more present use of emotional message tactics
Activists: symbolic & organizing strategies
Aligns with practices of more established advocacy organizations
Both groups: Message tactics closely aligned with expected practices for both
Collapsed original 14 frames into these 5
Statistically significant differences
Activists used Twitter to voice range of opinions & issue calls to action
Challenge current conditions & promote change
Journalists: far less likely to do those things
Conversations & objective reporting
Mostly real-time tweets of events in Ferguson (law & order)
Some coverage of larger issues of inequality
Journalists & activists constructed Twitter messages in expected ways
How they understood they should act
Info sharing: instantaneity (Papacharissi & de Fatima Oliveira)
Live-tweeting events
Incomplete narrative—purely reactionary
No time to process & reflect: Journalists & activists rely on routines of their work to guide comm practices
Used relative safety of roles in crafting messages & framing Ferguson narrative
Which types of tweets from journalists & activists were most likely to get RT’d & favorited?
RTs & favorites=what resonates with the public
RTs & favorites as indicators of media use motivations
Information
Self-expression
Social interaction
Call to action
Most often: informational tweets
Powerful audience motivation to learn more about the turmoil re: Brown’s death
Activists: audience’s desire to learn what activists had to say about the crisis in Ferguson
Audience not as likely to RT or favorite calls to action
Not as likely to RT or favorite emotional appeals – fine line between opinion and emotional statements
Twitter messages from journalists and activists that fit the dominant expectations of each group appear to be more resonant with the public
Some evidence of public’s cognitive difference bet RT/favoriting certain types of message strategies
Activists’ symbolic messages (protest participation) more likely to get favorited than RT’d
Equivalent of support?
Hopefully present this research at conference this summer