1. Appropriating breaking
news?
The evolving Twitter coverage of the
Lance Armstrong doping scandal
Tim Highfield
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation
Queensland University of Technology | Curtin University
Brisbane, Australia | Perth, Australia
t.highfield @ qut.edu.au
@timhighfield
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/ | http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au

2. OVERVIEW
• The Twitter coverage of, and response to, key events in
the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, August – January
2013
• Twitter as a medium for breaking, sharing, reframing
news:
– What types of news events provoke spikes in attention?
– Do different types of news events foster different styles of
coverage?
– Are different types of users more or less prominent within
the individual spikes?

3. METHODS
• Previous data:
– @lancearmstrong tracked as keyword during 2012 Tour de
France for wider project into coverage of the race on
Twitter
• „armstrong‟ tracked as keyword using
yourTwapperKeeper between August and March 2013
(some gaps)
– Filtered and analysed using Gawk scripts

4. PROLOGUE
• The 2012 Tour de France (June-July 2012)
– Conflicting views about Armstrong‟s innocence
• Reports as race begins that riders had testified against
Armstrong
• Fans use Twitter to support (variously) these riders,
Armstrong; criticise others for (seemingly) supporting
particular views
• Extension of fan/athlete parasocial interaction on Twitter
• As Tour continues, Armstrong fans protest USADA witch
hunt, maintaining innocence until proven guilty

5. 1200000
1000000
800000
600000
24/8/2012
28/8/2012
1/9/2012
5/9/2012
9/9/2012
13/9/2012
17/9/2012
21/9/2012
25/9/2012
29/9/2012
3/10/2012
7/10/2012
11/10/2012
15/10/2012
19/10/2012
23/10/2012
27/10/2012
31/10/2012
4/11/2012
8/11/2012
12/11/2012
16/11/2012
20/11/2012
24/11/2012
28/11/2012
2/12/2012
6/12/2012
10/12/2012
14/12/2012
18/12/2012
22/12/2012
26/12/2012
30/12/2012
3/1/2013
7/1/2013
11/1/2013
15/1/2013
19/1/2013
23/1/2013
27/1/2013
31/1/2013
4/2/2013
8/2/2013
12/2/2013
16/2/2013
20/2/2013
24/2/2013
28/2/2013
4/3/2013
TIMEFRAME: “ARMSTRONG” KEYWORD
1400000
August 2012:
USADA strips
Armstrong of
titles and
results; Neil
Armstrong dies.
October
2012:
Armstrong
steps down
from
Livestrong;
UCI accepts
USADA
findings
January 2013: in
interview with
Oprah
Winfrey, Armstr
ong confesses to
doping during
his TdF victories
400000
200000
0

6. SPIKE #1: USADA AFTERMATH, THE DEATH
OF NEIL ARMSTRONG
• Original tweets and RTs primarily here – limited
@replying
– Major mix of both dominant types after news about Neil
Armstrong breaks – RTing reaction, posting original
RIP/vale tweets
1400000
1200000
1000000
800000
Sum of retweets
600000
Sum of genuine @replies
400000
Sum of original tweets
200000
0
2012-Aug-24
2012-Aug-25
2012-Aug-26
2012-Aug-27

7. 2012-Aug-27 10
2012-Aug-27 07
2012-Aug-27 04
2012-Aug-27 01
2012-Aug-26 22
2012-Aug-26 19
2012-Aug-26 16
2012-Aug-26 13
2012-Aug-26 10
2012-Aug-26 07
2012-Aug-26 04
2012-Aug-26 01
2012-Aug-25 22
2012-Aug-25 19
2012-Aug-25 16
2012-Aug-25 13
2012-Aug-25 10
2012-Aug-25 07
2012-Aug-25 04
2012-Aug-25 01
2012-Aug-24 22
2012-Aug-24 19
2012-Aug-24 16
2012-Aug-24 13
2012-Aug-24 10
LANCE AND NEIL
• Coverage of Neil far exceeds Lance, major breaking
news topic – but, top RTs about Neil come from mix of
news
accounts, politicians, celebrities, sportspeople, scientists
140000
…
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
Sum of Lance tweets
20000
Sum of Neil tweets
0

8. SPIKE #2: UCI ANNOUNCEMENT
• Resigns from Livestrong and loses Nike contract
(17/10), UCI accepts USADA findings (22/10).
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
25/10/2012
24/10/2012
23/10/2012
22/10/2012
21/10/2012
20/10/2012
19/10/2012
18/10/2012
17/10/2012
16/10/2012
0

9. SPIKE #2: UCI ANNOUNCEMENT
• The UCI announcement sees a rush in repeat lines and
jokes from August:
– Both retweeting the August tweets (“RT @BBCSporf:
Retweet this tweet, if you have won the Tour De France as
many times as Lance Armstrong.”) and coming up with
new versions of the same punchlines
• e.g. stripped of Dodgeball cameo
• Stripped of titles, keeps victory over cancer
– (or, cancer wants a rematch)
• Takes ball(s) to do things

10. SPIKE #3: OPRAH INTERVIEWS
250000
200000
150000
Sum of retweets
Sum of genuine @replies
100000
Sum of original tweets
50000
0
2013-Jan-17
2013-Jan-18
2013-Jan-19
2013-Jan-20

11. SPIKE #3: OPRAH INTERVIEWS
• RTs and original tweets again prominent (similar levels of
tweets captured indicative of rate limiting?)
– Pre-announced event, live broadcast invites more tweets
• Tweeting along with the television, sharing thoughts as they
happen
• No single hashtag, though:
– Tweets mention armstrong, lance
– OWNTV, Oprah
– Start new, snarky, rival hashtags

12. DISCUSSION
• @mentions of @lancearmstrong
• Not generally used in Oprah interview (space at a premium
for live tweets?)
• Some support messages, particularly at start of the scandal
– Responses to Armstrong‟s own tweets, although his
comments on scandal minimal/pointedly abstract

13. DISCUSSION
http://www.mobli.com/media/show/id/22700756?referer=tw

14. DISCUSSION
• @mentions of @lancearmstrong
• But some criticism – from other riders, for instance (Mark
Cavendish mentions @lancearmstrong in linking to his piece
in response to the interview)
• Limited use of @mentions of the subject of news?
– By mainstream media, for instance
– Although not universal, and other outlets do use
@mentions
• Also fits in with wider pattern of original tweets and RTs, not
@replies, being dominant types?

15. DISCUSSION
• Changing frames
– The hunting by the snark
• Especially by the time of live tweeting the interviews, the
spread of support/critique is less even
– Widespread mockery (and RTing of the mockery)
• Mixing news stories
– Important for topical humour?
• Topicality of tweets – crossover – appropriation of
breaking/unfolding news?

16. DISCUSSION
• Framing – humour vs. news, support vs. outrage
– Promotion of humorous/general interest aspects in
addition to/as opposed to the details of the doping?
• e.g. the wide sharing of the „books put in fiction section‟ story
• The appropriation of hashtags (portmanteaux) and
punchlines

17. Appropriating punchlines
RT networks of similarly-phrased
tweets during Oprah interview

18. DISCUSSION
• Focal accounts for breaking news (based on RTs):
– News accounts but also celebrities
• New gatekeepers? News filters through personal interests (and
the interests of these accounts)
– News accounts retweeted for the breaking story, celebrities
for the personal responses?
• Extent of coverage
– Major (live) news accompanied by unfocused commentary, with
several competing hashtags (if even used)
– Space concerns for live tweets in particular – time to edit vs. time
to publish (hashtags and @mentions not essential as long as
context known?)

19. CONCLUSION
•
•
•
•
•
•
Twitter and breaking news
Humour and subjectivity
Topicality and immediacy
Live tweeting, knowns and unknowns
Celebrities and news sources
Other types of appropriation
– Hashtags
• Custom hashtags
• Spam – using trends to hook in

20. http://mappingonlinepublics.net/
http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/
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