Presentation at Social Media & Society 2018. by Vanessa P. Dennen, Stacey A. Rutledge, Lauren M. Bagdy, Jerrica T. Rowlett & Shannon Burnick For more info on our project visit http://studentssocialmediaschools.com

1. Avoiding Drama:
Student and Teacher
Positioning within a School’s
Social Media Ecosystem
Vanessa P. Dennen (@vdennen),
Stacey A. Rutledge,
Lauren M. Bagdy,
Jessica T. Rowlett & Shannon Burnick
Florida State University
For more information on our project see: http://studentssocialmediaschools.com

2. Overview

3. Research
Questions
In the high school setting, who is
involved in “drama”?
Subquestions:
§How do students and teachers
define social media drama?
§How do student perceptions of
social media drama and its
actors in the high school setting
differ from teachers’
perceptions?
§How do students and teachers
position themselves relative
social media drama in the high
school setting?

4. Theoretical
Framework
Positioning Theory
the ongoing and fluid construction
of identity and relationships via
discursive acts
§First order & second order
§Performative & accountative
§Tacit & deliberate

5. Method
Participants
37 Students
14 Teachers
Data Collection
Interviews (30-60 min)
Data Analysis
Coding for drama,
positioning, identity

6. Findings:
Defining Drama
§Attention seeking behavior
§Evidence: content, tone, timing
and/or frequency of someone’s
social media posts
§Variants: Self-focused, gossip,
innuendo

7. Findings:
Defining Drama
She's like, always posting how she doesn't
have a boyfriend, or when she does have a
boyfriend, like, they're not good enough for
her, and I feel like that's just for attention.
Like, you only are posting that so someone
will ask you, like, oh, why is he not doing
this, or why don't you have a boyfriend,
you're so pretty – stuff like that. So I feel
like they're doing it for attention instead of
just posting it just to post it.
Self-focused Drama

8. Findings:
Defining Drama
I think drama is more of a gossip type
thing. Like, it starts from a gossip and then
it turns into drama. So gossip is, like, when
it stays [in] your friend group, and I think
it's drama once it, like, gets out and other
people are involved … I think that that's
why a lot of it's on social media, because at
first it was just like, oh, you and your
friends talking about it, now you let
everybody into it, and so it's just people,
like, start stuff on Instagram and Snapchat
and things.
Gossip Drama

9. Findings:
Defining Drama
So if I posted a meme about a boy, they
would think it's towards their friend, so if I
posted a meme about why boys can't stay
loyal or why do boys always feel the need
to cheat on people, they feel like it's
directed towards their boyfriend, their
relationship, or my boyfriend, our
relationship, they ask me what happened,
they're in my business always, feeling
attached to me.
Innuendo Drama

10. Findings:
Student
Positioning &
Drama
Who creates drama online? Not I!
§ Most students
§ First order self-positioning:
§ Not involved in drama
§ Positioning of drama seekers
§ Immature
§ Conflict creators
§ Both author and audience
Counterpoint
§ First order self-positioning:
§ Creator of gossip drama
§ Positioning of self
§ Puppetmaster

11. Findings:
Student
Positioning &
Drama
Why leave drama to the “other”?
§ Validate personal social media use
§ Focus on positives about self and
friends
Distancing from Drama

12. Findings:
Teacher
Positioning &
Drama
Teacher self-positioning:
§ Social media non-user
§ Observer of drama
§ Advisor to students struggling with
drama

13. Students really don’t care how much you
know unless they know how much you care.
We’ve become like these zombies, right?
We’re tech zombies. I hate it. I think it’s so
bad for the human race … you walk
through the hall, it’s the overwhelming
majority of students with their phones out,
you know, doing this (mimes looking down
and scrolling on a phone).
Most of the people that I'm friends with
[are posting] political stuff. … at my age, I
don't see a lot of people that are posting
too much about their personal business.
Findings:
Teacher Positioning
& Drama

14. Conclusions
§ Drama is differentiated from truly
harmful online behaviors
§ No one wants to see themselves as a
villain or a victim
§ Teachers may play an indirect a role in
“drama” but are neither villain nor
victim
§ Teachers position their own social
media use as different from student use

15. Questions?
VanessaP. Dennen(@vdennen),
StaceyA. Rutledge(@sarutledge1116)
LaurenM. Bagdy (@Laurenbagdy)
JessicaT. Rowlett &ShannonBurnick
FloridaStateUniversity
For more information on our project see: http://studentssocialmediaschools.com