Community and identity in environmental activism on Twitter: A discourse-based approach

Abstract

Online communities play an integral role in understanding environmental activist identities. Using #climatestrikeonline tweets as a case study we discuss the benefits of applying the framework of digital pragmatics (under the umbrella of discourse analysis) to study the repositories of online media texts that share the attributes of both interpersonal and mass communication (Koteyko, Nerlich, and Hellsten 2015). Our analysis draws on two arguments central to discourse-based approaches: (1) that social meanings must be analysed across different modes (e.g., by including visuals) and (2) that analysis of digital artefacts needs to consider both their content features and the contexts in which they emerge. We demonstrate how using digital pragmatics to study networked communication about climate change can help us understand how engagement and collaboration are achieved in online communities of practice.