Framing Studies Evolution in the Social Media Era. Digital Advancement and Reorientation of the Research Agenda

Abstract

Framing studies remain a powerful line of research in political communication. However, in recent years, coinciding with the emergence of social media, theoretical and operational advances have been detected, as well as a significant reorientation of its research agenda. The interaction between media and platforms such as Twitter or Facebook has built a clearly hybrid communicative environment and profoundly transformed the organization of public debate. This is the case, especially, with processes such as the setting of the public agenda or the construction of interpretive frames. Based on a systematic review of the international reference literature (2011–2021), this article analyses the influence of social media on the evolution of framing studies. Moreover, specifically, the beginning of a new stage of digital development is contextualized, and a triple research impact is explored. The main contributions of the text are that it (1) identifies advances in the theoretical and empirical organization of these studies; (2) explores its reorientation of content towards a greater balance between the analysis of media and political frames; and (3) reviews the recent experimental development of effects studies. Finally, the main challenges for future research in this field are detailed.

Thematic Analysis as a New Culturomic Tool: The Social Media Coverage on COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

“…Framing tries to depict how individuals, groups and societies perceive and communicate a given issue or event. Several authors (e.g., [54,55]) claimed that in recent years social media contents have significant influence over the ways reality is represented, and they can selectively direct information in the audience's minds. COVID-19 offered, from this point of view, an interesting research theme, with different studies applying framings of collections of Twitter posts [56,57] or of collections of newspapers articles [58,59].…”

Digital media’s portrayal of climate change challenges during COP27 climate summit

“…It is also used in journalism, where reporters and editors make decisions about how to frame news stories. Overall, framing theory suggests that the way information is presented can be just as important as the content of that information itself (López-Rabadán, 2021).…”

The Victim as a Media Construct in the Space of Biopolitics

“…Особливе значення в побудові нової системи соціальних зв'язків та взаємодій має медіалогіка. Вона генетично афільована з когнітивним підходом, у межах якого особливу значущість має форматне самовизначення медіапродуктів, засноване на фреймінгу [30], та семіотичним підходом, який дозволяє обґрунтувати медіатизований процес передачі культурних знаків, кодів та наділення їх особливими смислами.…”