Walking with Bourdieu into Twitter communities: an analysis of networked publics struggling on power in Iranian Twittersphere

Kermani, Hossein; Tafreshi, Amirali

doi:10.1080/1369118x.2021.2021267

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Moreover, we pointed out that anti-regime narratives were the most ubiquitous networked frames on Persian Twitter. It reflected prior research on Persian Twitter (Azadi & Mesgaran, 2021;Kermani & Hooman, 2022;Kermani & Tafreshi, 2022;Khazraee, 2019) and in other nondemocratic societies (Nip & Fu, 2016;X. Zhao & Wang, 2023).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…As previously mentioned, the network of human users was primarily influenced by the anti-regime narrative of the regime’s mismanagement and incapacity in managing the crisis. It is well-established that pro-regime users’ communities on Twitter have historically been smaller than their anti-regime counterparts (Kermani & Tafreshi, 2022; Khazraee, 2019). Therefore, regime supporters attempted to alter the anti-regime narrative by deploying bots, as also observed in Azadi and Mesgaran’s study (2021).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the discursive nature of framing, as highlighted by Papacharissi and Easton (2013), and Kermani and Tafreshi (2022), we interpret networked framing as a form of discursive activism on social media. In addition, we draw on Bitzer’s (1968) ideas to suggest that users utilize rhetorical devices, such as metaphors, as discursive practices to shape frames as discursive packages.…”

Section: Networked Framing As Social Media Discursive Activismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bots Versus Humans: Discursive Activism During the Pandemic in the Iranian Twittersphere

Kermani,

Bayat Makou,

Tafreshi

et al. 2023

Social Media + Society

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This article explores how the pandemic in Iran was discursively framed by automated accounts and human users. While there is a growing body of literature on bot activism, little is known about how bots and humans framed the pandemic in authoritarian regimes. Drawing on networked framing theory, we use both computational and qualitative methods to fill this gap. Our empirical analysis centers on a data set of 4,165,177 tweets collected between 27 January 2020 and 18 April 2020. We found that while anti-regime human users strongly criticized Iran’s regime, pro-regime bots countered with messages emphasizing the sacrifices of medical staff, the strength of Iran, and the failings of Western governments in managing the crisis. Our results suggest that Persian Twitter human users were largely against the regime, while the regime employed bots extensively to maintain balance. Human users used sarcasm, while pro-regime bots invoked religious and revolutionary sentiments metaphorically to defend the regime. By focusing on a relatively unexplored context, this article adds to the growing literature on bot activism.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Networked Framing As Social Media Discursive Activismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bots Versus Humans: Discursive Activism During the Pandemic in the Iranian Twittersphere

Kermani,

Bayat Makou,

Tafreshi

et al. 2023

Social Media + Society

Self Cite

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“…In line with this body of research, we emphasize that Twitter plays a prominent role in Iranian politics. Iranians continiously have used Twitter to engage with electoral campaigns since 2009 (Kermani & Adham, 2021; Kermani & Tafreshi, 2022; Khazraee, 2019) and show their disagreements with the government (Dehghan et al, 2020). But does Twitter become politically important for Iranians only on special occasions such as elections or protests?…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discursive delegitimization of Rouhani's nuclear diplomacy and the Iran nuclear deal by Iranian conservatives on Twitter

Nourani

Mohammadian

Sarhaddi

et al. 2023

Digest Mid East Studies

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The reformist‐moderate and the conservative discourses have co‐existed and contended for primacy in the Iranian foreign policy since the 1979 revolution. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, has been at the core of this discursive contest in recent years. This article investigates how Iranian conservative tweeters delegitimized the JCPOA and President Rouhani's nuclear diplomacy. We use Van Leeuwen's discursive construction of legitimacy (2008) to analyze three popular conservative Twitter accounts. Findings show that the Iranian conservatives used the strategies of authorization, moral evaluation, and rationalization for legal and political criticism of the JCPOA, offending Rouhani's administration and allies, and questioning their political competence. This research partly reveals the conservatives' anti‐negotiation and anti‐West logic and their refusal to offer a diplomatic alternative to the JCPOA.

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“…The users of networked media make meaningful conversations and tell digital stories that gradually bring networked publics into existence. As digital storytellers, they may take the opportunity to challenge the dominant regimes of truth and give voice to historically disempowered groups (Jackson and Foucault Welles, 2015, 2016; Papacharissi, 2016), or the society as a whole living under authoritarian regimes (Kermani and Tafreshi, 2022). Yet, networked publics may also facilitate ‘dissonant communication’ (Pfetsch, 2018) giving rise to hate speech, conspiracy thinking and misinformation, and therefore, it should not be merely regarded in terms of its democratising potential (Lünenborg, 2020).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking affective publics as media rituals through temporality, performativity and liminality

Ural

2023

Media, Culture & Society

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This article calls for a rethinking of the formation of affective publics as a ritual process. Given the particularities of networked media, I suggest that media rituals extend into the formation of affective publics celebrating imagined collectivities in a fashion of collaborative storytelling. This is a transitional process in which a collectivity is validated, affirmed and reinforced through ritual actions. To illustrate this dynamic, I suggest drawing upon three key concepts (namely temporality, performativity and liminality), which are derivatives of media rituals theory, but also shed light on the dynamics of affective publics. To specify, first, ritual temporality refers to ambient concentrations that create a breach in the ordinary flow of media texts. Second, performativity implicates the affect-driven rhythms of digital storytelling feeding algorithmic curations that form an embodied harmony between participants and a sense of collectivity. Third, liminality entails ambiguous situations that enable the formation of affective publics by means of voluntary commitment, anonymity and the uniformity of participants. These concepts are the key entry points in capturing the ritual aspects of affective publics. Viewed through this lens, scrutiny for the ritual dynamics of networked publics helps us to grasp the affective formations of networked media.

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Walking with Bourdieu into Twitter communities: an analysis of networked publics struggling on power in Iranian Twittersphere

Cited by 8 publications

References 58 publications

Bots Versus Humans: Discursive Activism During the Pandemic in the Iranian Twittersphere

Bots Versus Humans: Discursive Activism During the Pandemic in the Iranian Twittersphere

Discursive delegitimization of Rouhani's nuclear diplomacy and the Iran nuclear deal by Iranian conservatives on Twitter

Rethinking affective publics as media rituals through temporality, performativity and liminality

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