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Tweeting for a cause: Microblogging and environmental advocacy
Author(s) -
Merry Melissa K.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
policy and internet
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.281
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 1944-2866
DOI - 10.1002/1944-2866.poi335
Subject(s) - microblogging , social media , blame , framing (construction) , political science , content analysis , internet privacy , public relations , sociology , world wide web , computer science , psychology , history , social psychology , social science , archaeology
This article examines how environmental organizations utilized the microblogging website Twitter to engage in political advocacy during the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Using a content analysis of tweets, blogs, email, and press releases, it is demonstrated that environmental groups responded more quickly to the disaster and offered more sustained attention to the spill on Twitter compared to the other media. It is also shown that groups framed the disaster differently on Twitter than in other media, emphasizing different targets of blame. While the findings indicate strong potential for Twitter as a tool for mobilization and conflict expansion, this study also suggests that interest groups have relinquished some control over the framing of focusing events on Twitter by reproducing content created by other users .