Constructing influence on Twitter facing the announcement of the Referendum Law in Catalonia

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.may.20

Keywords:

Social networks, Social media, Political communication, Virtual public sphere, Twitter, Influencers, Metaphor, Polarization, Public issues, Social networks analysis, Catalonia.

Abstract

In line with the research carried out about the effects of Twitter on the configuration of public opinion, this article analyses the features of the debate generated as the result of the presentation of the Law of the Referendum of Catalonia. We work with two samples (n1: 260.866 tweets and retweets and n2: 1.681 tweets) in order to study, on the one hand, the morphology of the retweet (RT) network and the obtention of the profiles -influencers, builders and bridges- that articulate it and, on the other hand, the conceptualization of the political situation by the users who lead the aforementioned network. Results show that there is a significant percentage (32%) of civil society users among influencers, compared to the 68% belonging to the central public sphere. Both profiles lead two ideologically polarized communities for and against this Law, moving away from the ideal of deliberation.

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Author Biographies

Carlota M. Moragas-Fernández, Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Doctora en Antropologí­a y Comunicación, actualmente es Investigadora Postdoctoral y profesora en el Departamento de Estudios de Comunicación de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Es miembro de Asterisc, Grupo de Investigación en Comunicación. Ha sido investigadora visitante en The University of Edinburgh (2014) e investigadora invitada en la Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2017). Recientemente, ha participado en el proyecto de I+D (Excelencia):"El papel de la metáfora en la definición y la percepción social de temas conflictivos. Instituciones, medios de comunicación y ciudadanos" [CSO2013-41661-P]

Josep-Maria Grau-Masot, Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Doctor en Antropologí­a y Comunicación por la Universitat Rovira i Virgili e Ingeniero Superior en Electrónica e Ingeniero Técnico en Telecomunicaciones por la Universitat Ramon Llull. Actualmente ejerce como Profesor Asociado en el Departamento de Estudios de Comunicación de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

Arantxa Capdevila-Gómez, Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Doctora en Comunicación Audiovisual por la Universitat Pompeu Fabra, actualmente es Profesora Agregada en el Departamento de Estudios de Comunicación de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Es miembro de Asterisc, Grupo de Investigación en Comunicación. Ha sido investigadora visitante en la Università di Bologna e investigadora principal del proyecto de I+D (Excelencia): "El papel de la metáfora en la definición y la percepción social de temas conflictivos. Instituciones, medios de comunicación y ciudadanos" [CSO2013-41661-P]

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Published

2019-05-05

How to Cite

Moragas-Fernández, C. M., Grau-Masot, J.-M., & Capdevila-Gómez, A. (2019). Constructing influence on Twitter facing the announcement of the Referendum Law in Catalonia. Profesional De La información, 28(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.may.20