THE POTENTIAL OF TWITTER IMAGES FOR GALVANIZING CITIZENS TO COLLECTIVE ACTION

Authors : Özen BAŞ, Maria Elizabeth GRABE

Pages : 1462-1509

Doi:10.19145/e-gifder.1299641

View : 57 | Download : 23

Publication Date : 2023-09-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This experiment explored the mobilizing potential of image-only tweets about Black Lives Matter protests compared to text-only tweets to stimulate collective action among Caucasians. A 2 insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(tweet modality: image vs. textual); x 3 insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(tweet content type: anger-evoking, efficacy-eliciting, neutral);, between-subjects design was employed with collective action intent as the dependent variable. Contrary to expectation, the results produced no evidence that image-based tweets are more effective than text-based ones, or that emotional content is better than non-emotional content, at motivating citizens to become politically engaged. Anger-evoking, image-based protest tweets were only marginally more galvanizing among Caucasians than non-anger evoking image-based tweets. However, the results showed that efficacy-eliciting textual tweets stoked greater intention to participate than efficacy-eliciting image tweets. Furthermore, men, more than women, were more inclined to get involved in social protests after viewing anger-evoking images. Women, on the other hand were more inspired to take protest action than men after exposure to efficacy-eliciting images.
Keywords : Sosyal medya, Sosyal protestolar, Kolektif eylem, Duygular, Görseller