This book offers a unique perspective on the Brazilian communication environment in the middle of its most serious political crisis after a military dictatorship. The 2013 protests were an important turning point in the political life of the country, and are often seen as the trigger of many communicational and political dynamics that have led to recent political events, such as the election of a far right wing president. Understanding the transformation of the communication environment at that moment, as well as its consequences, helps to explain what is happening in the country today. The book’s argument finds its foundations in the following: a systemic view of the communication environment, a conception of technology as structured and transformed by its use, and an understanding of communicational dynamics as an essential part of democratic systems. Drawing on both interviews with key actors in the protests and on analysis of a corpus of tweets, the book assesses the relationship between the use of social media and the formation of mainstream discourses surrounding the concept of mediactivism. It also investigates alternative paths of information made possible by the use of social media when new mediators emerge, going on to search for an understanding of the consequences of social media visibility dynamics on the construction of the common world.
Author(s): Nina Santos
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 173
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Introduction
Theoretical Assumptions and Problematic
Contributions of This Book
PART I
Chapter 2: A Meaningful Starting Point: The Experience of Managing Lula’s Facebook Page
Chapter 3: Protests and Digital Communication: Issues on New Forms of Political Action
The Emergence of a New Sociability
Individual X Collective Actions
Temporality and Spatiality of the Movements
Online and Offline Overlaps
Chapter 4: What Did 2013 Tell Us?
Recent Political Developments in Brazil and Links with the 2013 Protests
From a Non-partisan Movement to the 2018 Elections
The Phenomenon of Fake News
The Unmediated Leader
Janaína Lima and the Cabinet 24/7
PART II
Chapter 5: Why Twitter Matters
From the Actor’s Discourse to Tweet Analysis: Our Methodological Approach
The Actor’s Narrative
Twitter’s Data
Chapter 6: Mediation and Gatekeeping Challenges in a Social Media Environment
Journalists and Social Media: Displacing the Value of Professional Mediation
The Utopia of the Disintermediated: The Live, the Unedited, the Real
Dilma Bolada
Mídia Ninja
Chapter 7: New Visibility Dynamics: Who and What Is Really Gaining Attention
Retweeting as a Practice of Visibility
Who’s Being Retweeted?
Followers: Facilitators But Not Decisive to Gain Visibility on Twitter
Hyperlinks: Where to and Where From: Twitter in a Hybrid Media System
Alternative Media, Organizations, Political Parties and Media Repositories
Social Media
Mainstream Media
Twitter’s Visibility Dynamics: What and Who Does It Favor?
Chapter 8: Conclusion
Mainstream Media Continue to Be Important Drivers of Conversation Yet Not as Before
Twitter Is a New Space of Contestation of the Established Media System
New Social Actors on the Streets and on Digital Networks
With Social Media, Mediation Processes Have More Dimensions Rather Than Less
Sociability Is Building a New Information Path to Visibility
Final Remarks
References
Index
