ABSTRACT

This paper examines the role played by malevolent linguistic creativity in the generation and maintenance of anti-immigration communities on Twitter. In order to understand this phenomenon, we combined data science and qualitative techniques for the analysis of 112,789 pro- and anti-immigration tweets with a focus on their hashtags. Our analysis pointed to the fact that anti-immigration users on this social media platform have a distinct behavior and employ a series of specific strategies in creating echo chambers online. One of these strategies has to do with the use of new words and slogan variations which have a clear identity function and serve the pragmatic purpose of building community. Some reflections on the relation between creativity and social media are offered at the end.

摘要

本文研究了恶意的语言创造力在Twitter上反移民社区的产生和维护中所扮演的角色。为了理解这种现象，我们结合了数据科学和定性技术，对112,789条亲移民和反移民推文进行了分析，重点是它们的标签。我们的分析指出，这个社交媒体平台上的反移民用户具有独特的行为，并在创建在线回声室时采用了一系列特定策略。这些策略之一与使用新词和标语变体有关，这些变体和词标具有明确的标识功能并服务于构建社区的务实目的。最后对创意与社交媒体之间的关系进行了一些思考。