Various literature has examined how affordances of online media such as openness and connectivity have constituted digital counterpublics, that is, discursive arenas where members of subordinate social groups invent and circulate oppositional interpretations of their identities. At the same time, and in sharp contrast to the bilateral nature of online media, most of this literature has focused on content produced by the group members only, without addressing neither its acceptance by the hegemonic public nor the internal discursive negotiations surrounding it. Using the Facebook page “Write it down! I’m an Arab” as a case study, the current study examines the role played by reader comments in the formation of networked counterpublics. We found that reader comments expand the counterpublic sphere in two directions: vertical and horizontal. Vertically, they produce an interface between the dominant public sphere and the counterpublic sphere. Horizontally, they function as a discursive arena within the group members.

各种文献研究了诸如开放性和连通性等在线媒体的可供性如何构成数字反公共，即从属社会群体的成员发明和传播对其身份的对立解释的话语舞台。与此同时，与网络媒体的双边性质形成鲜明对比的是，这些文献大多只关注群体成员制作的内容，既没有解决霸权公众对其的接受，也没有解决围绕它的内部话语谈判。使用 Facebook 页面“写下来！我是阿拉伯人”作为案例研究，目前的研究考察了读者评论在网络化反公众形成中所起的作用。我们发现读者评论在两个方向上扩展了反公共领域：垂直和水平。在纵向上，它们在主导的公共领域和反公共领域之间产生了一个界面。横向上，它们在小组成员中充当话语舞台。