This document discusses research on how news is reported and shared on Twitter. It addresses two main topics: 1. News values on #Egypt - A frequency analysis of 1.5 million tweets found that established news values like recency and relevance guided Twitter use. Events were instantly turned into stories through affective storytelling practices. 2. Form of news on Twitter - News, facts, drama, opinions and emotions blended together into "affective news". Collaborative news feeds exposed tensions between live tweeting and traditional reporting. Affect and storytelling, as well as affect and mobilization, shaped information dissemination.

1.
Affec&ve
news
streams
and
networked
publics:
mediality
and
engagement
on
Twi;er
Zizi
Papacharissi,
PhD
Professor
and
Head,
Communica&on,
University
of
Illinois-­‐
Chicago
@zizip
Papacharissi, Z. & Oliveira, de Fatima M. (2012). Affective News and Networked Publics: The Rhythms of News
Storytelling on #Egypt. Journal of Communication.
Meraz, S. & Papacharissi, Z. (2012). Broadcasting and Listening Practices on #egypt: Networked Gatekeeping
and Networked Framing. Paper presented at IAMCR, Durban, South Africa.
Papacharissi, Z. & Meraz, S. (2012).The Rhythms of Occupy: Broadcasting and Listening Practices on #ows-IR13
Meraz, S. & Papacharissi, Z. (2012). Networked framing and gatekeeping on #ows - forthcoming

2. premise
• Twi;er
as
news
repor&ng
mechanism
• Twi;er
and
news
storytelling
– Established
news
values
guide
use
of
Twi;er
– News
breaking/premedia&on/
instantaneity
• Collec&vely
prodused
news
– Homophily,
peripheral
awareness
and
ambient
news
feeds
and
the
news
economy
environments,
hybridity
• Twi;er
as
news
sharing
• Twi;er
as
alterna&ve/ mechanism
during
uprisings
primary
channel
for
– Electronic
word
of
mouth
informa&on
– Broadcas&ng
and
‘listening
in’
on
uprisings
– Homophily
and
group
iden&ty

3. • News
values
• The
form
of
news
as
specific
to
socio-­‐cultural
context
RQ1:
What
news
values
were
prevalent
in
the
Twi;er
news
streams
capturing
the
events
of
the
2011
Egyp&an
uprising?
RQ2:
What
form
did
news
storytelling
on
Twi;er
take
during
the
recent
2011
Egyp&an
uprising?
METHOD:
Frequency
analysis
(
R
),
1.5
million
mul&lingual
tweets,
computerized
content
analysis
(seman&c,
addressivity
markers,
flow),
discourse
analysis
#egypt
News
values
and
the
form
of
news
on
#egypt

4. [news
values]
• News
values
priori&se
stories
about
events
that
are
recent,
sudden,
unambiguous,
predictable,
relevant
and
close
(to
the
relevant
culture/class/loca&on).
• Priority
is
given
to
stories
about
the
economy,
government
poli&cs,
industry
and
business,
foreign
affairs
and
domes&c
affairs-­‐either
of
conflict
or
human
interest-­‐
disasters
and
sport.
• Priority
is
given
to
elite
na&ons
(the
US,
the
UK,
Europe,
etc.)
and
elite
people.
• News
values
ofen
involve
appeals
to
dominant
ideologies
and
discourses.
What
is
cultural
and/or
historical
will
be
presented
as
natural
and
consensual.
• News
stories
need
to
appeal
to
readers/viewers
so
they
must
be
commonsensical,
entertaining
and
drama&c
(like
fic&on),
and
visual
(Hartley,
2002,
p.
166).
News
values
turn
events
into
stories

5. Old
values
Large
scale
of
events,
closeness
to
home,
clarity
of
meaning,
short
&me
scale,
relevance,
consonance,
personifica&on,
significance,
drama,
ac&on
+++
it’s
all
there,
except
nega&vity
Remedia-ons
and/or
new
values
(drama)
of
instantaneity
Events
instantly
turn
into
stories
crowdsourced
elites
(networked
gatekeeping)
solidarity
(networked
framing)
ambience
Constancy
and
con&nuity
of
always
on
news
environment
with
a
pulse
of
its
own,
organic,
collec&ve
Hybridity
of
old
+
new
news
values

7. !"
#!!!!"
$!!!!"
%!!!!"
&!!!!"
'!!!!!"
'#!!!!"
'$!!!!"
'%!!!!"
'&!!!!"
'(#)(#!')"
'(#%(#!')"
'(#*(#!')"
'(#&(#!')"
'(#+(#!')"
'(,!(#!')"
!"
#!!!!"
$!!!!"
%!!!!"
&!!!!"
'!!!!!"
'#!!!!"
'$!!!!"
'%!!!!"
'&!!!!"
'(,'(#!')"
'(#)(#!')"
'(#%(#!')"
#('(#!')"
'(#*(#!')"
#(#(#!')" '(#&(#!')"
'(#+(#!')"
#(,(#!')" '(,!(#!')"
'(,'(#!')"
#($(#!')"
#('(#!')"
#()(#!')" #(#(#!')"
#(,(#!')"
#(%(#!')" #($(#!')"
#()(#!')"
#(*(#!')" #(%(#!')"
#(*(#!')"
#(&(#!')"
#(&(#!')"
#(+(#!')" #(+(#!')"
#('!(#!')"
#('!(#!')" #(''(#!')"
#('#(#!')"
#(''(#!')" #(',(#!')"
#('$(#!')"
#('#(#!')"
#(')(#!')"
#(',(#!')" #('%(#!')"
#('*(#!')"
#('$(#!')" #('&(#!')"
#('+(#!')"
#(')(#!')" #(#!(#!')"
#(#'(#!')"
#('%(#!')"
#(##(#!')"
#('*(#!')" #(#,(#!')"
#(#$(#!')"
#('&(#!')" #(#)(#!')"
#('+(#!')"
2"
34"
567"
-./01"
#(#!(#!')"
#(#'(#!')"
#(##(#!')"
#(#,(#!')"
#(#$(#!')"
#(#)(#!')"
2"
34"
567"
-./01"

8. networked
gatekeeping:
connec&vity

10. Affec&ve-­‐resigna&on

11. Affec&ve-­‐most

12. Affect:
emo&ve
expressions/feeling
subjec&vely
experienced
connected
to
processes
of
premedia&on/an&cipa&on
of
events
prior
to
their
occurrence
• Rhythm
and
pace
of
storytelling
– Instant,
emo&ve,
pha&c
• Repe&&on
and
mimicry
set
the
pace
• Oral
and
print
cultures
of
storytelling
combine
News,
fact,
drama,
opinion,
emo&on
blend
into
one
=
affect
The
Form
of
Affec&ve
News

13. Affec&ve
news
streams
Collabora&ve
news
feeds
expose
(temporal)
incompa&bili&es
between
live
twee&ng
news
and
news
repor&ng
=
many
journalisms
Leaderless
publics/revolu&ons?
Affect
and
news
storytelling,
affect
and
mobiliza&on

14. THE
RHYTHMS
OF
OCCUPY
(#ows)-­‐
theore&cal
framework
Who
says
what
to
whom
[w/what
effect]
Framing/Gatekeeping
Networked
Gatekeeping
a
process
through
which
actors
are
crowdsourced
to
prominence
via
the
use
of
conversa&onal,
social
prac&ces
that
symbio&cally
connect
elite
and
crowd
in
the
determina&on
of
informa&on
relevancy
Networked
Framing
Process
through
which
a
par&cular
problem
defini&on,
causal
interpreta&on,
moral
evalua&on,
and/or
treatment
recommenda&on
a;ain
prominence
through
crowdsourcing
prac&ces

15. research
design
RQ
1:
How
do
tweets
containing
conversa&onal
markers
describe
the
networked
rhythms
of
content
produced
via
#ows?
RQ2:
How
do
elite
users
emerge
across
addressivity
markers?
RQ3:
How
do
prominent
frames
emerge
through
the
news
stream
of
#ows?
METHOD
10%
stra&fied
random
sample
Oct
2011-­‐
July
2012
–
vigiglobe.com
Frequency
analysis
(SQL
scripts),
computerized
content
analysis
(SQL
scripts
+seman&c
on
addressivity
markers
and
hashtag
frequency),
discourse
analysis
(isolated
episodes
of
high
addressivity/peaks,
examine
content,
addressity
pa;erns,
focus
of
conversa&on,
conversa&onal
tendencies)

16. RQ1:
Networked
rhythms
of
content
produced
via
#ows
6000
5000
4000
3000
count
Men&on
RT
2000
Via
1000
0

17. RQ2:
Networked
Gatekeeping

18. RQ3:
Networked
Framing

19. Conversa&onal
prac&ces
and
affordances
(discourse
analysis
findings)
Openness
and
disorder
– Reluctance
to
frame
and
name
elites
– ideological
trolling,
conten&on,
2
broad
opposing
frames
– No
delibera&on,
cascade
of
informa&on
and
opinion
Connec&ve
ac&on
tropes
and
empty
signifiers
– Personalized
ac&on
frames,
presencing
– Refrains
and
resis&ng
the
collec&ve
we
Performa&vity
– Informa&on
sharing
vs.
opinions
– Affec&ve
claims
and
affec&ve
publics

20. Aferword
Affec&ve
Publics
(Oxford
U
Press,
2013)
Mul&-­‐mediali&es
Supersurfaces
and
electronic
elsewheres
photos
my
own,
from
current
and
past
exhibits
at
tate
modern
-­‐
centre
pompidou
–
momuk
vienna
–
chicago
art
expo
uic.edu/~zizi
::
zizi@uic.edu
::
@zizip