1) The document analyzes tweets about the documentary Citizenfour, which features Edward Snowden discussing government surveillance. 2) It finds three main themes in the tweets: concerns about informational privacy due to government data collection; concerns about accessibility privacy due to invasive surveillance programs; and expressions of privacy through jokes and discussions of self-censorship. 3) The analysis concludes that the documentary stimulated audience reflexivity about privacy in terms of control over private/public boundaries, individuals' attitudes, and choices about surveillance and behavior.

1. Giovanni[.]Boccia Artieri[@uniurb.it]
Laura[.]Gemini[@uniurb.it]
Fabio[.]Giglietto[@uniurb.it]
LaRiCA/Department of Communication Studies
University of Urbino Carlo Bo
IR16: Digital Imaginaries
Phoenix, Arizona, USA - 21 - 24 October 2015
Citizenfour: Internet Publics and
the Imaginary of Privacy.
A content analysis of Twitter
commentaries around the 2015 Oscar
winning documentary

3. Tv, as facilitator of social relationships [Newcomb 1994], is
eminently social.
Tv contents are triggers for conversations performed through digital
media as “second-screen” practices [Wohn, Na 2011; Sauter, Bruns
2014; D’heer, Courtois 2014]
Documentary can be seen nowaday as an important part of the
collective imaginary based on the mix of fact and fiction [Benson &
Anderson, 2002].
Social Television and participation:
Research Background

4. RQ. What is the imagery of privacy that emerges from
Citizenfour double screen audience?
Research Question

5. start end Tweets % RT % @replies AVG TPM
ET
2015-02-24
01:30:00
2015-02-24
04:30:00
4,893 42.5 4.8 27.03
PT
2015-02-24
04:31:00
2015-02-24
07:31:00
3,726 50.7 3.8 20.58
2015-02-25
22:30:00
2015-02-26
01:30:00
7,463 56.9 3.9 41.23
Dataset

6. “Peaks of relatively high density of
original Tweet production”
Peaks of Twitter Engagement (PTE)

7. #citizenfour
Information #citizenfour making its mainstream media debut on
channel 4
Opinion I am not usually too upset about gov't related survalence,
etc., but I have a feeling #Citizenfour might change that
tonight
Attention seeking #XF6 ok, i’m going to turn off the PC and enjoy the voice of
#Chiara... Watch #Citizenfour right now on C4. You'll
understand what we're up against...
Emotion Just watched #Citizenfour . Amazing, astonishing, mind
blowing, terrifying and exasperating are some of the words
that come to mind
Content Analysis Codebook/1
Tweets analyzed 7,458

8. #citizenfour
Informational privacy “Irish Government gave full access to GCHQ UK to spy on
Irish citizens #Citizenfour #vinb”
Accessibility privacy “ "I'd like to point out that GCHQ has probably the most
invasive programme in the world" says Snowden "takes
data on everything”
Expressive privacy “People self-police. It's become an expectation that we're
being watched, which limits boundaries of intellectual
exploration #CitizenFour”
[De Cew 1997]
Privacy Content Analysis Codebook/2

9. Perceived as mandatory
Awaited
Stimulating an emotional reflexivity
That make change your mind
Citizenfour: a media event…

10. Imagery of the (violated) privacy and
its metaphors

11. Hero or Traitor/1

12. Hero or Traitor/2

13. Power Invaders
Worried about informational privacy
Informational Privacy

14. They have taken our data
Audience reflexivity about privacy
Surveillance dragged into the light
Criticize the “nothing to hide” argument
Accessibility Privacy

15. Reflexivity as “paranoia”
Pay attention to behavior
Expressive Privacy/1

16. a strategy to process disturbing issues
through jokes and humour
Expressive Privacy/2

17. 1. Privacy as control over the private/public boundary
2. Privacy as individuals reflexivity attitude
3. Control over privacy as behavioural choice (concrete
or imagined)
Conclusions

18. giovanni.bocciaartieri@uniurb.it
laura.gemini@uniurb.it
fabio.giglietto@uniurb.it
…That’s all folks!
For Further Details or Comments