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Online Communities and Where to Find Them: Conceptual and Analytical Frameworks
1. CRICOS No.00213J
Online Communities and Where to Find Them:
Conceptual and Analytical Frameworks
Prof. Axel Bruns
Australian Laureate Fellow
a.bruns@qut.edu.au | @snurb_dot_info
4. 3.7m known Australian accounts
Network of follower connections
Filtered for degree ≥1000
255k nodes (6.4%), 61m edges
Edges not shown in graph
The Australian Twittersphere
Teen Culture
Aspirational
Sports
Netizens
Arts & Culture
Politics
Television
Fashion
Popular Music
Food & Drinks
Agriculture Activism
Porn
Education
Cycling
News &
Generic
Hard Right
Progressive
South
Australia
Celebrities
Horse Racing
https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117748162
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US progressives
US conservatives
France /
Germany
Italy
Brazil
India
alternative
health
conspiracies
UK
alternative
finance
FakeNIX Domain Sharing on Facebook, 2016-21
Nodes: public pages, groups, verified profiles / domains in posts
Size: weighted in-degree
Colour: weighted in-degree
FakeNIX domain posts, 1 Jan. 2016 to 31 Mar. 2021
https://snurb.info/node/2625
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climate change denial
antivax
alternative medicine
alternative food
astrology
UFOs
autism
UK left
UK satire
Detail: Conspiracy Theorists
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• Nodes in a network, entities in a collection
• Sharing certain measurable properties
(attributes, connections)
• Artificially grouped based on (superficial?)
similarities
Clusters
https://snurb.info/node/2213
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• Nodes in a network, entities in a collection
• Sharing certain measurable properties
(attributes, connections)
• Artificially grouped based on (superficial?)
similarities
Clusters How and Where to Find Them
• Modularity detection in networks
• Clustering by attributes for other datasets
• Different levels of sensitivity might produce
very different results – no one true answer
• Potential hierarchies: clusters, subclusters,
subsubclusters, …
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• Small number, known to each other
• Shared interests, values, and aims
• Stable relationships and distinct roles
Groups
Photo
by
Saksham
Gangwar
on
UnSplash
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• Small number, known to each other
• Shared interests, values, and aims
• Stable relationships and distinct roles
Groups How and Where to Find Them
• Strong, repeated, stable interconnections /
interactions
• Shared language, identity markers, media
objects
• Similar activity patterns
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• Larger, key members known to each other
• Shared but contestable interests, values,
and aims
• More complex structure involving centre
and periphery, leaders and followers
Communities
Photo
by
Jacinto
Diego
on
Unsplash
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• Larger, key members known to each other
• Shared but contestable interests, values,
and aims
• More complex structure involving centre
and periphery, leaders and followers
Communities How and Where to Find Them
• Repeated, stable interconnections /
interactions
• Emergence of influential lead participants
• Centre / periphery distinctions (e.g. 1/9/90,
Pareto: creators, contributors, lurkers)
• More interactions within community than
outside it (e.g. E-I Index)
• Broadly shared language, identity markers,
media objects
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• Much larger and much less knowable
• Transient and temporarily gathered in one
space (online or offline)
• Some shared identity or interests but no
universally shared values
Crowd
Photo
by
Joseph
Chan
on
Unsplash
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• Much larger and much less knowable
• Transient and temporarily gathered in one
space (online or offline)
• Some shared identity or interests but no
universally shared values
Crowd How and Where to Find Them
• Large to very large number of participants
• Strong activity for limited period of time, or
around defined issues
• Similar activity patterns, but limited
interaction between participants
• Shared language, identity markers, media
objects relating to specific driving issue
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• Centred around shared interest, issue, text
• Capable of forming and dissolving rapidly
(e.g. ad hoc publics, issue publics, …)
• Aware of each other and able to
communicate publicly
• May develop shared values through their
communication
• Capable of organising in support of a
common goal
Public
Photo
by
Colin
Lloyd
on
Unsplash
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• Centred around shared interest, issue, text
• Capable of forming and dissolving rapidly
(e.g. ad hoc publics, issue publics, …)
• Aware of each other and able to
communicate publicly
• May develop shared values through their
communication
• Capable of organising in support of a
common goal
Public How and Where to Find Them
• Large to very large number of participants
• Strong activity for limited period of time, or
around defined issues
• Similar activity patterns, and greater levels
of interaction between participants
• Shared language, identity markers, media
objects relating to specific driving issue
• Centring around key values can produce
longer-term structures and leadership
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• Centred around a shared (media) text
• Large but dispersed and usually unknown
to each other
• Unlikely to share values beyond central
common interest
• Incapable of acting together
Audience
Photo
by
Ben
Tofan
on
Unsplash
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• Centred around a shared (media) text
• Large but dispersed and usually unknown
to each other
• Unlikely to share values beyond central
common interest
• Incapable of acting together
Audience How and Where to Find Them
• Unified by central text (live performance,
media object, event / issue hashtag, …)
• Participant numbers from niche to very large
• Observing rather than actively contributing
• Therefore invisible to and unaware of each
other
• Often imagined and assumed rather than
tangibly traceable
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And #Hashtags?
• Very common question in social media research:
• Audiences: if users are simply following the hashtag (#AUSvNZL)
• Crowds: if users are posting into but not following the hashtag (#auspol, for most people)
• Publics: if hashtags are used to coordinate public action (#metoo, #blacklivesmatter)
• Communities: if there is sustained engagement by regular participants (#auspol, for some)
• Groups: if there is a strong sense of shared identity between regulars (#agchatoz)
• Clusters: sure, as long as there is any activity at all
Not every hashtag is a community!
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• “Mediated political communication”
• “Carried on by an elite”
• “On a virtual stage of mediated
communication”
(Habermas, 2006)
Public
Sphere
Photo
by
Mike
Philipp
on
Unsplash
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• Publics, Crowds, …
• Triggered by issues and events
• Fast-moving and short-lived
• Limited in focus and scope
• Public Spherules (incl. Groups, Communities)
• Defined by topics and themes
• More persistent and stable
• Broader scope but unified by common theme
(cf. Cunningham, “Popular Media as Public
‘Sphericules’ for Diasporic Communities”)
• Public Spheres?
• Domain-, identity-, platform-specific
• E.g. political, Indigenous, Twittersphere
• Persistent and highly visible
• Encompassing relevant publics and spherules
• ‘The’ Public Sphere?
• Traditionally, an arena for public debate amongst
elites in front of mass media audiences
• Now, the sum total of smaller publics, spherules,
and spheres?
(cf. Bruns, “Digital Public Spheres in Australia”)
Digital Publics and ‘the’ Public Sphere
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Inputs to this were supported by the ARC Future Fellowship project Understanding Intermedia
Information Flows in the Australian Online Public Sphere, the ARC LIEF project TrISMA: Tracking
Infrastructure for Social Media Analysis, and the ARC Discovery project Evaluating the Challenge of
'Fake News' and Other Malinformation.
Future research is supported by the ARC Laureate Fellowship project Dynamics of Partisanship and
Polarisation in Online Public Debate, commencing in early 2022.
Facebook data are provided courtesy of CrowdTangle.
Acknowledgments