Abstract

PIAIA, Victor et al. “Breque dos Apps”: A Temporal Analysis of Communities and Influencers in Online Public Debate on Twitter. Comunicação e Sociedade [online]. 2021, vol.39, pp.57-81.  Epub June 30, 2021. ISSN 1645-2089.  https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.39(2021).2855.

The purpose of this article is to examine the dynamics of the debate on social networking platforms from the perspective of collective identity and collective action concepts. More specifically, we seek to identify who are the central actors on Twitter in the debate about the two delivery app workers’ strike against the work regime and working conditions during the pandemics (UberEats, iFood, Rappi, etc.) occurred on July 1 and 25, 2020, in Brazil. We also examined whether the most influential users played a role in the formation of communities around their interpretation of this topic. To do so, we collected 535,178 tweets published in two periods of workers’ demonstrations, which occurred between June and July 2020. Based on temporal analysis of clusters, we identified the moment of entrance of each community on the debate and discussed how profiles of influencers, social movements, politicians, and celebrities on Twitter played central roles in mobilizing supporters and fostering public engagement linked to acts on the networks. The results show that social mobilization in digital environments occurs from interactions between groups with great involvement with the causes and profiles of more ephemeral performance, whose participation is fundamental for the promotion and dissemination of acts.

Keywords : collective identity; collective action; social networking platforms; Twitter; Breque dos Apps.

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