Affective design and memetic qualities: Generating affect and political engagement through bushfire TikToks

Brown, Yanni; Pini, Barbara; Pavlidis, Adele

doi:10.1177/14407833221110267

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In response to the second research question, the results show that TikTok affordances encourage political participation (Brown et al, 2022) and provide tools to foster social empowerment (Vizcaíno-Verdú & Aguaded, 2022), providing a space to challenge the discursive soapbox and the holistic construction of the counternarrative. However, the use of affordances does not necessarily contribute to diminishing the difference between "us" and "them."…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media and Otherness: The Case of #Islamterrorism on TikTok

Civila

Río²,

Aguaded³

2023

PaG

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social media and their participatory characteristics promote the construction of meanings that differ from those emitted by mainstream media outlets, becoming a tool that enables a reconfiguration of the dominant discourses. TikTok offers unique possibilities to confront the neoliberal imaginary and open a space for debate, incorporating political viewpoints and establishing itself as a new communication scenario. Regarding news about jihadism, many researchers have observed that those who practice Islam are classified as a monolithic entity, and this entire religious group is generalized as a threat to modern societies. The main objective of our research is thus to know the discourses used on TikTok to respond to the binomial Islam = terrorism spread by mainstream media and the affordances of this platform used to challenge this misconception. Using the snowball method, a multimodal analysis was conducted by identifying TikTok videos with the hashtags #yihadista, #yihad, and #islamterrorismo (in its English and Spanish versions) to explore the uses of the TikTok platform. The resulting selection criteria included: (a) content related to mainstream media discourses on jihadism, (b) discussion of a topic related to Islam and terrorism, and (c) where the content creator declares him/herself to be a Muslim. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted to provide an enhanced understanding of how the media promote the need to generate a counter-narrative on TikTok. The results reveal that discourses from Muslims that combat Islam = terrorism discourses are constructed within the spiral of the dominant narrative, thus visualizing the negative discourses about Islam.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media and Otherness: The Case of #Islamterrorism on TikTok

Civila

Río²,

Aguaded³

2023

PaG

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Scholars have observed similar patterns on TikTok on a variety of social issues such as gender inequalities and queer rights (Civila and Jaramillo-Dent 2022; Subramanian, 2021; Vizcaíno-Verdú and Aguaded, 2022), and in recent events such as 2020 Australian bushfires (Brown et al, 2022), the death of George Floyd, and the US Capitol riot (Literat et al, 2023). From these empirical studies we may trace the political potentials of TikTok cultures and how TikTok may amplify the affective power of social media.…”

Section: Tiktok Politics and The Power Of Affectmentioning

confidence: 86%

Theorising TikTok cultures: Neuro-images in the era of short videos

Lin,

Swart,

Zeng

2023

Media, Culture & Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Instead of viewing TikTok as a platform, in this article we borrow Dutch film theorist Patricia Pisters’s concept of neuro-images to approach TikTok as a cultural form that is deeply participatory, platform contingent, and algorithmically engraved. In the co-production between algorithms and users, TikTok becomes an enormous database and generates personalised narratives about individuals and the world onto and through its ‘brain-screen’ interfaces, which simulate our conscious and unconscious mind, and actualise the idea of creativity based on repetition. TikTok thus enables a quasi-automated cinema, whose non-stopping filming of everyday lives does not seek to reduce desires and tastes into a singular and coherent structure, but instead uncovers, releases and contains them in its vast database and interfaces, leading to a fluid and modulating categorisation of identities. It is within this quasi-automated, deeply participatory digital cinema that TikTok constitutes neuro-images, producing a distinctive experience of time, and unpredictable and unstable futures.

show abstract

“…By analysing Black Summer TikToks and interviewing young Australians who regularly watch TikToks, Brown et al argued that juxtaposing the humour and whimsy of the TikTok form with the tragedy of the bushfires was part of the affective design of this social media content. The young Australians in Brown et al’s study experienced Black Summer TikTok as ‘both a place of escape from and connection to the bushfires’ (Brown et al, 2022: 7), suggesting that remixed elements of Australian cultural identity were important ways to feel connected to this networked public.…”

Section: Framework: Networked Publics and Australian Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We have situated this study within the Australian networked public of Black Summer as it appeared on TikTok and ABC News . For sociologists Yanni Brown et al (2022), Black Summer TikToks featured young people reckoning with the powerful affects of grief, anger, and political disempowerment based on the Australian government’s lack of meaningful action on climate change. By analysing Black Summer TikToks and interviewing young Australians who regularly watch TikToks, Brown et al argued that juxtaposing the humour and whimsy of the TikTok form with the tragedy of the bushfires was part of the affective design of this social media content.…”

Section: Framework: Networked Publics and Australian Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Black summer on TikTok and ABC news: Shaping cultural identity during an Australian bushfire crisis

Nagel

Hutchinson

Abidin

et al. 2023

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigates the role of two intermediaries, a mainstream media outlet and a popular digital media platform, to shape cultural identity through a case study of the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire crisis (colloquially known as the ‘Black Summer’). Theoretically framed by networked publics, this study explores the vernacular creativity of social media users and mainstream media coverage during the Black Summer bushfire crisis. Findings draw on a thematic analysis of 100 news articles published between September 2019 and January 2020 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) randomly selected from a larger corpus of bushfire coverage ( n = 1269) and 120 TikTok videos posted between November 2019 and January 2021 that included prominent hashtags associated with the bushfires. Findings from news coverage highlight the ways in which the ABC framed the role of social media to connect with wider audiences while preserving their values as a public service media outlet. Findings from TikTok videos illustrate the role of ‘templates’ that encourage user participation and vernacular creativity on the platform. Comparing coverage of the bushfires on the ABC and TikTok revealed a shared set of striking visual elements used to shape cultural identity, communicate information, and make sense of a significant public crisis. This article offers directions for future research to explore the relationships and tensions between digital content creators and journalists and their capacity to create and contest cultural identities and imaginaries.

show abstract

Affective design and memetic qualities: Generating affect and political engagement through bushfire TikToks

Cited by 15 publications

References 50 publications

Social Media and Otherness: The Case of #Islamterrorism on TikTok

Social Media and Otherness: The Case of #Islamterrorism on TikTok

Theorising TikTok cultures: Neuro-images in the era of short videos

Black summer on TikTok and ABC news: Shaping cultural identity during an Australian bushfire crisis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About