Debating Poverty Porn on Twitter

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical investigation of how people appropriated Twitter for socio-political talk in response to a television (TV) portrayal of people supported by state welfare and benefits. Our findings reveal how online discussion during, and in-between, TV broadcasts was characterised by distinctly different qualities, topics and user behaviours. These findings offer design opportunities for social media services to (i) support more balanced real-time commentaries of politically-charged media, (ii) actively promote discussion to continue after, and between, programming; and (iii) incorporate different motivations and attitudes towards socio-political concerns, as well as different practices of communicating those concerns. We contribute to the developing HCI literature on how social media intersects with political and civic engagement and specifically highlight the ways in which Twitter interacts with other forms of media as a site of everyday socio-political talk and debate.

Social Printers

“…This also means that viewers may tend to conform to the popular opinions seen on Twitter, although this effect diminishes when the topic becomes very politically polarising [10]. Temporal effects also influence the online discourse: research around a politically charged documentary showed that during broadcast viewers tended to post judgemental content, whereas post-broadcast, the Tweets tend to be more defensive and appreciative [8].…”

Politics at Home

“…In a study exploring the effect of combining political television with social media content, it was discovered that viewers have the tendency to conform to the opinions they see expressed through social content, although the effect was less pronounced when the footage was about polarising political issues like gun regulation [7]. Another example is a study into the use of Twitter around a politically charged program called Benefits Street, which looks into the lives of British benefits recipients [5]. The study discovered that during air time the content generated on Twitter tended to be abusive and judgemental, whereas between the programs viewers of the program posted much more appreciating, defending and contesting content [5].…”

“…Another example is a study into the use of Twitter around a politically charged program called Benefits Street, which looks into the lives of British benefits recipients [5]. The study discovered that during air time the content generated on Twitter tended to be abusive and judgemental, whereas between the programs viewers of the program posted much more appreciating, defending and contesting content [5].…”

Audience and Expert Perspectives on Second Screen Engagement with Political Debates

“…We are particularly interested in how these issues are manifested around televised political debates, where viewers utilise their personal devices or second screens to gauge the opinions of the public, share their own views, or as a form of entertainment [20]. Within this work we adopt a broad definition of second screens as devices used alongside television for activities that are both related and unrelated to the broadcast [7,11,14,18,39]. Political debates are a key point in election campaigns, where social media activity is particularly high.…”

“…Political debates are a key point in election campaigns, where social media activity is particularly high. Previous research has explored how Twitter is being used in this context [2,7,21], what motivates viewers to use their devices [20], and the effect of social media on opinion formation during debates [33,34]. What remains is to identify directions for the development of appropriate second screen tools that cater to viewers' needs and address the current issues with political discourse online more broadly.…”