Discourse analysis and digital technologies: (TikTok, hashtags, Instagram, YouTube): universal and specific aspects in international practice

Abstract

Nowadays, digital communication helps people to establish contact quickly and conveniently, to convey their message, ideas, the vision of the world to a wide audience. In this regard, new challenges have emerged for discourse analysis in the field of research on the features of digital communication, digital communication practices, the impact of electronic communication technologies on the formation and conduct of discourse, application, and influence of extralinguistic factors on speech. The article analyzes the problems and features of discourse using digital technologies, current trends, and new data in the field of social networks, hashtag activism, problems of involvement, activity, motivation of participants in online communication, formation of their online identity. The authors used system-functional, hermeneutic methods, linguistic analysis, methods of analysis, and synthesis in the framework of discourse theory. The study found and confirmed that the features of digital communication practices and the formation of discourse on the Internet are the widespread use of social networks, hashtags, social integration activities such as challenges, the use of special vocabulary specific to Internet communication, the ability to express themselves and form their own online user identity. Extralinguistic factors of discourse formation in digital communicative practices are major from the point of view of discourse analysis.

How did sustainable Spanish and Italian brands communicate COVID-19 on social media?

“…These methods are a very good alternative for analyzing the content of a message on social media, i.e. to perform discourse analysis in digital communication environments (Izotova et al , 2021). It, thus, becomes a simplified approach to content analysis (Pilar et al , 2019).…”

Tiktok as a new paradigm for information in the Ukrainian War. A study from the West of the initial coverage of the conflict through this platform

“…As Ahlse, Nilson, and Sandström (2020) maintain, they can arise spontaneously among users (organic challenges) or they can be sponsored by a brand, which would be related to digital marketing and the viralization of campaigns (Kwon, 2019;Wang et al, 2021). In the rapid expansion of these challenges, the use of hashtags, -an aspect shared with other social networks that allow users to search for content, follow other accounts, and share information on this or other platforms-is a determining factor (Izotova, Polishchuk & Taranik-Tkachuk, 2021). It is also a way to strategically position themselves and attract other users (Krutrök, 2021), although in the case of TikTok they acquire a special relevance when these challenges achieve a greater reach and become viral.…”

Comparing Crisis Communication on TikTok and YouTube: A Case Study of the 2023 California Floods

“…Al‐Maroof et al, 2021; Tam et al, 2022) or comparative “cultural discourse” (e.g. Izotova et al, 2021). In the context of climate crises, some literature has discussed how communication approaches can affect information flow and engagement (Nisbet, 2009; Zhou, 2016), but overall, the effects of the mediating platforms are underrepresented in these bodies of literature.…”