Framing Theory in the Age of Social Media

Abstract

The Internet age has converged various traditional mainstream media institutions as well alternative media platforms together into a hybrid media system with the New Media system that includes alternative media like social media, in particular Twitter and Facebook. Framing Theory and frame analysis has been found functional and suitable for researching complex social media communications and also the interplay of the social media with mainstream traditional media. We reviewed the literature of framing analysis in relation to social media, virtual communities and social movements to present a brief overview of the practical and theoretical potentials of frame analysis and also the particularities and problems that arose in regard to the dynamic nature of social media. As a result, frame analysis presents an even broader potential for the research of dynamic communication processes in the fast lives of virtual communities and the vast effects of online interaction of social, political, commercial institutions.