Mapping Persian Twitter: Networks and mechanism of political communication in Iranian 2017 presidential election

Abstract

This paper investigates the structure of networked publics and their sharing practices in Persian Twitter during a period surrounding Iran’s 2017 presidential election. Building on networked gatekeeping and framing theories, we used a mixed methodological approach to analyze a dataset of 2,596,284 Persian tweets. Results revealed that Twitter provided a space for Iranians to discuss public topics. However, this space is not necessarily used by voiceless and marginalized groups; and the uses are not limited to discussing controversial issues. The growing body of conservative crowdsourced elites emerged to defend the regime’s ideology. Moreover, the dominant networked frames were shaped around normal and routine subjects in an election time. Thus, Twitter was not a platform for only seeking liberal demands. It was to some extent used to serve the regime’s political interests. Furthermore, while many ordinary users rose to prominence, mainstream media continued to act as powerful players. This study contributes to the existing literature into networked practices, digital democracy, and citizen journalism; particularly in restrictive contexts.

Protesting is Not Everything

“…In previous incidents, a big part of the political context in Iran was missing as conservatives were absent in the network to a notable level. Kermani and Adham (2021) show that all main forces were active on this network in the 2017 election. Thus, analyzing Twitter is a convenient way to understand the vibrancies and dynamics of political transformation in Iran.…”

“…While these two groups had been using Twitter more effectively for political orientations traditionally, conservatives were also joining this microblogging network on a big scale during the years leading to the 2017 election (Kermani & Adham, 2021, Azadi & Mesgaran, 2021Marchant et al, 2018). After several years of denial and denouncement, conservatives decided to play a more significant role on Twitter not to allow anti-regime users, whether reformist or diaspora, to dominate the network anymore (Bowen, 2017).…”

Managing Visibilities: The Shades and Shadows of NGO Work in Repressive Contexts

“…Many activist groups that work in restrictive contexts are situated within the mostly shadowed dimension: here protest movements' collective organizing is anonymous, members' identities concealed, but their actions are visible to a public audience (Scott, 2013). In the case of the 2017 presidential elections for example, activists in Iran hid the geographical location of their operations and their identities but were visible on Twitter as a part of their efforts to promote digital democracy and give a platform to voiceless and marginalized groups against the maltreatment of authorities (Kermani & Adham, 2021). However, when faced with the possibilities for action offered by Twitter that allowed crowdsourced elites to defend the regime's ideology, activists moved from the mostly shadowed to the moderately shadowed dimension where they made their affiliation visible to be able to counter these actors in an impactful manner in spite of the potential risks (Kermani & Adham, 2021).…”

A structural approach to detecting opinion leaders in Twitter by Random Matrix Theory

“…The network is highly polarized, and in each community, a high level of bot activity was detected 22 . The Persian Twittersphere has been the subject of many studies in an attempt to understand the structure of the interactions of Iranians on this platform ( 12,(22)(23)(24) ) and the role Twitter plays in Iranian politics 25 . In this study, the Persian Twittersphere is used as a subject in an important socio-political event; i.e., the presidential election, to detect and analyze the structure and features of the opinion leaders.…”