No Cover Image

Journal article 494 views 45 downloads

Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts

Amy-Louise Watkin, Maura Conway Orcid Logo

First Monday, Volume: 27, Issue: 5

Swansea University Author: Maura Conway Orcid Logo

  • 62899_VoR.pdf

    PDF | Version of Record

    Copyright (c) 2022 First Monday. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

    Download (140.22KB)

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.5210/fm.v27i5.12611

Abstract

This research employs the concept of social capital to compare the efforts that a range of tech companies have claimed to take to counter polarization and extremism and build resilience on their platforms. The dataset on which our analysis is based is made-up of a purposive sample of official blog p...

Full description

Published in: First Monday
ISSN: 1396-0466
Published: University of Illinois Libraries 2022
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62899
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
first_indexed 2023-03-10T11:13:29Z
last_indexed 2023-03-11T04:14:51Z
id cronfa62899
recordtype SURis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2023-03-10T11:27:46.8684384</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>62899</id><entry>2023-03-10</entry><title>Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>a85f1f79fa2041b345e47eb55062d1b7</sid><ORCID>0000-0003-4216-8592</ORCID><firstname>Maura</firstname><surname>Conway</surname><name>Maura Conway</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2023-03-10</date><deptcode>LAWD</deptcode><abstract>This research employs the concept of social capital to compare the efforts that a range of tech companies have claimed to take to counter polarization and extremism and build resilience on their platforms. The dataset on which our analysis is based is made-up of a purposive sample of official blog posts from three &#x2018;older&#x2019; (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and three &#x2018;newer&#x2019; (i.e., TikTok, Discord, and Telegram) technology platforms. The selected posts focused on companies&#x2019; efforts to make their platform safer, build community resilience, counter violent extremism and/or polarization, or mentioned related topics such as countering hate organizations, radicalization, or misinformation. Revealed were seven themes incorporating, to a greater or lesser extent, the three main types of social capital (i.e., bonding, bridging and linking). These themes were granting user powers, strengthening existing communities, provision of information and education, building community, enhancing user rights, keeping users safe, and building trust and relationships with users. Analysis of these showed that while creation of all three types of social capital was apparent, similar to previous studies, bridging capital dominated here too; while there were some discrepancies between social capital generating activities and their framings on &#x2018;older&#x2019; versus &#x2018;newer&#x2019; platforms, other factors, including platform size and company values are likely to be equally or more important; and, finally, that companies attempts at generating online social capital can have negative as well as positive impacts with regard to countering polarization and extremism.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>First Monday</journal><volume>27</volume><journalNumber>5</journalNumber><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher>University of Illinois Libraries</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic>1396-0466</issnElectronic><keywords/><publishedDay>2</publishedDay><publishedMonth>5</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2022</publishedYear><publishedDate>2022-05-02</publishedDate><doi>10.5210/fm.v27i5.12611</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Law</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>LAWD</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><funders/><projectreference/><lastEdited>2023-03-10T11:27:46.8684384</lastEdited><Created>2023-03-10T11:10:35.0538181</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Amy-Louise</firstname><surname>Watkin</surname><order>1</order></author><author><firstname>Maura</firstname><surname>Conway</surname><orcid>0000-0003-4216-8592</orcid><order>2</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>62899__26803__5751dc7b309942e49ab4a0eb6ad38b06.pdf</filename><originalFilename>62899_VoR.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2023-03-10T11:13:44.3672728</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>143582</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>Version of Record</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>Copyright (c) 2022 First Monday. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language><licence>https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</licence></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2023-03-10T11:27:46.8684384 v2 62899 2023-03-10 Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts a85f1f79fa2041b345e47eb55062d1b7 0000-0003-4216-8592 Maura Conway Maura Conway true false 2023-03-10 LAWD This research employs the concept of social capital to compare the efforts that a range of tech companies have claimed to take to counter polarization and extremism and build resilience on their platforms. The dataset on which our analysis is based is made-up of a purposive sample of official blog posts from three ‘older’ (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and three ‘newer’ (i.e., TikTok, Discord, and Telegram) technology platforms. The selected posts focused on companies’ efforts to make their platform safer, build community resilience, counter violent extremism and/or polarization, or mentioned related topics such as countering hate organizations, radicalization, or misinformation. Revealed were seven themes incorporating, to a greater or lesser extent, the three main types of social capital (i.e., bonding, bridging and linking). These themes were granting user powers, strengthening existing communities, provision of information and education, building community, enhancing user rights, keeping users safe, and building trust and relationships with users. Analysis of these showed that while creation of all three types of social capital was apparent, similar to previous studies, bridging capital dominated here too; while there were some discrepancies between social capital generating activities and their framings on ‘older’ versus ‘newer’ platforms, other factors, including platform size and company values are likely to be equally or more important; and, finally, that companies attempts at generating online social capital can have negative as well as positive impacts with regard to countering polarization and extremism. Journal Article First Monday 27 5 University of Illinois Libraries 1396-0466 2 5 2022 2022-05-02 10.5210/fm.v27i5.12611 COLLEGE NANME Law COLLEGE CODE LAWD Swansea University 2023-03-10T11:27:46.8684384 2023-03-10T11:10:35.0538181 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law Amy-Louise Watkin 1 Maura Conway 0000-0003-4216-8592 2 62899__26803__5751dc7b309942e49ab4a0eb6ad38b06.pdf 62899_VoR.pdf 2023-03-10T11:13:44.3672728 Output 143582 application/pdf Version of Record true Copyright (c) 2022 First Monday. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts
spellingShingle Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts
Maura Conway
title_short Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts
title_full Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts
title_fullStr Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts
title_full_unstemmed Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts
title_sort Building social capital to counter polarization and extremism? A comparative analysis of tech platforms' official blog posts
author_id_str_mv a85f1f79fa2041b345e47eb55062d1b7
author_id_fullname_str_mv a85f1f79fa2041b345e47eb55062d1b7_***_Maura Conway
author Maura Conway
author2 Amy-Louise Watkin
Maura Conway
format Journal article
container_title First Monday
container_volume 27
container_issue 5
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
issn 1396-0466
doi_str_mv 10.5210/fm.v27i5.12611
publisher University of Illinois Libraries
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description This research employs the concept of social capital to compare the efforts that a range of tech companies have claimed to take to counter polarization and extremism and build resilience on their platforms. The dataset on which our analysis is based is made-up of a purposive sample of official blog posts from three ‘older’ (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and three ‘newer’ (i.e., TikTok, Discord, and Telegram) technology platforms. The selected posts focused on companies’ efforts to make their platform safer, build community resilience, counter violent extremism and/or polarization, or mentioned related topics such as countering hate organizations, radicalization, or misinformation. Revealed were seven themes incorporating, to a greater or lesser extent, the three main types of social capital (i.e., bonding, bridging and linking). These themes were granting user powers, strengthening existing communities, provision of information and education, building community, enhancing user rights, keeping users safe, and building trust and relationships with users. Analysis of these showed that while creation of all three types of social capital was apparent, similar to previous studies, bridging capital dominated here too; while there were some discrepancies between social capital generating activities and their framings on ‘older’ versus ‘newer’ platforms, other factors, including platform size and company values are likely to be equally or more important; and, finally, that companies attempts at generating online social capital can have negative as well as positive impacts with regard to countering polarization and extremism.
published_date 2022-05-02T04:23:17Z
_version_ 1763663934695407616
score 11.013596

Similar Items