Tragedy and the twitterati

After the horrific attacks on Charlie Hebdo , many have turned to social media to express their feelings, show solidarity, or to produce/consume information regarding the attack. The emergence of the trending hashtag #JeSuisCharlie and the chanting of it at rallies around the world indicates how central social media has been as a public outlet during this crisis. Indeed, #JeSuisCharlie speaks to the larger point that crisis hashtags are built around a notion of ‘event society’ where social media activity can become part of a public sphere that rallies around events such as crises.

Individuals use social media in times of crisis for several reasons. In a study of Twitter use during Hurricane Sandy, I found that some users turn to social media as a form of ‘self-therapy’, to communicate their anxieties and to receive support. Individuals also turn to social media to produce and consume memes and other humorous content; this can also be a form of self-therapy.

Though one would not expect humour to be present in #JeSuisCharlie, it is. In homage to the cartoonists who were killed in the attack, some of the images within the hashtag use humour to both cope as well as attack the motives and means of the terrorists. For example, there are numerous cartoons that have been retweeted, which show masked terrorists being attacked by showers of pencils and pens or a gunman shooting a fountain pen and ink spilling out. Timely news

Social media — especially Twitter — is used by many as a source of information. Important news stories are retweeted and friends and followers engage in social bookmarking or other means to suggest important sources of information.

Social media is also well known for being timely. This has also been the case with Charlie Hebdo from the point of the attack and during its aftermath. Social media is also used to check how friends and family are faring during the crises and many platforms including Facebook and Twitter afford us the ability to keep tabs on large circles of friends, family members, and colleagues during crises. In the case of Charlie Hebdo , social media was being used to both collectively express solidarity as well as for Parisians to talk to each other as small and large groups about what happened and how they were feeling.

In following #JeSuisCharlie, it remains clear that we have to remember that trending topics by definition trend because they are popular. As such, they are also attractive targets for anyone who wants a soapbox. Because of the usually open nature of social media, hijacking is possible. Companies have also tried to sell products via popular hashtags during times of crises — usually in poor taste.

Strongly polarising forces have had success in inserting themselves into trending topics. In India, this has happened with some far right groups for example. In the case of #JeSuisCharlie, supporters of the gunmen also emerged. The openness of social media makes it possible for it to be used by any side including extremists, spammers and trolls.

Ultimately, we may be tempted to view #JeSuisCharlie as a peripheral part of the Charlie Hebdo crisis. However, social media plays an important role in shaping public perceptions of crises. This is particularly true when celebrities, politicians, and social media ‘influencers’ direct or spark conversations, chatter, or the circulation of information.

Often just a handful of tweets are what are most read and responded to during crises. Even though social media contains a deluge of content, certain themes can and do shape public opinion during crises.

The writer teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London and is the author of ‘Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age’

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