Popular voices on Twitter: remediation of social media content in mass media discourses

Social media, especially Twitter, is an increasingly popular platform for not only sharing information and opinions, but also for gathering data for analysis. In this paper we use the 2012 #30j hashtag campaign and anti-austerity debates in Belgium to explore both how social media influence public debate, and what methodological precautions are necessary. We employ a multi-stage research approach, using content analysis of tweets and audiovisual and print media to investigate the extent to which tweeted discourses can represent an ongoing public debate. Our results outline the implications for how we can understand the role of Twitter in public debate, and raise crucial questions about how scholars and media professionals should use social media and its big data, and thus evaluate Twitter’s impact on the public sphere