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The Use of Twitter Hashtags in the Formation of Ad Hoc Publics

Axel Bruns and Jean BurgessARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and InnovationQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbane, Australia

a.bruns / je.burgess@qut.edu.au@snurb_dot_info / @jeanburgesshttp://mappingonlinepublics.net/

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#hashtags on Twitter

o Hashtag =‘#’ + some alphanumeric characters: automatic tracking & aggregation of a topic, represented with a hyperlink

o Originally a (lead) user innovation, later integrated into platform

o Simple, adaptive and generativeo Can coordinate, render visible, and

constitute publics

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Introduction & Contestation

In 2007, Twitter didn’t have trending topics, integrated search or hashtags

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Introduction & Contestation

See: http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2007/08/25/groups-for-twitter-or-a-proposal-for-twitter-tag-channels/

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

Introduction & Contestation

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Introduction & Contestation

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Adoption & Retention

o Compelling use cases, uptake by influential lead users

o Very simple architectural integration (built-in ‘tracking’ feature)

o Uptake in external developer community (Twitter Search, hashtags.org etc)

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Popularisation & Proliferation…

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Popularisation & Proliferation…

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Popularisation & Proliferation…

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Popularisation & Proliferation…

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Popularisation & Proliferation…

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#hashtag publics

Publics o Attend to matters of shared concern with some

level of co-awarenesso Varied in intensity and temporalityo Emergent, constituted via discourse & affect

#hashtag publicso Not all hashtags constitute publics; Twitter doesn’t

‘contain’ publicso What are the various patterns in the dynamics of

different hashtag-based publics?o What might account for these differences?

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Ad Hoc: Labor Leadership #spill

23 June, 19:00-00:00:Speculation

24 June, 08:00-15:00:Party Vote & Aftermath

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Forming an Ad Hoc Issue Public

o #spill as a hashtag takeover:

Ok what's with the #spill tag? Has BP dumped more oil?

those who do not know a #spill in leadership terms is basically saying the big job is now vacant no relation to the oil spill of bp style

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Ad Hoc: #eqnz22/2 23 24 25 26 27 28 1/3 2

3 4 5 6 7

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An Ad Hoc Public: #eqnz @repliesmainstream

media

authorities

utilities

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Managing the Hashtag

o Ensuring ‘proper’ use:

@NZcivildefence please use #eqnz hashtag. Thanks.

Earthquake in New Zealand = #eqnz. Earthquake in Japan = #eqjp. Earthquake in the U.S. = #earthquake. Hmmmmmm.

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Ad Hoc? #royalwedding

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Ad Hoc? Crises and Other Events(top 1% most active users in each

hashtag;size = percentage of total tweet volume)

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Beyond Hashtags

o Publics on Twitter:o Micro: @reply and retweet conversationso Meso: hashtag ‘communities’o Macro: follower/followee networks

Multiple overlapping publics / networks

o What drives their formation and dissipation?o How do they interact and interweave?o How are they interleaved with the wider

media ecology?o Twitter doesn’t contain publics: publics transcend

Twitter

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The Australian Twittersphere

Follower/followee network:~150,000 Australian Twitter users(of ~550,000 known accounts so far) colour = outdegree, size = indegree

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The Australian Twittersphere

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@snurb_dot_info@jeanburgess