Ferguson and the Death of Michael Brown on Twitter: #BlackLivesMatter, #TCOT, and The Evolution of Collective Identities

• In Event: 263 - Section on Social Psychology Paper Session. Social Psychological Approaches to Collective Action and Social Movements

Abstract

Researchers are frequently unable to capture the organic, manufactured process that leads to the sustainability of these narratives. Social media data allow social psychologists to capture the process of manufacturing and sustaining collective identities and collective action in social movements as they capture a growing segment of the U.S. population. Recent events related to police brutality and the evolution of #BlackLivesMatter provides an empirical case by which to explore the vitality of social media data. Following the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012, #BlackLivesMatter exploded into the social media sphere. Drawing upon literatures on collective identities, collective action, and social movements, we analyze 31.65 million tweets about Ferguson across four meaningful time periods: the death of Michael Brown, the non-indictment of police officer Darren Wilson, the Department of Justice report on Ferguson, and the one year aftermath of Brown’s death. Our analysis of the most popular Twitter hashtags, tweeted images, and narratives show that social media activism is linked to boots on the ground, conflates with mainstream news coverage, and primarily comes from identified activists of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. We also show that a concerted counter narrative hashtagged #TCOT (Top Conservatives on Twitter) has operated as the primary anti-thesis to #BlackLivesMatter tweets. In doing so, we demonstrate the vitality of social media and establish a methodological agenda for scholars aiming to conduct rigorous, cutting edge, contextual, and timely research with social media data to focus on a host of outcomes including identity formation, race relations, protests, and politics.

Authors

• Rashawn Ray, University of Maryland

• Melissa Brown