Unifying Through Discordant Voices: Dialectical Tensions in the Blogosphere

• In Event: Strategic Organizing and Dialectical Tensions: A Constitutive View of Social Media Use

Abstract

This paper analyzes five different blogs developed in the 2007-2008 Writers’ Guild Strike. The five sites include: Together We Win, a blog authored by WGA strike captains; Industry Contracts 101, a blog sponsored by a union member who was writing about the profession, Show Business Labor Law, a blog authored by a legal analyst; The Writers’ War Room, a blog platform sponsored by a traditional media outlet, and Daily Media, a blog site for an independent journalist. Drawing from a sample of blog messages at three key turning points in the strike, this study compares and contrasts blog themes in light of three key dialectical tensions: framing versus counterframing, supportive versus critical, and advisory versus informative. These tensions manifest themselves differently as blog authors draw on different affordances of the technology to constitute a cacophony of voices as a form of community organizing that strengthens rather than weakens union messages.

Authors

• Linda L. Putnam, U of California-Santa Barbara

• Ryan Patrick Fuller, U of California - Santa Barbara