Strategic Framing and Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Memes Posted by the German Identitarian Movement on Facebook
While officially classified as a right-wing movement, the German Identitarian Movement (GIM) claims to be neither left nor right wing but rather identitarian. The social movement stands for what they call “ethno-pluralism,” communicated online without intermediate gatekeepers, in supposedly socially...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2020-02-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119898777 |
| _version_ | 1817982217031254016 |
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| author | Lars Guenther Georg Ruhrmann Jenny Bischoff Tessa Penzel Antonia Weber |
| author_facet | Lars Guenther Georg Ruhrmann Jenny Bischoff Tessa Penzel Antonia Weber |
| author_sort | Lars Guenther |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While officially classified as a right-wing movement, the German Identitarian Movement (GIM) claims to be neither left nor right wing but rather identitarian. The social movement stands for what they call “ethno-pluralism,” communicated online without intermediate gatekeepers, in supposedly socially acceptable messages. Without a clear classification to a political wing, some Internet users encountering information created by the GIM could have difficulties assessing what this movement really stands for and what identitarian means. That is why this study examined strategic frames in a full sample of memes ( N = 511) posted by the movement on their Facebook page, because memes (here: image macros) have been the GIM’s main form of communication on Facebook. This study identified six strategic frames that represent a plurality of different social issues; some of them call for immediate action. Hence, the movement’s strategic framing goes far beyond emphasizing “ethno-pluralism.” The findings elucidate the overall communication strategies of the movement and show that the frames represent characteristics and semantics of the New Right. These frames also triggered different levels of social media engagement. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T23:17:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cf736e93df39463991e368bc159737a2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3051 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T23:17:49Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Media + Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-cf736e93df39463991e368bc159737a22022-12-22T02:25:21ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512020-02-01610.1177/2056305119898777Strategic Framing and Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Memes Posted by the German Identitarian Movement on FacebookLars Guenther0Georg Ruhrmann1Jenny Bischoff2Tessa Penzel3Antonia Weber4University of Hamburg, GermanyFriedrich Schiller University Jena, GermanyFriedrich Schiller University Jena, GermanyFriedrich Schiller University Jena, GermanyFriedrich Schiller University Jena, GermanyWhile officially classified as a right-wing movement, the German Identitarian Movement (GIM) claims to be neither left nor right wing but rather identitarian. The social movement stands for what they call “ethno-pluralism,” communicated online without intermediate gatekeepers, in supposedly socially acceptable messages. Without a clear classification to a political wing, some Internet users encountering information created by the GIM could have difficulties assessing what this movement really stands for and what identitarian means. That is why this study examined strategic frames in a full sample of memes ( N = 511) posted by the movement on their Facebook page, because memes (here: image macros) have been the GIM’s main form of communication on Facebook. This study identified six strategic frames that represent a plurality of different social issues; some of them call for immediate action. Hence, the movement’s strategic framing goes far beyond emphasizing “ethno-pluralism.” The findings elucidate the overall communication strategies of the movement and show that the frames represent characteristics and semantics of the New Right. These frames also triggered different levels of social media engagement.https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119898777 |
| spellingShingle | Lars Guenther Georg Ruhrmann Jenny Bischoff Tessa Penzel Antonia Weber Strategic Framing and Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Memes Posted by the German Identitarian Movement on Facebook Social Media + Society |
| title | Strategic Framing and Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Memes Posted by the German Identitarian Movement on Facebook |
| title_full | Strategic Framing and Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Memes Posted by the German Identitarian Movement on Facebook |
| title_fullStr | Strategic Framing and Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Memes Posted by the German Identitarian Movement on Facebook |
| title_full_unstemmed | Strategic Framing and Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Memes Posted by the German Identitarian Movement on Facebook |
| title_short | Strategic Framing and Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Memes Posted by the German Identitarian Movement on Facebook |
| title_sort | strategic framing and social media engagement analyzing memes posted by the german identitarian movement on facebook |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119898777 |
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