Twitter as a Multilingual Space: The Articulation of the Tunisian Revolution Through #Sidibouzid

NECSUS - European Journal of Media Studies, Vol. 1, 2012

15 Pages Posted: 29 Sep 2012

See all articles by Thomas Poell

Thomas Poell

University of Amsterdam (UvA)

Kaouthar Darmoni

University of Amsterdam

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

This article explores how the Tunisian revolution was articulated on Twitter; it does so through a detailed analysis of a sample of more than 100,000 tweets posted between 18 December 2010 and 15 January 2011 with the hashtag #sidibouzid. In addition to this analysis nine active #sidibouzid users were interviewed. This examination shows that #sidibouzid constituted a global communication space in which different public audiences were strategically addressed through a variety of languages. How key users employed the different languages and the platform itself depended very much on their particular position in the Arab diaspora network.

Keywords: Twitter, Tunisian Revolution, Arab Spring, #sidibouzid, Arab diaspora, activism, social media

Suggested Citation

Poell, Thomas and Darmoni, Kaouthar, Twitter as a Multilingual Space: The Articulation of the Tunisian Revolution Through #Sidibouzid (2012). NECSUS - European Journal of Media Studies, Vol. 1, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2154288

Thomas Poell (Contact Author)

University of Amsterdam (UvA) ( email )

Spui 21
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands

Kaouthar Darmoni

University of Amsterdam ( email )

Spui 21
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands

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