Digital aftermaths of terror : reactions to terrorist attacks on twitter

Abstract: Background. This thesis explores digital public reactions to terrorist attacks, and specifically how discourses on terrorism become articulated on social media. The overarching aim of the thesis is to explore the reactions spread on social media following attacks, and how these digital platforms may alter or transform the ways in which such attacks are collectively understood and interpreted. It explores issues relating to Twitter as a platform for backchannel meaning making, for downplaying fear mongering practices, the ways different terrorist attacks become co-articulated, as well as the divided attention of networked publics during terror-related events.Methods. The thesis is made up of four individual papers, each exploring digital reactions to different terrorist attacks on Twitter. The cases include the Utøya massacre in Norway 2011, the Stockholm lorry attack in 2017, 12 different attacks occurring between 2015-2017 in Europe (multi-case study), and the terrorist attack in Sinai, Egypt and the subsequent false alarm about a suspected terrorist attack on Oxford Street Underground station in London, UK, occuring on the same day in 2017. A combination of methods used in this thesis include network analysis of hashtag co-occurrences, and thematic analysis of prominent themes in tweets, using discourse theory as its analytical framework in the qualitative readings. Results. The findings of the thesis suggest that discourses on terrorism on social media are shaped by the specific logics present in the connective action of networked publics. The political action of digital audiences is performed in a personalised way that shapes terrorism discourse. How terrorism is understood is influenced by collective ideas of how societies become affected by trauma or resilience, and digital communities engage in downplaying or amplifying practices for such articulations. Prevailing spatial and temporal contexts alsomatter for the ways in which terrorist attacks are understood and reimagined. The (real or perceived) closeness to the attack, the interrelatedness of attacks, and aspects of virality of information plays a role in how terror discourses become articulated in digital spaces. Conclusion. This thesis makes theoretical and empirical contributions to the understanding of how digital audiences articulate terrorism discourse in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. It stresses that emotive personal expressions on social media should be understood as a highly politicised reaction, relating to a vast range of issues, such as immigration control, nationalism, or an increased  prevalence of everyday racism. On social media, audiences may both amplify or downplay attention to specific terrorist attacks, and, as such, may choose to provide (or not provide) attention. Social media may thus function as a space for everyday political action in times of terrorism.