25 de novembre del 2021

 15.00 h - 16.00 h

 Inscripció

 Sala 55.410 - Edifici 55. Tànger - Campus del Poblenou - Universitat Pompeu Fabra

 @comunicacioUPF

 @comunicacioupf

Conference "Online crowds in the social media public sphere" by Dr Paolo Gerbaudo, Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture and Society, Department of Digital Humanities Director of the Centre for Digital Culture King's College London.

Social media have by now pervaded the "public sphere", the system for the circulation of information and opinion, stamping their logic on it. Mainstream media and the press still retain their role as "primary definers", opinion movements on the most disparate issues (pandemic, climate change, economy) are increasingly fuelled by online discussion, often marked by bitter confrontation. To make headways in our understanding of the contemporary public sphere, requires getting to grips with the "online crowds" that are its main protagonists. In this talk, I will discuss the different meanings associated with the notion of online crowds, and how it can help us illuminate the character of today's political communication and mobilisation. The notion of crowd captures the mass character and exponential growth of mobilisation on social media, but also its often evanescent or "turbulent" character. We can find the manifestations of this logic across many online phenomena, from social media "flames", to online fandom groups, anti-vaxxers, and "online trading wars" such as that waged by Reddit group WallStreetBets. Social media seem to have provided a conducive platform for the emergence of crowd-like aggregations which can have a strong influence on shaping not just public opinion but also "public sentiment"; and this online return of the crowd is likely to shape political propaganda and mobilisation in coming years.