“Go, Vote, and Tweet It”: Interactivity in Online Protest-Related Discussions About the 2014 Catalan Referendum for Independence

Abstract

While studies abound that examine protest-related citizen communicative behaviors taking place online, there is still a limited understanding of the factors associated with social media users’ engagement in 2-way interactive exchanges about the issue of protest. Using discussion threads as the unit of analysis, this study looks at potential predictors associated with users’ engagement in interactive discussions in the context of the 2014 Catalan Referendum of Independence. Results show low overall levels of interactivity in discussions, with user status, media content sharing, negative emotion, and linguistic and ideological heterogeneity being related to lower interactivity levels. Findings are discussed within the framework of collective expressive modes of online citizen participation.