Showing off Your Social Capital

Homophily of Professional Reputation and Gender in Journalistic Networks on Twitter

Bibliographic Data

ID22010646
AuthorsPhoebe Maares (0000-0002-9518-7132, University of Vienna, corresponding author), Fabienne Lind (0000-0002-4978-9415, University of Vienna), Esther Greussing (0000-0001-8655-5119, Technische Universität Braunschweig)
Year2021
Volume9
Issue4
Pages500-517
Publication date2021-04-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigital Journalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-0811 • E-ISSN: 2167-082X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21670811.2020.1835513
OpenAlexW3097093194
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited58

Social media like Twitter have become critical tools for public discourse and journalistic practice as they are assumed to enable equal conversations and engagement between different societal actors. However, recent studies have found that Twitter reproduces existing networks and hierarchies, indicated through homophily where dominant journalistic users with high symbolic capital tend to amplify and engage more with colleagues of similar symbolic status, which legitimizes their authority and dominance in the public sphere. Still, an in-depth understanding of how this manifests and might be rectified is lacking. To fill this gap, we explore the tweeting behaviour of 356 journalists in Austria, as social capital and personal networks are especially relevant to be recognized by peers. Our findings show strong homophilous tweeting behaviour for those with high professional reputation and for men. New entrants aim more towards gaining visibility in these tight-knit groups

Homophily · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Public sphere · Reputation · Social capital · Social media · Social science · Sociology · Visibility · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access