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OverviewThis book explores Twitter communication about the 2016 Brexit referendum in the UK in the run-up to the event. The mixed-method, computational analysis of over twelve million tweets reveals how Twitter worked in shaping political discourse and its potential for fuelling populism in the month leading to the referendum. Our findings show while polarised public opinion was explicitly expressed, populist sentiments were mainstreamed into the debate about the referendum and widely spread on Twitter. Populist politicians, supported by pro-Brexit users, tactically used Twitter to promulgate their populist ideas. In contrast, despite their active use of Twitter, the Remain camp appeared to have misunderstood the mechanisms of Twitter for shaping political discourse. Twitter communication, in this case, showed dangerous potential for reflecting and reinforcing existing social tensions and divisions, being influenced or even manipulated by individuals and interest groups to serve their own interests. It is important to be well aware of this capacity of Twitter for the wellbeing of democracy, especially in the politically turbulent times since 2016 when the UK voted to leave the EU. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Jingrong Tong (University of Sheffield, UK) , Landong Zuo (Solution Architect in Bedford, UK)Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited Imprint: Emerald Publishing Limited Weight: 0.287kg ISBN: 9781800432956ISBN 10: 180043295 Pages: 112 Publication Date: 15 February 2021 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsChapter 1. IntroductionChapter 2. Social Representations of The EU Referendum on Twitter Chapter 3. Legitimising Political Controversy and Populism Chapter 4. The Construction of “hero” versus “villain” in Twitter Users’ Responses to @David_Cameron and @Nigel_Farage Chapter 5. Shaping Political Discourse: is Twitter Good for Democracy?ReviewsAuthor InformationJingrong Tong is Senior Lecturer in Digital News Cultures at the University of Sheffield. Landong Zuo is an IT Consultant, and Data Scientist specialized in data mining, data analysis and Nature Language Processing. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |