The Role of Using Hashtags in Building of Political Knowledge On Facebook

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant professor at the faculty of Al Alsun and Mass communication - department of Mass communication - Misr International University

Abstract

This study is an exploratory study to enhance the understanding of the role of Facebook in shaping users’ understanding and increasing their knowledge of political issues in Egypt, and thus affecting their opinions and online and offline activities. It focused on whether the use of hashtags to link posts to a specific issue gives a clear and more coherent knowledge of political issues and increase the circulation of the posts or it would not have an effect. The case of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in El Quds conflict was chosen and all posts with the three highest circulating hashtags (#savesheikhjarrah, #GazaUnderAttack and #freepalestine) were analyzed. The results show that using hashtags did not increase the circulation of posts beyond the first “interest stage”. In addition, the content of the posts linked did not give any information on the conflict itself or its consequences. The calls for actions were restricted to online support activities with very few calls for offline activities.
 
 

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