New paper in Journalism on how Twitter and social media logic shape journalists’ self branding

A new paper on social media in journalism, Making the most of Twitter: How technological affordances influence Swedish journalists’ self-branding, is now published in Journalism. As the abstract says:

”Journalists are among the most frequent users of Twitter, and Twitter has become an important platform for personal branding. Social media logic promotes not only a chase for vitality and impressive metrics but also a mix of professional, personal, and private content, as well as sharing, interaction, and dialogue. Focusing one aspect of social media logic, the aim of this study is to analyze how the technological affordances of Twitter shape journalists’ self-branding in their account presentations and whether there are differences between groups of journalists. The study draws on a quantitative content analysis of Swedish journalists’ Twitter presentations and account information (N=2,543). The findings suggest that Swedish journalists on Twitter brand themselves as being more audience oriented, networking, and individualistic, projecting a mixed identity including both professional and personal features, and that social media logic influence journalists’ self-branding.”

One of my findings may be somewhat surprizing for those interested in international comparative research on social media in journalism. Following previous research on journalists’ self-branding practices on Twitter (Hanusch, 2017), Swedish journalists should be more like their colleagues in UK, prioritizing professional content over personal. However, this study shows that Swedish journalists don’t, most likely due to differences in work environment and organization structures: while the Swedish media market has become increasingly competitive due to structural and economic factors, the work environment is considered as highly individualistic and characterized by horizontal organisation structures.

If you find this interesting and want to read more than the abstract (above), please don’t hesitate to get in touch.