View
216
Download
0
Category
Tags:
Preview:
Citation preview
TWEETING AN IDENTITY:
A Content Analysis of Twitter Posts by Individuals Living with HIV/AIDS
Meghan Jane McEvoy-Hein
December 8, 2009
INTRODUCTION
THESIS
• Tweets of individuals living with
HIV/AIDS show how PLWHA
(people living with HIV/AIDS)
maintain their identities.
PREVIOUS LITERATURE• Stigma
• Visser, Makin, and Lehobye (2006)
• Construction of an HIV Positive Self• Roth and Nelson (1997)• Cadell and Marshall (2007)
• HIV as Identity, Experience, or Career• Bartos and McDonald (2000)• Flowers, et. al. (2003)
THEORY• Borderlands/La Frontera (Anzaldua 1987)
• Individuals living in “borderlands” experience the strain of belonging to identity groups that characteristically conflict with one another.
• General public’s stigmatized perceptions of PLWHA weigh heavily on those who see themselves differently from the way others see them.
• Social Identity Theory • Series of Categorizations• Multiple Groups & Dominance• Comparison
METHODOLOGY Content Analysis of Tweets of PLWHA
• Sample• 5 individuals living with HIV/AIDS that actively use
Twitter• Google search- Key words: “HIV postive blog”• Systematic search through Marvelyn Brown’s
followers
• Criteria• HIV positive• At least 18 years of age• Offer a “follow me on Twitter invitation”• Not a group or organization (an individual)• Tweet in English
FINDINGSType of Tweet
Username Tweets Retweets Replies Totals
Marvelynbrown 47 2 101 150
Oriolgutierrez 108 41 1 150
Justbthat 44 4 102 150
Just_Trav 28 3 119 150
DaddyDab 100 0 0 100
327 50 323 N=700
FINDINGSMentionings of HIV and/or AIDS
FINDINGSHIV as Identity
• oriolgutierrez• Self-description
• “Just added myself to the…twitter directory under: #latino#gay#hiv”
• Aspect of the self• “Coming Out Again: A feature article I wrote for
POZ about my coming out process, first as gay and again as HIV positive”
• DaddyDab
FINDINGSHIV as Experience
• Justbthat• Sense of Self (distinction made)• ‘Accident’ of HIV• Dealt WITH not Dwelt Within• Community
• Just_Trav
FINDINGSHIV as Career
Marvelynbrown
• HIV is involving & all consuming
• Crucial separation
• Self (per se) &
Involvement in HIV
Sense of Balance
Commitment to Community
DISCUSSION• Retweeting (lack of popularity)
• Popularity of the Reply (type of tweet)
• Strengths of my Research (Twitter)
• Weaknesses of my Research:• Sample Size • Data’s Depth/Richness for Coding
• Possibilities for Further Research (valuable)
Questions?
THANK YOU!
Recommended