Vicari, S. orcid.org/0000-0002-4506-2358 (2021) Is it all about storytelling? Living and learning hereditary cancer on Twitter. New Media & Society, 23 (8). pp. 2385-2408. ISSN 1461-4448
Abstract
Storytelling has long been used as a theoretical framework for understanding how we share information and learn about health – and illness – online. But is it all about storytelling on social media platforms? To explore how and to what extent personal stories shape health content on these platforms, the article presents an analysis of tweets discussing the BRCA gene mutation – a hereditary cancer condition. Theoretically, the study advances a new conceptual framework to explore social media practices within issue–based and long–lived social media threads. Methodologically, it develops a qualitative, platform–oriented discourse analytic approach. Findings show that non narrative content is actually more common than storytelling in Twitter conversations about BRCA, with a number of patient advocates acting as gatekeepers of scientific information. Most BRCA storytelling is mediated and shared in third person, with those at the heart of these stories becoming exemplars within the BRCA ‘subculture’.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | Community of practice; storytelling; epistemic community; experiential knowledge; hereditary cancer; intertextuality; issue public; lay expertise; patient advocacy; Twitter |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 28 Apr 2020 07:34 |
Last Modified: | 17 Sep 2021 09:49 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/1461444820926632 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:159966 |