Master Thesis
#GiletsJaunes: Exploring the Yellow Vest movement on Social Media.
Anastasia Bianca Maria Pelini (12360694) MA New Media & Digital Culture University of Amsterdam
June 28th, 2019
Supervisor: Dr. Davide Beraldo
1 Abstract
This thesis aims to explore the Yellow Vest movement through their use of the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. The main research goal relies on understanding in which ways the Yellow Vests utilize these social media platforms. In order to accomplish this goal, relevant literature was explored, and thorough research was conducted. This research consisted on the analysis of 250 Facebook posts on the public page of an important figure of the movement. Moreover, two closed Facebook groups were examined. Finally, the 250 most popular Twitter profiles regarding the movement were observed. This research led to findings regarding the nature of the content the Yellow Vests discuss online, as well as understanding the coherence of the movement. The content found on the two platforms were compared in order to provide a cross-platform analysis. The Yellow Vest movement remains at the heart of France’s political climate, as they have just reached their eighth month of protests. The Yellow Vests, their political tendencies and online behaviours will be presented in this thesis.
2 Table of Contents
ABSTRACT ...... 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 3
1. INTRODUCTION: THE YELLOW VESTS LEADING PROTESTS IN THE STREETS AND ONLINE ...... 5
1.1 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE YELLOW VESTS AS A POLITICAL MOVEMENT ...... 5 1.1.1 The birth of the movement ...... 5 1.1.2 The movement’s demands uncovered through large-scale protests ...... 6 1.1.3 The movement’s important figures ...... 6
1.2. THE MOVEMENT AND SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ...... 7
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ...... 8
1.4. THESIS STRUCTURE ...... 9
2. LITERATURE REVIEW: A THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA’S POLITICAL USE, AND ITS CONNECTIVE ABILITIES ...... 10
2.1 PREVIOUS MOVEMENTS PAVED THE WAY FOR POLITICAL USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ...... 10
2.2 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND DIGITAL ACTIVISM ...... 11 2.2.1 Social movements and their history ...... 11 2.2.2 Activists and their link to technology ...... 13
2.3 ACTIVISM ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS ...... 16 2.3.1 The complexity of platforms as tools for activism and online connections ...... 16
2.4 THE YELLOW VESTS AND THEIR THEORETICAL LINKS TO COLLECTIVE IDENTITY,
DIGITAL ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ...... 19
3. METHODOLOGY: THE RESEARCH METHODS SUPPORTING THE ANALYSIS OF THE YELLOW VEST MOVEMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ...... 20
3.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND THEIR LINK TO A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ...... 20
3.2 UNDERSTANDING DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHY ...... 21
3.3 RESEARCH ON FACEBOOK ...... 21 3.3.1 Data collection on Facebook ...... 21 3.3.2 Data Analysis on Facebook ...... 23
3.4 RESEARCH ON TWITTER ...... 25 3.4.1 Data Collection on Twitter ...... 25
3 3.4.2 Data analysis on Twitter ...... 25
3.5 ETHICS ...... 26
3.6 LIMITATIONS ...... 27
3.7 A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF 500 FACEBOOK POSTS AND TWITTER PROFILES ...... 27
4. FINDINGS: A PRESENTATION OF THE RESULTS OF A CROSS-PLATFORM RESEARCH ON SOCIAL MEDIA ...... 29
4.1 FACEBOOK FINDINGS: EXPOSING THE RESEARCH RESULTS OF VARIOUS FACEBOOK GROUPS ...... 29 4.1.1 “Gilet Jaune” ...... 29 4.1.2 “Gilets Jaunes” ...... 31 4.1.3 “La France enervée” ...... 33 4.1.4. The communicative differences within Facebook communities ...... 37
4.2 TWITTER FINDINGS: PRESENTING THE RESEARCH RESULTS OF THE YELLOW VESTS’ MOST
POPULAR USERS ON TWITTER ...... 38 4.2.1 A Monthly Analysis ...... 40 4.2.2 The most popular Twitter profiles show diversity in the subjects they discuss ...... 42
5. DISCUSSION: FACEBOOK AND TWITTER AS PLATFORMS THAT HIGHLIGHT THE YELLOW VESTS’ DIFFERENCES, WHILE ENABLING THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR COLLECTIVE IDENTITY ...... 43
5.1 FACEBOOK AND TWITTER: A CROSS-PLATFORM ANALYSIS ...... 43 5.1.1 A different set of results ...... 43 5.1.2 The platforms and their affordances ...... 45
5.2 THE PLATFORMS AND THEIR LINK TO THE COLLECTIVENESS OF THE MOVEMENT ...... 46
6. CONCLUSION: THE YELLOW VEST MOVEMENT, ITS COMPLEXITY AND SENSE OF COLLECTIVENESS ...... 49
6.1 AN OBSERVATION OF THE LITERATURE AND RESULTS ACQUIRED ...... 49
6.2 AN ANALYSIS OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS, AND THEIR ANSWERS ...... 50
6.3 THE RESEARCH’S LIMITATIONS AND NEED FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ...... 51
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 52
4 1. Introduction: The Yellow Vests leading protests in the streets and online
“Macron Démission!” is a popular slogan that Yellow Vests have been chanting during protests, and numerously posting on Facebook; meaning “Macron Resignation!” (Le Cain). As the movement has grown, while being discussed by media outlets, this thesis aims to explore the link between the notions of political movements and social media. More specifically, it will focus on the Yellow Vest movement in France and the protesters’ use of the social networking platforms Facebook and Twitter. In order to understand the relation between protesters and the digital world, the Yellow Vest movement needs to be presented.
1.1 An introduction to the Yellow Vests as a political movement
1.1.1 The birth of the movement
The Yellow Vest movement began in November 2018, revealing “deep and intense anger towards the government and elites among the working classes in France” (Duvoux and Papuchon 1). More specifically, the Yellow Vests are often part of France’s lower middle class, Gobry defines them as being a product of the French political system, they are “people who make just enough money to fail to qualify for most social programs, but not enough to live comfortably, even as the country’s elite keeps doing better” (Gobry 24). Even though the movement does not belong to a specific political party, does not recognize any leader, nor has official demands, it is historically clear when the movement began. The rise of fuel taxes created anger from those living in cities where public transportation is not accessible, and in May 2018 an online petition was created voicing these concerns. Created by Priscilla Ludowsky, who eventually became an important figure in the Yellow Vest movement, the petition received over a million signatures (The Guardian). In October 2018, when the petition was still growing, she was contacted by Eric Drouet, a truck-driver who wanted to promote this petition online. He created a Facebook event, inviting people to protest against the rise of fuel prices; this marked the first protest of the Yellow Vest movement in 2018. As the movement grew and protests began spreading throughout the country, it moved from a protest solely about fuel taxes, to other demands towards the government. This included job insecurity, as President Macron reformed France’s labour code “whose cumulative effect is that it is now easy to hire and fire in France” (Gobry 27). Moreover, the president has come under criticism not only because of the new policies he introduced, but because of what he represents. Gobry describes him as
5 representative of a specific “caste” which includes “France’s technocratic and pseudo- meritocratic elites” (Gobry 26).
1.1.2 The movement’s demands uncovered through large-scale protests
Shortly after the creation of the Facebook event by Eric Drouet, large-scale protests grew throughout the country. November 17th, 2018 “marks the first and biggest day of road blockades across France, with nearly 290,000 demonstrators donning Yellow Vests” (The Local). As the protests consisted of highway blockades, they had a major impact on the traffic of the whole country. The protests became more violent, and on the 27th of November the president called for a “three-month national consultation” and proposed a mechanism to adjust the fuel tax (The Local). As no concrete plans to lower the taxes were presented by the president, the protests increased in violence and attendance. On December 4th, the Prime Minister announced that “planned tax increases on petrol and diesel on January 1st would be suspended for six months” (The Local). The protesters’ demands were clear at the beginning of the movement, although this changed as the movement progressed. They demanded the increase of the price of fuel to be stopped immediately, and indefinitely, which explains their growing anger at the six-month term governmental proposal. At this point, more and more people had joined the protests with various demands. Coming from drastically different political parties, these demands varied: the left wing demanded “higher minimum wages, lower retirement age”, while the right-wing were claiming “small-business tax cuts, a crackdown on illegal immigration, tougher policing” (Gobrys 25). These very different demands all began from a petition on fuel taxes and grew into a general resentment towards the government’s new policies.
1.1.3 The movement’s important figures
As the movement brings together people from different backgrounds and political parties, it does not have specific leaders. Gobry defines the movement as “entirely organic and leaderless” (Gobry 25). However, certain people who joined the movement have become important figures through various ways. Priscilla Ludowsky is one of them, as she created the petition, attended protests and spoke on behalf of the movement during interviews on national television (The Guardian). Eric Drouet created the first Facebook event leading to a protest and since then has highly been involved with the organization of protests. He created a Facebook page named “La France énervée” which translates into “The angry France”, on this page he regularly broadcasts Facebook lives while he works as a truck driver, where he discusses his political opinions and
6 different ways to impact change (Anizon). He also uses Facebook live during protests, and famously streamed a conversation with government officials. Even though Eric Drouet repeatedly claimed not to be a leader, he was asked to attend a “crisis meeting” at the Élysée Palace on December second, thus being recognized as a leader of the movement by the government. Other Yellow Vest representatives were invited and parts of the meeting were streamed on Facebook (The Local). The representatives claimed the meeting was unsuccessful and denied a second invitation by the government, “with some saying they had received death threats from other protesters contesting their claim to speak for the movement” (The Local). Eric Drouet has therefore shared key moments of the movement on Facebook, whether it is government meetings, to protest live-streams; his Facebook page is indeed very active. As the protests became more numerous, they became more and more violent. Eric Drouet used his Facebook lives to show online certain acts of police brutality. Police violence became an important topic amongst protesters, and it was completely ignored by the government until an elderly woman died in Marseille after being hit with a tear gas grenade (France 24). The conversations about police brutality became even more prominent after an important figure of the movement, Jerome Rodrigues was injured during a protest. The forty-year-old construction worker was placed in a coma after being struck in the eye by a rubber-bullet, he eventually lost his eye and his lawyer claimed that he would be “handicapped for life” (France 24). The fact that an important figure of the movement was injured in such a severe manner led to more anger, and more violence during the protests. Overall, a study by Adoxa claims that twelve people have died during the protests, and seventeen thousand have been injured (Adoxa). The various protests have revived conversations about police brutality in the media, while the government refuses to take responsibility for the training of its police forces, or the equipment used to repress protests. Incidents of police violence have been documented on social media, reminding the impact that social networking sites can have during protests (Freelon et al).
1.2. The movement and social networking sites
Describing the birth of the movement showed that the creation of petitions and Facebook events had a major impact on the movement. Nicolas and Candau claim that Facebook “posts are abounding, the number of groups are increasing, and leaders are emerging here and there on Facebook. The social network creates links and not only shares information but also the stress and fake news”; therefore, Facebook facilitates political conversations, but also the spread of false information and frustration among protesters (Nicolas and Candau). Certain
7 pages and Facebook events are also a key tool for the government to estimate the numbers of protesters, as the “planned gatherings are a great cause of concern to the French government and the security forces” (Nicolas and Candau). Twitter is another social networking site which is used to discuss the movement, as French news source “La Dépêche” claimed that more than one million tweets under the hashtag #GiletsJaunes were published in forty-eight hours, in November 2018 (La Dépêche). It is still unclear how both Facebook and Twitter are being used by protesters, and what type of content is being posted and shared. This leads to the research which will be conducted in this thesis, to explore the movement as well as its link to social media.
1.3. Research Questions and academic contribution
In order to frame this thesis, one main research question as well as two further questions have been determined:
§ In which ways do the Yellow Vests utilize social media platforms ?
§ What does an analysis of the Yellow Vests on social media say about the coherence of the movement ? § What are the differences between Facebook and Twitter in the ways they are used to discuss the Yellow Vest movement ?
This thesis will therefore aim to understand the various ways in which the Yellow Vests use social media. This will be conducted through an analysis of Facebook pages and Twitter profiles. This study will enable comparison of the two social media networking sites, by determining the differences between the content posted, the relation between users and the affordances of the platforms. The key concepts presented in the literature will be used together with the findings of the analysis to understand the relation between social media and the Yellow Vest movement.
In order to provide an academic contribution, this thesis aims to shed light on a very recent political movement. As the Yellow Vest movement began in November 2018, few researchers have had time to expose their findings on the movement. Moreover, this thesis does not contribute to a specific academic discipline, as it crosses different fields such as social
8 movements, digital activism, or platforms theory. Using this literature will enable to conduct qualitative research on 250 Facebook posts, two closed Facebook groups, and 250 Twitter profiles. Various media sources have discussed the importance of social media as a communication tool within the movement, but very few have conducted research examining specifically how these platforms are being used by the Yellow Vests, and more specifically what subject matters they are discussing online (Semerdjian).
1.4. Thesis structure
In order to combine the analysis of relevant literature, as well as the presentation of qualitative research, the thesis will be structured in the following way. The literature review will aim to introduce concepts relating to the Yellow Vest movement. This includes social movements theory, digital activism and concepts of collective identity. Moreover, social networking sites will be theoretically examined using theories of platforms. Further on, the methodology chapter will precisely describe the ways in which the online research was conducted, limitations and ethical concerns will be addressed. After the research has been conducted, the findings chapter will present the result obtained from the qualitative analysis. This chapter will lead to a discussion, combining the results from the research, to the concepts which were explored through the literature. Finally, the conclusion will aim to clearly answer the research question, as well as examine the impact of the literature and qualitative analysis. Furthermore, it will explore the need for further research.
9 2. Literature Review: A theoretical analysis of social media’s political use, and its connective abilities
This literature review aims to reflect and analyse relevant academic work, enabling to critically examine the research questions that frame this thesis. Understanding precisely in which ways the Yellow Vests use social media is a topic which will be explored throughout this research, using literature as well as data. In order to understand the specificities of social networking sites, as well as explore what social media says about the movement, examining relevant literature is a necessary step.
2.1 Previous movements paved the way for political use of social media
In recent years, social media has become a tool which has been used to communicate during times of political instability. Various hashtags are created and used frequently to highlight injustice, or political tensions. In order to understand how the Yellow Vests are defined by their use of social media, it is important to look at movements which have paved the way for social media used in politically complex situations. The Arab Spring is a movement that began at the end of 2010 and spread from North Africa to the Middle-East. It can be considered as a leading political movement where social media was used “by protesters to organize themselves and to disseminate footage from rallies” (Bruns, Highfield and Burgess 872). This movement is important because of its long-lasting impact, but it is valuable to note that “protests and unrest in countries from Tunisia to Syria generated a substantial amount of social media activity” (Bruns, Highfield and Burgess 871).
Another group which strongly relied on collective organisation through social media is the Occupy movement. In 2011, crowds gathered in downtown New York, setting up encampments in order to protest against “the privileges accorded by politics to economic elites, who were responsible for the financial crisis of 2008” (Beraldo 77). Their slogan “We are the 99%” was highly circulated on social media, emphasizing their critic of financial markets and corporations. The main social media tool used to bring attention to the Occupy protests was Twitter. Not only used by protesters, a study by Gleason claims that “Twitter supports multiple opportunities for participation in the Occupy movement—from creating, tagging, and sharing content to reading, watching, and following a hashtag—which may facilitate learners becoming more informed, engaged citizens” (Gleason 966). Twitter has therefore facilitated discussion,
10 as well as created an “informal learning” setting, where other users can view information about the movement (Gleason 978).
Briefly presenting movements such as the Arab Springs or Occupy is not sufficient to understand their complexity and impact; however, it is valuable to look at a part of history where social media was used as a key tool for political participation. In order to place the Yellow Vest movement on an academic map, various theories will be used to define and frame the movement. Firstly, in order to further explore history, theories surrounding digital activism will be presented. These theories will aim to place the Yellow Vest movement within a framework of digital activism history. Secondly, an analysis of platforms will be necessary. From analysing key theories on the theme of platforms, to focusing specifically on Facebook and Twitter, this chapter will aim to provide essential theory on platforms as a concept, as well as a medium of connection between users.
2.2 Social movements and digital activism
In the following chapter, the notions of social movements and digital activism will be defined. This will be done through an analysis of academic definitions, as well as an examination of the history surrounding these terms. The particular link between activists and technologies will be observed. Using notions of media as practice, and “acting on” one can aim to understand how activists use digital tools to their advantage (Kubitschko).
2.2.1 Social movements and their history
When analysing theories revolving around the digital world, it can seem counterproductive to look at the past for innovative concepts, however, “we tend to equate ‘new’ with unprecedented, and forget that successful innovations are almost always built on the foundations of existing techniques and systems” (Lievrouw 28). Therefore, in order to understand digital activism, it is crucial to understand activism at its core, starting with social movements. Social movements have been defined in various ways, but can be considered as a “network of informal interaction between a plurality of individuals, groups and/or organizations, engaged in a political or cultural conflict on the basis of a shared collective identity” (Diani 13). A shared collective identity is a crucial part of traditional definitions of social movements. When observing the Yellow Vest movement, similar values might unite members, as well as common demands towards the government. Moreover, the symbol of wearing a yellow vest is a key part of their identity, as it is a way to visually recognize others
11 as being part of the same movement. This central symbol of the Yellow Vest can be described as a “contentious brand” (Beraldo). It produces the ‘conditions of recognizability’ of a movement, while being surrounded by controversies over its true definition (Beraldo 16). It also links to the notion of branding, meaning that it “can be seen as both a matter of strategy deployed for organizational purposes and a matter of identification reflecting cultural processes” (Beraldo 16); the symbol of the Yellow Vest therefore holds both identification, and strategic purposes. The Yellow Vest movement contains inconsistencies, with demands that drastically vary within the movement, making it seem incoherent at times. The unity, as well as inconsistencies of a movement are referred to in the theory of media ecology. Introduced by McLuhan and Postman, this concept captures “the coexistence of and interdependence between human actors and technologies while addressing their systemic discontinuities” (Dahlberg-Grundberg 526). Media ecology highly relates to the link between a social movement and technology, it captures the notion that digital tools are “extensions […] through which human agents operate as political subject” as well as a tool that “embeds and precedes us”, meaning that it can come from the past. Digital tools are also engrained in social movements, impacting their ways of expression and construction of their collective identities (Dahlberg-Grundberg 526).
When referring to social movements and digital campaigns, it is valuable to approach the notion of digital activism. Kaun and Uldam describe digital activism as a “hot topic” and highlight the difficulties in defining the term (Kaun and Uldam 2099). They illustrate that certain definitions include activism which “engages both fixed and mobile devices with access to the Internet” such as various forms of hacking, and advocating for users online privacy; as well as broader definitions that “include all digital media used for political purposes” (Kaun and Uldam 2100). Considering this wide-ranging approach, observing the history of digital activism can provide more clarification on this specific notion. Karatzogianni describes four waves of digital activism, the first beginning in 1994 with strong political claims, and political groups or alternative media such as the Zapatistas and Indymedia. The second wave is linked to “anti-iraq war mobilizations”. After 2007, the third wave spread to other parts of the world, with major events such as Barack Obama using “the impact of social media activism to win the U.S. presidential elections. […] It is also one of the first instances where political participation and digital activism blend” making a crucial impact in representative politics (Karatzogianni 4). The final fourth wave relies on discussions surrounding privacy and surveillance, with crucial information revealed by Wikileaks and Snowden. Karatzogianni claims that this fourth
12 wave marks the “mainstreaming of digital activism” (Karatzogianni 4). As the history of the concept is presented, it is unproductive to identify the Yellow Vest movement to any specific wave, definition, or theory within digital activism. However, it is important to acknowledge the important history of the term, as the various diverse events of the past might have affected the ways in which the Yellow Vests use digital tools towards political goals.
2.2.2 Activists and their link to technology
Digital technologies pave the way for social movements theory to evolve through time, but more specifically, they can enable political groups to mobilize and organize (Dahlberg- Grundberg 524). This facilitation can lead to what Treré describes as the “coexistence and coevolution of activists and their technologies” (Treré in Dahlberg-Grundberg 525). This coevolution can be assimilated to the importance of social media within the creation of certain movements, more specifically “the role that hashtags, slogans and symbols played in assembling diverse groups, places and issues” (Beraldo 15). In order to understand the magnitude of the link between technology and social movements, the notion of media as practice should be introduced. Kubitschko introduces this notion, while bringing in different perspectives with his concept of “acting on” (Kubitschko). He describes that media as practice focuses on understanding “what people do with media” (Kubitschko 629). More specifically, Mattoni presents media practice as “social practices that combine interactions between media objects and media subjects, how these objects and subjects are perceived and operate in the media environment” (Mattoni in Kubitschko 630). This definition further proves Kubitschko’s claim, which is that almost any form of political engagement relies on media technologies and infrastructures, therefore it is important to expand the concept of media practice (629). This development of the concept is done with the use of the term “acting on”, Kubitschko presents it as a lens, through which one can examine an actor’s practices, and how they link to media infrastructures and technologies (629). His definition of the term particularly relies on the relation of actors and infrastructures for political contribution. Kubitschko further highlights the specificities of the notion of “acting on” (Kubitschko). As previous studies focused on “the use or the impact of media”, “acting on” focuses on “who can and does act on the conditions, formations and affordances of media technologies and infrastructures” (Kubitschko 632-633).
In order to illustrate this point, the case of the #MeToo movement will be linked to Kubitschko’s theory. This movement began on Twitter in 2017 and fights against sexual harassment. It “revealed the prevalence and magnitude of problems with sexual harassment and
13 assault, especially in the workplace” (Lee 433). Twitter was the platform that enabled the movement to grow tremendously, as a research led by Pew Research demonstrates ; “the #MeToo hashtag has been used roughly 19 million times on Twitter in the past year, and usage often surges around news events” such as the women’s marches, the Weinstein trials, or the hearings and nomination of supreme court justice Kavanaugh (Pew Research). Twitter is a platform which enables users to share their stories, relate to others or gain information on the movement. As this movement deals with sensitive issues and victims of trauma, Twitter is part of the social media platforms which are “revolutionizing the way users communicate by increasing the exposure to highly stigmatized issues in the society” (Manikonda et al 1).
When observing theory surrounding social movements, it is important to analyse the particular ways in which these groups form an identity. Furthermore, this collective identity can be built using technology as a key component. Milan presents the notion of cloud protesting, “a specific type of mobilization that is grounded on, modelled around, and enabled by social media platforms and mobile devices and the virtual universes they identify” (Milan 1). This notion combines the facts that activists interact using technology, as well as the fact that it is used towards “activists’ sense-making activities” (Milan 1). This notion is particularly relevant when applied to the Yellow Vest movement, as it specifically relies on technology. The Yellow Vest movement brings together people with various demands, and most importantly people who belong to different political parties. This can be seen as a divisive part of the movement, but Milan’s notion of “cloud protesting” proves that the Yellow Vests do not need to be a perfectly aligned political movement, as technology is a crucial part of what brings them together (Milan).
The way activists join movements because of their interests is linked to the formation of a group’s identity, more precisely a collective identity. Melucci defines it as “an interactive and shared definition produced by a number of individuals (or groups at a more complex level) concerning the orientations of their action and the field of opportunities and constraints in which such action is to take place” (Melucci 70). He further describes that collective identity relies on cognitive processes, such as the sharing of a defined language within society or a group, or a set “of rituals, practices, cultural artifacts” (Melucci 70). These allow information to circulate, as well as create a network of active relationships. Melucci claims these active relationships grow “between actors who interact, communicate, influence each other, negotiate, and make decisions”, they also rely on different forms of leadership, communication and
14 organization within a movement (Melucci 71). Finally, a key point in the formation of a collective identity is “a degree of emotional investment” which enables individuals to feel part of a united movement (Melucci 71).
Bennet and Segerberg depart from the concept of collective identity to make a distinction between collective and connective action. They present two organizational patterns which define a movement’s action. Firstly, certain actions “are coordinated behind the scenes by networks of established issue advocacy organizations that step back from branding the actions in terms of particular organizations, memberships, or conventional collective action frames” (Bennet and Segerberg 742). This form of action is therefore enabled with the help of specific organizations. The second form of action entails that platforms and applications can take “the role of established political organizations”, grievances are therefore shared using personalized accounts, as opposed to established social media strategies (Bennett and Segerberg 742). Bennett and Segerberg claim that the logic of collective action relies on “getting individuals to contribute to the collective endeavour that typically involves seeking some sort of public good (e.g. democratic reforms) that may be better attained through forging a common cause”, a collective action therefore strongly relies on a community (Bennett and Segerberg 749). On the other hand is the concept of connective action, which at its core contains “the recognition of digital media as organizing agents” (Bennett and Segerberg 752). More precisely, connective action formations present certain specificities. They create political content “in the form of easily personalized ideas”, such as the famous Occupy slogan “we are the 99%”; this political content is inclusive, as it brings together many people who are contesting a similar situation, with potentially different ideas (Bennett and Segerberg 744). Moreover, these formations gain impact because they are shared through “personal communication technologies” such as texts or shares on social media (Bennett and Segerberg 745). Whether it is the political content created, or the way it is personally shared, it leads to connective actions being a part of a group’s collective identity.
Treré and Gerbaudo suggest that the concept of collective identity has been neglected in the previous account; this neglect being theoretical, empirical and methodological (Treré and Gerbaudo 3). They believe that opposing networks to collective identity is problematic, as only two factors are considered decisive “in mobilising protest participants: the presence of network ties, and the presence of a sense of belonging to a certain category of people” (Treré and Gerbaudo 4). The concept of collective identity is therefore more complex than simply
15 contrasting networks and collective identity, especially when digital media are included in this concept, “social media have become the key site where protest identities, are created, channelled and contested.” (Treré and Gerbaudo 8). Treré and Gerbaudo distinguish two ways in which collective identities are being interpreted. The first one depicts collective identity as “a central object of concern” where social media platforms have a major impact on the ways in which “new identities are being forged and channelled” (Treré and Gerbaudo 8). On the other side, collective identities developed on social media platforms can be seen as having a “multiple and fragmented nature” (Treré and Gerbaudo). The concept of collective identity is therefore complex, and its unity or fragmentation varies. However, the impact of social media for the creation of this sense of collectivity is clear.
A key component in the formation of social movements and their collective identity is the link between activists and various types of technologies. However, technology and more specifically social media platforms present specific characteristics which enable activists with communication and organizational tools. The notion of platforms and their specificities will be further explored.
2.3 Activism on digital platforms
In the following chapter, platforms will be explored taking into account various points of view. The term will be defined, and notions such as platformization will be applied to social movements. Moreover, emphasis will be put on online connections and friendship-making on social networking sites as well as understanding how a platform’s structure impacts its users’ activity.
2.3.1 The complexity of platforms as tools for activism and online connections
When discussing social movements and digital activism on social media, it is particularly important to observe the concept of platforms. Bratton defines them as a “standards-based technical-economic system that simultaneously distributes interfaces through their remote coordination and centralizes their integrated control through that same coordination” (Bratton 42). He highlights their technical and economic characteristics, but they can also facilitate political exchanges. Bratton claims that platforms “add value both to what is brought into the platform and to the platform itself” (Bratton 41). Therefore, political discussions and content can be valued by the platform, while benefiting it at the same time. The popularity of platforms can be explained using many different factors, but a key one relies on the fact that platforms
16 “standardize and consolidate the terms of transaction through decentralized and undetermined interactions” (Bratton 42). A social media platform will present a standardized interface which will appear similar to all its users, therefore facilitating the use of certain tools for political expression.
When analysing platforms through the lens of social movements and political interactions, it is useful to observe the concept of platformization. Nieborg and Poell define it as “the penetration of economic, governmental, and infrastructural extensions of digital platforms into the web and app ecosystems, fundamentally affecting the operations of the cultural industries” (Nieborg and Poell 2). This concept highlights the importance that platforms can have, more specifically on online communication. Social movements and activists can use social media platforms to organize and communicate, however Couldry describes a myth regarding online collectivity. Couldry’s “the myth of us” describes social media users as being encouraged “to believe that our gatherings on social media platforms are a natural form of expressive collectivity, even though it is exactly that belief that is at the basis of such platforms’ creation of economic value” (Couldry 608). Couldry dismantles this myth, by highlighting that social networking sites change the conditions of politics, as they have an impact on the connection of political communications (Couldry 608). He acknowledges the importance of social media networks, and describes their “political uses, especially in mobilizing disparate and previously unconnected groups of people” he further highlights that this importance only represents a fraction of their power, he claims that “the larger question of what is a network society remains obscure” (Couldry 609).
The notion of platformization, as well as Couldry’s “the myth of us” can be further explored when specifically looking at the social networking site Facebook. Facebook is particularly relevant to social movements and online communication, as it is “structured around the principle of sociality, the relations between self and others” (Bucher 1). Bucher’s analysis presents the characteristics of friendships on Facebook, she claims that friendship on Facebook is not only represented by the connection between multiple users, but also by multiple actors, as well as “nonhuman software actors” (Bucher 2). These actors can be interpreted as being bots, algorithms, or other forms of nonhuman online interaction which impacts how a user views digital content. After a user has created and uploaded content on Facebook, other users are “aggregated by posting, promoting, and advertising content on, or via, a wide range of social platforms” (Niebrog and Poell 2). Bucher’s friendship analysis is not entirely positive, as she
17 highlights that platforms such as Facebook are “technologically driven and commercially motivated”, therefore leaving human connection outside of their main focus (Bucher 2). Brügger presents a different point of view as he chooses to highlight the affordances of Facebook, which enable activity and communication on the platform. He claims that Facebook provides an “empty structure” to its users. The structure relies on the fact that certain options are provided in terms of semiotics and interaction (profile pages, networks of friends, sharing of messages and photos, banner ads) which allow and promote a particular use and specific users, while making it difficult for others (or excluding them altogether)” (Brügger 3). Brügger therefore puts emphasis on the duality of Facebook as a social networking platform. Its structure enables communication, while it can completely alienate certain users.
As this research focuses also on Twitter, it is relevant to present Twitter as an important platform for online connections. Twitter was launched in 2006 “as an ambient friend-following and message utility” platform (Rogers in Weller et al 3). Rogers describes Twitter as being synonymous with microblogging, a genre which was considered new during the creation of the platform (Rogers in Weller et al 3). Twitter is no longer being used solely for microblogging, and further studies “explore how the tool is used for various purposes, such as politics […] cultural conversation […], and cultural performance” (Rathnayake and Suthers 2). Twitter users have had a tremendous impact on the evolution of the platform and they can be considered as very diverse, as Pushmann and Burgess claim “Twitter’s end users are private citizens, celebrities, journalists, businesses, and organisations; in other words, they can be both individuals and collectives, with aims that are strategic, casual, or a dynamic combination of both” (Puschmann and Burgess in Weller et al 47). With various types of users, and genres in which they use the platform the communicative mechanisms present on Twitter have evolved. Bruns and Moe show that Twitter offers various ways of communicating on the platform, “from the comparatively intimate, one-on-one level of @replies through the narrowcast level of personal publics constituted by follower networks to the collective, diffused, many-to-many level of hashtags” (Bruns & Moe in Weller et al 27). Twitter therefore presents many ways to interact, some more personal than others, but the platform gives various tools to its users in order for them to create the communicating experience they wish on the platform. This also means that Twitter as a social media platform enables the sharing of information, and potentially the creation of political movements and collective identities.
18 2.4 The Yellow Vests and their theoretical links to collective identity, digital activism and social media platforms
The complex notions of digital activism and social movements have been explored. Their history has been presented, while their link to technology has enabled the understanding of activist communication online. The importance of the fusion between social movements and social media has been presented. Platforms’ vast power towards users, content and display of information proves why further analysis is necessary when observing movements on social media. Specific arguments towards the social networking platform Facebook were observed, leading to the search for further information. Twitter’s versatility was presented as a way to enhance communication between users on the platform. The various examples of movements and platforms presented highlight the importance of social media when creating a collective identity, which can “be understood as the set of operations by means of which social movements define their collective sense of self, who they are and what they stand for” (Treré & Gerbaudo 1). Collective identity is a key notion when discussing communication within political movements online. As the complexity of social media platforms have been mentioned, the following chapter will present the methodology of the research which will be conducted on social media platforms Facebook and Twitter.
19 3. Methodology: The research methods supporting the analysis of the Yellow Vest movement on social media
After understanding the Yellow Vest movement in its political context, as well as observing numerous theories, the movement’s political inclinations still remain complex. In order to further explore the political movement, and more specifically the Yellow Vests through their social media usage, the methodology chapter will present the ways in which the research has been conducted.
3.1. Research questions and their link to a methodological approach
Examining the research questions is a key point in the definition of a clear methodology. The first question, in which ways do the Yellow Vests utilize social media platforms? Is a question which relies on the analysis of literature, more specifically on the concept of platforms, as well as on the data collected. With the data collected, specific content posted by the Yellow Vests will allow the investigation of the various ways in which they use social media platforms.
The second question, what does the use of social media say about the Yellow Vest movement? Is an interrogation which is strongly linked to the data collected and discussed. With the data analysed, some discussions will enable to question how social media usage shapes the movement.
The final research question relies on the distinctions between Facebook and Twitter. What are the differences between Facebook and Twitter, in the ways they are used to discuss the Yellow Vest movement? This final interrogation demonstrates that the data collected will also be used as part of a cross-platform analysis, where the content found on both social media platforms will be compared. The methodology used to collect, analyse and discuss data was qualitative and ethnographically oriented. I will further describe the notion of digital ethnography, as well as the precise manner in which the research was conducted on both platforms.
20 3.2 Understanding Digital Ethnography
In order to understand the specific methods used to conduct this research, the concept of digital ethnography is particularly useful. Pink et al describe it as “an approach to doing ethnography in a contemporary world. It invites researchers to consider how we live and research in a digital, material and sensory environment” (1). This digital world is constantly developing itself, especially on social networking sites where users are free to evolve through the posting of new content. Murthy depicts four ways in which social networking sites can be useful to ethnographers. He claims that “they are virtual ‘gatekeepers’ with chains of ‘friends’ who are potential research respondents” and they contain a vast amount of multimedia material even towards marginal social movements (Murthy 844). Moreover, he claims that “ethnographers can ‘invisibly’ observe the social interactions of page members, gleaning a previously unavailable type of ethnographic data” and with social interactions online comes the observation of relationships and most importantly how they are structured (Murthy 845). Caliandro claims that a researcher exploring online environments shouldn’t only focus on identifying an online community to research, but more so on “mapping the practices through which Internet users and digital devices structure social formations around a focal object” (Caliandro 551). Digital ethnography on social media platforms therefore presents certain unique characteristics, the contact between the researcher and the online users is particular: “In digital ethnography, we are often in mediated contact with participants rather than in direct presence” (Pink et al 3). This distant contact can make the research uncertain; the following texts will therefore present how data will be collected and analysed on Facebook and Twitter.
3.3 Research on Facebook
3.3.1 Data collection on Facebook
Facebook is one of the primary tools used throughout this research. In order to conduct qualitative analysis, it was crucial to focus on a side of Facebook where exchange between members of the Yellow Vest movement could be observed. One Facebook page titled “La France énervée” (Translated into “The angry France”) was chosen for analysis. After reading various news articles on the movement, certain Yellow Vest participants have been qualified as leaders, even though the movement emphasises the absence of hierarchy. Eric Drouet’s name is often heard when the movement is mentioned. He was part of the organization of the first protests and was invited to discuss the Yellow Vest’s demands in front of members of the
21 government. He communicates through his own Facebook page, “La France énervée”, and exchanges thoroughly with his audience. His specific ways of communicating are a key point of analysis when examining the use of social media by the Yellow Vests. This Facebook page is public, I therefore used the Digital Methods Initiative (DMI) tool Netvizz. It is a “data collection and extraction application that allows researchers to export data in standard file formats from different sections of the Facebook social networking service” (Rieder 1). The “page posts” module of the app was used to collect the 250 most popular posts on the “La France énervée” page, from December until April. The most popular posts are determined by adding together the number of likes, reactions, comments and shares. The top 50 posts were collected each month, from December 2018 until April 2019, leading to a total of 250 posts.
Two other Facebook groups were chosen to be part of this research: “Gilet Jaune” and “Gilets Jaunes”. These two Facebook groups are closed, meaning that a user has to request access to an administrator in order to join them. These two groups were chosen because of their high number of members and activity. Moreover, even though they present technical similarities, the content and discussion vary between the pages.
In order to join the closed group “Gilet Jaune”, two questions needed to be answered: - “This group abides to rules of politeness, anti-racism, and no political-exploitation, do you understand that you will be sanctioned, or expelled if you do not respect these rules?” - “What are your motivations in joining this group?”
I replied “I understand” to the first question, and “I want to observe how the movement functions” to the second question. I was approved into the group soon after. Moreover, this group filters its posts, meaning that an administrator of the page will need to approve a post before it appears in the group. The group therefore announces “opening hours” at the top of its page, when administrators will actively be filtering posts. In order to conduct this research, I therefore joined both closed groups, as well as liked the public Facebook page “La France énervée”.
Because of the qualitative nature of this research, I chose not to use any pieces of software in order to examine the closed Facebook groups. I manually observed the posts, comments, likes, reactions and documented them for analytic purposes. I did not collect a specific number
22 of posts, but more so observed and documented which posts were relevant to this research. The criteria for this documentation process will be presented.
3.3.2 Data Analysis on Facebook
Once access had been gained to the relevant pages and groups, the data was collected. For my own categorizing purposes, I chose to collect data from the public Facebook page into an excel file, using the data collected on Netvizz. For the closed Facebook groups, I chose to collect the data by taking screenshots of the posts and comments. The screenshots do not appear in the research, for ethical reasons which will be presented further on. It is important to mention that the content being collected throughout this research is in French. As a native speaker, I translated the posts as accurately as possible. After collecting data from Netvizz and screenshots from the closed groups, I proceeded with the process of coding. Saldaña defines a code as “a word or short phrase that symbolically assigns a summative, salient, essence-capturing, and/or evocative attribute for a portion of language-based or visual data” (Saldaña 3). The process of coding was therefore applied after the data had been collected. Posts from the public page as well as the closed groups were accompanied by their respective date and time of post, furthermore, I coded the posts by attaching specific keywords to them. This enabled the gathering of similar themes when analysing the data, as certain posts presented comparable topics and behaviours. As the research on Facebook focuses on specific posts, only one code was applied per post, referring to the dominant sentiment of the post collected.
The various codes were established by looking through the closed Facebook pages, as well as the data collected on Netvizz. By looking at a small sample of posts, a few coding keywords were established. They were later applied to specific posts when looking at the entirety of the data collected. Various coding keywords have been established, these include: Protest organization, Protest attendance, Police violence, Legal matters, Government criticism and Support. These tags were attached to the screenshot, which is originally in French, and later to their translated version in English in order to determine potential patterns or topics of discussion. “Coding is not a precise science; it’s primarily an interpretive act”, this signifies that coding keywords are subject to change as the analysis progresses (Saldaña 4).
I will further describe the coding keywords, and which types of posts are associated in which categories. “Protest organization” is a keyword which includes any type of Facebook post which revolves around the organization of a protest, this includes the creation of a Facebook
23 event, or specific instructions on where to meet on a specific date. An example demonstrates the protest organization category, the administrator of the “La France enervée” page wrote on the 8th of March: “Tomorrow’s programme: Charles de Gaulle airport from midday to 1pm. Afterwards, Paris Champs-Elysées for the rest of the day”.
Another category named “protest attendance” describes content showing whether a user has attended a protest. This does not include shares of another user, or news outlets. An example which highlights this category would be a Facebook live led by the administrator of the “La France enervée” page, on the 9th of April, he was hosting a live-stream titled “In front of the senate for the beginning of the protest”.
“Police violence” is a category which includes various types of posts, whether they are created by a user or shared from a news page. The key point of this category is that the posts have to show some form of police violence towards the Yellow Vests during a protest.
“Legal matters” are part of a category which essentially assembles content that deals with legal issues. It includes content such as a user asking for legal help, or posts regarding trials, court dates or fines. An example would be a post by a user in the group “Gilets Jaunes” on the 29th March. The caption claims: “Attention! I just received a summoning at the police station because of content I posted on Facebook, be careful about the posts and comments you write” while attaching a photo of the official police document.
“Support” is a category which applies to specific posts where support is either offered to someone, or when a user asks for support from others. This does not refer to legal or medical support, but more so to emotional encouragement.
Finally, the category “government criticism” includes user-created content, or shared content which criticises the government. This clearly includes content showing disapproval towards the president, government members, as well as laws and policy changes. Criticism of specific candidates or parties for the European elections are also included in this category, an example would be a post from the page “Gilet Jaune”, where a user claims “Macron never stopped being a banker, being elected president has just enabled him to obtain more power in order to help his financial friends organize the reign of money”, this was a post created by a user on the 23rd of April. Further categories will be described and analysed when presenting the findings of the Facebook research.
24 3.4 Research on Twitter
3.4.1 Data Collection on Twitter
As one of the research questions mentions, a part of this research aims to compare and analyse the differences between the use of Twitter and Facebook regarding the Yellow Vest movement. This cross-platform analysis influences the methodology, as similar ways of collecting and analysing data were necessary, in order to proceed to a comparison. For the purpose of data collection on Twitter, the Twitter Capture and Analysis Toolset (TCAT) was used. TCAT is “a toolset for capturing and analysing Twitter data” (Borra and Rieder 1). A data set titled “Yellow Vests”, collected on the Digital Methods Initiative’s servers at the University of Amsterdam, contains millions of tweets collected from December 2018 to today. Using the TCAT tool, and more specifically the “User activity (tweet frequency)” module, I collected the 250 most popular usernames. This module presents a list of the usernames which tweet the most, and therefore enabled me to find the most active users. I collected the top 50 users per month, from December 2018 until April 2019. This collection represents the 50 users who tweeted the most through the course of this determined period.
3.4.2 Data analysis on Twitter
After collecting the usernames of the most active Twitter users under the query “Yellow Vest”, their Twitter profile was examined similarly to the Facebook analysis. The profiles were observed and scrolled through, looking at the content of the tweets and retweets, as well as the biography, profile photo and geo-location. Using this observation, different coding keywords were applied to the Twitter profiles. As opposed to the Facebook research when one post was categorized, the data collected on Twitter referred to an entire profile. I choose to apply multiple codes to one profile, as a user can discuss various subjects on their entire Twitter profile.
The tags were constantly evolving, but some of them existed as: Police violence, government criticism, legal matters, protest organization, protest attendance, geo-location and importance of original tweets. Location is an interesting factor in analysing the tweets, as one can determine whether the most active Twitter accounts are in France or abroad. The gathering of locations was done by using the geo-location indicated on a user’s biography. As most users did not disclose this information, it was not a key point of the analysis. This Twitter analysis uses TCAT to filter through the vast number of tweets, in order to determine the most active users, and therefore proceed to a qualitative analysis of their Twitter profile. Twitter is a crucial part
25 of this analysis because of what it enables its users to do, as Caliandro claims: “On the one hand, Twitter provides people with a new means of interaction and materializes new forms of sociality. On the other hand, Twitter provides researchers with the very tools for measuring those new forms of interaction and sociality” (Caliandro 558).
Some of the categories mentioned are similar to the ones used on Facebook; they include similar content which can be found across both platforms. Categories such as geolocation, and importance of original tweets are specific to Twitter. The latter category aimed to identify whether a Twitter user posts original tweets, or if they are only focused on retweeting content from other users. This will enable to analyse if users interact within themselves, or if they prefer to share content created by others.
3.5 Ethics
Ethical considerations are crucial when conducting research on social media users, even though there is no contact with individual users. As Pink et al claim: “In digital ethnography, we are often in mediated contact with participants rather than in direct presence” (Pink et al 3). Townsend and Wallace describe three key arguments regarding ethical considerations with social media research, these rely on private versus public, anonymity and risk of harm. “One of the biggest areas of concern with social media data is the extent to whether such data should be considered public or private data”; a part of this argument relies on the platforms terms and conditions, and the fact that every user has agreed to them upon entering the platform (Townsend and Wallace 5). The terms and conditions of these platforms make the data analysed public, but it does not make it ethical. This is why the concept of anonymity is particularly important when presenting the data: “with traditional forms of research, it is generally straightforward to anonymise data so that research participants cannot be identified”, this will be the case during this research (Townsend and Wallace 7). Moreover, screenshots were used for coding purposes, but did not appear in the final research. Tweets and Facebook posts were quoted, making sure that no information identifying the user could be found. Finally, the risk of harm appears “where a social media user’s privacy and anonymity have been breached”, importance was given to make sure the data is secure, and the users identity remains unknown. This research fits into the requirements established by the Netherlands code of conduct for research integrity, which relies on five main principles: honestly, scrupulousness, transparency, independence and responsibility (Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity 13). As it was previously mentioned, a set of questions had to be answered in order to join one of the
26 closed Facebook groups, these questions were answered truthfully, but there are still ethical considerations when joining these closed groups. In order to abide to the ethical principles mentioned above, all data was anonymised, and most importantly I did not interact, or interfere with any of the users or posts. This means that I was not in touch with any users, or react, like and comment on any of the posts.
3.6 Limitations
The methodology described above presents certain limitations, the first being that the TCAT data set is dated from December 2018 to April 2019, whereas the Facebook pages presented were created around October 2018. This creates a gap of two months between the data analysed on both platforms. Because of the cross-platform analysis side of the research, I chose to only look at data on both platforms starting in December. This means that two months won’t be included in the research in order to make the time frame equal. Unfortunately, as the protests began in November, this omits the first month of the demonstrations. Social media use might have been different during this month; therefore, my results speak for the more advanced stage of the protests.
Another limitation relies on issues which arose during the data collection. On Twitter, a few accounts which were placed in the most popular accounts were bots, meaning that they only retweet content and do not interact with other users. There were only a small number of bots, fourteen in total, and they didn’t particularly hinder the results. The data collected on Twitter also showed that some accounts had been suspended or deleted. The accounts might have breached Twitter’s terms and conditions or have been deleted by the user. This represents a total of 42 accounts and even though it is a significant number, it did not affect the data analysis process.
3.7 A qualitative analysis of 500 Facebook posts and Twitter profiles
The methodology leading to the collection and analysis of data presents various aspects. On Facebook, Netvizz was used to collect data on a public Facebook page. Two other closed groups were analysed manually, collecting posts which were relevant to the research and coding categories. On Twitter, TCAT was used to analyse the profiles of the users which tweet the most. Specific code words were attached to their profile during the data analysis. Through both platforms, data was collected monthly, from December until April. This enabled a monthly
27 comparison of users, as well as content. Overall, this methodology permitted a qualitative analysis of an important number of tweets and Facebook posts, as over 500 profiles and posts were analysed. Even though pieces of software were used to collect data, the two closed Facebook groups used a different approach, as data was collected manually, starting in December but without following a monthly time frame. The following chapter aims to present the findings obtained through this methodology.
28 4. Findings: A presentation of the results of a cross-platform research on social media
This chapter aims to present the findings from the conducted research. As described in the methodology, the findings will come from four different sources. The first and second being two closed Facebook groups named “Gilet Jaune” and “Gilets Jaunes” as well as Eric Drouet’s Facebook page “La France énervée”. Finally, the Twitter analysis will rely on the 250 most popular accounts regarding the Yellow Vest movement.
4.1 Facebook Findings: exposing the research results of various Facebook groups
This section will present the data collected and analysed on Facebook, through the closed groups and public Facebook page. The findings will be organized thematically for the two closed groups, as no precise amount of posts were collected, yet they were organised using coding categories. The findings of the public page will be presented chronologically, as 250 posts were analysed, it is valuable to see the evolution of the content through the time period analysed.
4.1.1 “Gilet Jaune”
The closed Facebook group “Gilet Jaune” is one of the most popular, as it contains over 160 000 members. The description of the group claims “Yellow Vests at the service of other Yellow Vests! Information, demands, propositions, new ideas. Together for an improvement of our living conditions! Strength and honour.” This description shows the beliefs of the administrators, but ultimately the members are the ones posting content and determining in which direction the group will evolve. For this analysis, a variety of posts were selected, between the months of December 2018 and April 2019. These posts were categorised using the codes described in the methodology. The posts and categories will be presented in order of importance. The coding category which appeared the most was the one revolving around government criticism, the posts belonging to this category varied in the ways in which they shared this message. A few posts used text to describe the incompetency of the government: one of the members created a post urging others not to vote for President Macron’s party during the European elections, they claimed “With the elections coming up, do not let LREM (La République en Marche) fool you! They will only cause more precarity to those like us who are already struggling”. This user shares a sense of community as they use the word “us”, moreover
29 the comments showed that other members shared similar feelings. However, as a few members commented that they were voting for the “Rassemblement National”, Marine Le Pen’s right- wing party, tensions and debates started growing in the comment section. Almost all the posts which were related to government criticism experienced some form of tension in the comments. Even though members seem to agree with the original posts, often critiquing President Macron himself, they start arguing once members mention the political parties they support. Another important coding category is the one titled “police violence”. This category regroups posts which mention police violence and abuse of power. Most of the posts related to police brutality were videos and photos of police forces abusing Yellow Vests during protests. Some of the images were graphic, yet still were approved by the group’s administrators. The comments under these posts are almost all expressing negative sentiment towards police forces. One post was related to police brutality but did not show content of police forces being violent. This post was from a street medic, who wanted to share a message after a protest turned violent in Toulouse; they claimed:
As a street medic in Toulouse, I would like to thank some of you for what you keep doing for us during protests: creating bubbles of protection while we care for someone injured, charging towards the police so we can evacuate someone wounded, chanting and singing for us. Thanks for what you do, and don’t give up!
Street medics are inherently tied to police brutality, as they are often the first respondents to injured protesters, this post was placed in the police brutality category. Three other posts were considered to be part of the “protest attendance category”, one of them being a video, and two being photos. These posts simply aimed to show the number of attendants during a protest. The video posted by a user had the caption “Many Yellow Vests heading towards Bastille”. Furthermore, three other posts were placed in the “event” category, meaning that there were Facebook events shared in the group, enabling users to click the buttons “interested”, or “participate” in order to join. One of them was published on the 23rd of March and was titled “Acte 35, 14th of July 2019, Yellow Vest parade at the Champs-Élysées”. This post was therefore created in advance of an event planned in July. The creation of these Facebook events leads to the notion of protest organization. A few posts were placed in this category, as they clearly showed members were aiming to facilitate the planning of protests. One member posted an image representing six French institutions, including the Senate, the Élysée palace and the National Assembly. On top of these images the
30 member wrote “Instead of protesting at places which have hardly any consequences, we need to take over and block specific institutions that will hurt the government and the country!” This post created conversations in the comments on where protesting would have the most impact. Finally, other posts were placed in less frequent categories. One of them was coded as being a “legal matter”, a member shared a letter they received, which is a notice to attend a court hearing. They shared a photo of the letter, where the offenses they were accused of were listed. Some members expressed negative feelings towards the judiciary system in the comments, while others expressed support towards the member who received the letter. Another post was coded as being part of a “debate”, a user posted on the 27th of March: “Hello, would anyone like to debate calmly about what they will do for the European elections?”. The member’s use of the world calmly proves that not every post received constructive commentary. This specific post received 66 reactions, and over 1000 comments where people shared which political party they were voting for. This came with some tensions, but overall the post created an interesting debate in the comments. It is a common occurrence in this group to find posts with numerous comments, but little likes or reactions. This could be interpreted as members being active in online discussions.
The group “Gilet Jaune” and the posts analysed showed some diversity on the content shared on the page. Moreover, the types of posts were varied as they contained videos, photos, posts containing text as well as Facebook events. Overall, this group presents discussions on various topics, ranging from police brutality to the European elections, but one of the most impressive features of the group is how vocal the members are in the comments. They are not always constructive or positive, but there is a clear formation of a dialogue in the comments of the “Gilet Jaune” group.
4.1.2 “Gilets Jaunes”
The closed Facebook group “Gilets Jaunes” is extremely popular, as it contains over 164 000 members. The description of the group claims “Let’s show how many we are. By signing up you will contribute to showing the official number of Yellow Vests. Share this around you, no need to be on the field to feel like a Yellow Vest. Pacifism will be advocated.” In the description, a link is added to a GoFundme page which aims to collect money to support injured protesters.
31 The closed group “Gilets Jaunes” varies from the previous group presented. When analysing and coding the posts collected in the group, the majority of them were related to government criticism. This is quite common amongst the groups presented, but the ways in which the “Gilets Jaunes” page posts content critiquing the government is often violent and aggressive. An example would be a post shared by a member, which shows an election poster where President Macron is represented as a Nazi officer. Even though this post is clearly offensive, the comments seemed to be amused by the representation, and a member even claimed: “he is just like Hitler”, referring to President Macron. Criticism has also been expressed towards important figures of the movement: a post in March depicted a photo of Eric Drouet, Jerome Rodrigues and other important figures of the movement; on top of the photo was labelled in bold lettering: “extreme danger for France, let’s kick them out!”. The comments on this post were criticising these figures of the movement, and more specifically contesting their representation as leaders. This post, and comments clearly validate the assumption that the Yellow Vests do not claim any leaders of the movement. The angry-tone of the members became even stronger when analysing posts related to police brutality. Out of the 25 posts analysed, 6 of them were related to police violence. One of the posts represented three officers, who had covered the identification number on their uniform, making them non-identifiable in case they needed to be sanctioned. The user who posted the photo wrote the caption “Scandalous” and many comments expressed their anger through a flow of insults. Protest attendance is a category which brought less anger to the group. 5 posts were identified as being part of this category, all of them being photos taken during various protests. A member posted the photos they took in Marseille, showing large crowds holding banners with powerful slogans during a protest, all comments were positive and encouraging. On another side, 3 posts were shared regarding protest organisation. Even though these posts could benefit the group by offering ideas on how to protest, the comments were mainly negative. A member posted in January: “This is a call to protest at the Champs Elysées and at the Place de la Concorde to demand Macron and its government to resign!”. The comments were all negative, with one member claiming, “you should be ashamed”, while another wrote “No thanks, I don’t want to protest with fascists”. The comments showed some disapproval with the movement, it seems as users who do not belong to the Yellow Vest movement use the post to emphasise their disapproval towards the weekly protests. Moreover, it shows the political disparities between members of the Yellow Vests.
32 Overall, the group “Gilets Jaunes” presents similar content to the other group previously described. They both deal with content related to government criticism, police violence and protest organization. However, the ways in which the members respond to the content is tremendously different. On the “gilets jaunes” group, the posts can be considered as neutral, but the anger and aggression of the members manifests itself in the comment section. It seems there is very little content moderation done by the administrators, as content unrelated to the movement is often posted, creating another point of frustration for the members.
4.1.3 “La France enervée”
The following analysis presents posts from the Facebook page “La France enervée”, one of the main administrators being Eric Drouet. Using the software Netvizz, the 50 most popular posts were collected each month, from December until April. These popular posts were determined by a combination of likes, comments, reactions and shares. In total, 250 posts were collected and analysed. The Facebook page is liked by over 70 000 users and is known as being influential in terms of protest organization by various news sources (Simon). A large number of posts were analysed, therefore two charts will be used to present the overall results, before delving into detailed examples.
[Figure 1]: Chart of the 250 most popular posts on the “La France énervée” Facebook page.
33
The first chart aims to describe the amount of posts which belonged to the coding categories described in the methodology. This chart represents the most popular 250 posts on the “La France énervée” page. Government criticism shows the highest rate of mentions, followed closely by protest organisation and protest attendance. It is interesting to note that more posts referred to protest organisation then to content about attending the protests. Support is also a category with significant impact. Finally, Legal matters, Media appearances and police violence were part of the less mentioned categories. Other is a category which was added when encountering technical updates on the Facebook page. This refers to changes of profile or cover photos, or status updates.
[Figure 2]: Chart representing the monthly evolution of the 250 posts on the “La France évervée page”.
The second figure aims to showcase a monthly evolution of the most popular posts on the “La France énervée” Facebook page. It can be noticed that government criticism increases from December to February, before decreasing for the rest of the timeframe analysed. Protest organisation is a category which varies monthly, reaching its lowest rate in February. Protest attendance is at a low number from December to February, then increases drastically in March and April. Support, as well as police violence are two categories which are less mentioned and
34 evolve in a linear manner. After observing these overviews, the findings of this research will be further described on a monthly basis and supported by precise examples.
In January, the topic which created the most discussion on the page were legal matters, more specifically Eric Drouet’s court cases. A statement made by his attorney regarding his current trial was liked, shared and commented over 11 000 times. Eric Drouet keeps the members of the group updated regarding his legal situation, as he has been accused of illegal protest organization through his Facebook page. In the 20 most popular posts of the month of December, 5 of them were about his legal situation. Most of the posts simply unveiled what happened during the trials, but two posts showed Eric Drouet’s frustration with the legal system, as he asked for support from the page members. On the 7th of December he posted: “Hello everyone, I am not in police custody, but it was close. My house was searched by the police and my wife was interrogated. They are accusing me of illegal protesting and inciting others to enter a government building”. Throughout the comments members offered support, one of them claiming “Stay strong Eric, you don’t deserve this”. As he was being accused of illegal protest organization, certain posts on the page fit into the category of protest organization. On the 7th of December he announced on Facebook that he was planning to protest towards the Parisian highway, and he invited others to join. This post was shared, liked and commented almost 6000 times. During protests, such short posts with clear instructions can have serious impact on the group’s members. Two new coding categories were created when observing the data. The first, being titled “support” includes posts where administrators and members are asking for support, it also includes the administrators showing their support to specific people or causes. During a protest, Eric Drouet posted photos with two other protesters, writing as a caption: “Anaïs and Setven have been helping me since way before the 17th, I’m sending my strength to them! And thank you all for your support”. Through this post he addresses fellow Yellow Vests that have helped him since the beginning of the movement, as well as the users of his Facebook page. Another coding category was titled “media appearances”, this specifically related to Eric Drouet’s appearances on television, radio or in press articles. He often shares links of interviews he has contributed to, or television shows that have invited him to speak. He further discusses in the captions what he did not mention during the media appearance. Overall, the month of January showed that the most popular posts were often written publications by Eric Drouet, a few photos and links were published. Moreover, this month created discussion around his court case, as it was emerging at the time. Protest organization, as well as protest attendance were
35 topics that were also discussed on the page. The two new coding categories, “support’ and “media appearances” were solely used for the public page “La France énervée”, as no posts touching on these subjects were found in the closed Facebook groups.
The month of February proved to be less eventful on the Facebook page, as numbers of engagement dropped considerably. The most popular Facebook posts received 2896 engagement responses, while the one in December reached 18000. February received less posts regarding protest organisation. Even though they decreased in number, they still appear as being popular for the month, according to this simple post published by Eric Drouet on the 13th of February: “Should we stop the marches? Should we start the blockades again? Maybe we can start by meeting at entrance of the Parisian highway?”. This post created divisive exchanges in the comments: while some members claimed they were tired of the protests and weekly violence, others claimed they should start the blockades again and be even more impactful. The rest of the month was similar to the previous ones, with a large amount of posts critiquing the government, as well as Eric Drouet showing his support towards the continuation of the protests.
March was a busier month for the Facebook page, with the most popular post reaching 10000 likes, shares and comments. Facebook lives hosted by Eric Drouet became frequent and popular during the month of March, as 7 of his live-streams were part of the 20 most popular posts of the month. These live-streams are conducted in a casual setting, usually while he is working as a truck driver. During the month of march, the Facebook lives had two main discussion points, protest organization and protest attendance. Eric Drouet discusses the technicalities of the protests before the weekend, as these happen on Saturdays; he therefore mentions the locations where protesters should meet, as well as the ones that are illegal to protest in. After his court case, he makes it clear that it is illegal to protest around specific streets and government buildings. A day or two after the protests occurred, he will live stream his commentary on how it went. This is what can be described as protest attendance; he mentions how many people were there, if the protest was violent and if the demands were heard. These Facebook lives are what brings the most engagement to the page, people watch them live and can therefore comment immediately and ask him questions, which creates a less formal dialogue since Eric Drouet very rarely responds to comments. Overall, the month of march is highly impacted by these Facebook lives, which have become a key part of Eric Drouet as an important figure for the movement.
36
The month of April emphasises the importance of Eric Drouet’s Facebook lives, as the most popular post is him live-streaming a protest in front of the Senate in Paris. Through this live he is seen in a crowd of protesters, chanting with them while voicing his frustrations towards the government on camera. This specific live was viewed 19 000 times. The rest of the month of march consists of more live-streams from Eric Drouet, for the first month; the eight most popular posts on the page are exclusively Facebook lives. In these various streams he discusses protest organization and attendance, as well as his legal issues. He live-streams another protest, as well as a meeting with other members of the Yellow Vest. These live-steams create many views and plenty of engagement as he actively replies to the comments of the members. Finally, March marks the first time when Eric Drouet shares a link to one of his tweets. He therefore uses Twitter, and tries to share it with his audience on Facebook.
4.1.4. The communicative differences within Facebook communities
Overall, the groups “Gilet Jaune” and “Gilets Jaunes” vary drastically. Even though they both create dialogue between their members, the way they communicate through likes and comments is valuable to observe. The group “gilet jaune” shows that its users post a variety of content, ranging from posts to videos and Facebook lives. Moreover, discussions are prominent in the comment section. These discussions vary in topic, and even though some comments are conflictual, most of the users are vocal about their opinions while remaining respectful. The group “Gilet Jaunes” shares similar content to the previous groups, however, the ways in which it is discussed is different. With posts that are often neutral in opinion, the comments often show aggression and anger towards other members, with very little sense of unity. Some of the comments can be deemed offensive, and it seems that there is very little moderation by the administrators on this group. The page “La France énervée” presents various evolutions throughout the months. It started with high number of engagements on posts containing photos and text, to a significant decline in February. Finally, the month of March and April were crucial when examining the groups, as the start of Eric Drouet’s live-streams created a large amount of engagement and conversation between the members of the group; showing he has become an important figure for the movement.
37 4.2 Twitter Findings: Presenting the research results of the Yellow Vests’ most popular users on Twitter
The findings presented in this section were collected using the software TCAT (Twitter Capture and Analysis Toolset). The 50 most popular tweets were collected monthly, from the month of December 2018 until the month of April 2019, leading to a total analysis of 250 tweets. The coding system applied is similar to the one used for the Facebook analysis, with keywords varying because of Twitter-specific functionalities. Because of the large number of data, these findings will be presented using charts, as well as by describing thorough examples.
[Figure 3]: Chart of the 250 most popular Twitter profiles related to the Yellow Vest movement.
The chart illustrated by the third figure shows which categories were discussed on the 250 most popular Twitter profiles. These categories were not applied to specific tweets, but on the entirety of a user’s profile. Government criticism was the most mentioned category, followed by police violence. Police violence was mentioned by over 25% of users, which is a tremendous
38 change to how little this topic was discussed on Facebook. Protest attendance was also heavily mentioned, with a large number of photos and videos of protests being shared. Protest organisation was hardly mentioned. The chart also highlights the small number of bots that were identified, as well as the larger amount of suspended or deleted accounts.
[Figure 4]: Chart representing the monthly evolution of the 250 Twitter users related to the Yellow Vest movement.
The fourth figure demonstrates the monthly evolution of the topics discussed by popular Twitter users. Police violence discussions were at a low number in December, they increased in January and remained stable throughout the rest of the timeline. Government criticism slightly varies through time, but still remains the most conversed topic by the most popular Twitter users. Mentions of protest attendance slightly increase through time, overall they are significant compared to the small amount of debates on protest organisation.
Through this Twitter analysis, the geolocation of users was collected through their bio. Out of the 250 Twitter profiles, only 22.8% of them had indicated a geolocation in their bio. Within this small number, over 90% of the users were located in France, with under 10% of users located in other countries. Another factor which was taken into account through the data collection was the importance of original tweets. It was documented whether a user only retweeted content from other users, or created some original tweets. Out of the 250 profiles
39 analysed, 42.5% of them wrote original tweets, as well as retweeted other user’s content. On the opposite 57,5% of users only retweeted content created by other users. Overall, more than half of the Twitter users analysed did not create original content. Nonetheless a large part of other users contributed by creating original tweets, as well as sharing others content.
4.2.1 A Monthly Analysis
The month of December was quite active for the Yellow Vest movement on Twitter. Even though conversation was flowing between users, it has become clear that some of the most popular users can be bots. In the month of December, 8 accounts were deleted or suspended. This might be due to some offensive content, but because of the high number of tweets these accounts produced, it can be assumed that they were bots. The most popular user in December is a bot, which only retweets content labelled with the hashtag #giletsjaunes. Moreover, it presents weekly statistics on how many times this specific hashtag was mentioned on Twitter. Nevertheless, the month of December wasn’t only related to bots. It showed a few political accounts, which were specifically targeting the Yellow Vest movement to vote for them during the European elections in May. Moreover, a specific type of account seen repeatedly throughout the months has been identified. This type of account does not write any original tweets, but retweets content from others. They often share news about French legislation and government criticism, and they are located in France. This type of account has been repeatedly appearing through the month of December. The political views of such users differ greatly, two users can illustrate this example. The first user clearly belongs to the Yellow Vest movement, as they have a photo of a Yellow Vest as their profile and cover photo. Moreover, they have a Martin Luther King Jr. quote in their biography. They retweet about protests, strikes, police brutality, and exchange with a few different users. However, tweeting and engaging with others isn’t their main goal. Another account can be used as an example, the user clearly shows their far-right tendencies by tweeting sexist and Islamophobic content. They retweet the hashtag #giletsjaunes while creating original tweets, whose main purpose is to argue with other users who share different opinions. These two types of accounts who present drastically different political views were found very frequently through the five-month data analysis.
The month of January shows 14 new profiles in the top 50 of the most popular, as they did not appear in December. By using coding keywords, it was determined that police brutality was the most mentioned subject on Twitter. This particularly means that users were retweeting or
40 tweeting about police violence. Most of the tweets which fit in this category were videos of police abuse during protests. Furthermore, another heavily mentioned category is titled “policy content”. This specifically refers to new policies introduced by the French government, such as labour laws, recent elections or increase in taxes. A specific user highlights this diversity in the content that they tweet, they will be used as an example. The following user has the hashtag #GJ in their username, and claims that the movement is “necessary” in their biography. They do not only tweet about the movement, but also mention France’s potential exit of the European union, named Frexit. They mention the recent controversies regarding Julian Assange as well as the European elections. This account is therefore very diverse regarding the type of information that they share. They do not only retweet, but produce many original tweets that are often directed towards politicians, or towards other users. Such users who create a lot of diversity of content, and interaction with other users have largely appeared in the month of January.
The month of February sees 21 new accounts appear in the top 50, which were not seen in the previous months. These new accounts represent specific user profiles which are popular to follow. They tweet using the hashtag #giletsjaunes and are more focused on police brutality as opposed to policy content. However, it is important to mention that most of the accounts during the month of February only retweet from other users, and do not produce their own original content. This creates more sharing of content, but less conversations between users.
March sees the appearance of more bots, one who makes it to the top 5 most popular users, as they retweet every single tweet which contains the words “Gilets Jaunes”. Accounts mentioning policies, and more specifically European elections are growing. As the elections were approaching, a few political candidates entered into the top 50 most popular accounts. They did not belong to political parties focus on the Yellow Vests, but they used the movement to discuss policy issues and criticism towards the government. It is important to mention that every month, there are approximately 5 or less accounts that appear in the most popular accounts related to the Yellow Vests, even though they do not mention the movement once. It is uncertain if it is because they mentioned the movement in the past, or because the engagement numbers tend towards the less popular users.
The month of April sees 19 new accounts appear among the top 50 most popular. These new accounts are more personal, and reveal information about the user, as opposed to some who
41 refuse to reveal anything that could identify them. One of the new accounts shows the user wearing a yellow vest on their profile photo. Their biography shows that they support the movement as they are “tired of class discrimination”, they mention their parents being in elderly care, and how they have to care for their disabled brother. All these different factors appear in the user’s biography, making it feel personal as opposed to other political accounts. Moreover, this specific user only posts original tweets, sharing their videos of the protests and creating dialogues with other users. Police brutality is thoroughly mentioned by this specific user, as well as by a large number of others during the month of April.
4.2.2 The most popular Twitter profiles show diversity in the subjects they discuss
Overall, the most popular accounts from the months of December until April vary drastically. The coding keywords which were used the most were “lack of original tweets” as well as “police brutality”. Twitter has been used thorough these months as a way to share political content, whether it is done by bots or by users who only retweet Yellow Vest related content. Moreover, it has been used by users in more personalized ways, sharing specific aspect of their lives, or distinct political ideologies. After analysing the content of these profiles, it is clear that police brutality is one of the most frequent subjects mentioned on Twitter within the movement. Moreover, documenting the geolocation of certain users has shown that most of the users tweeting about the movement are doing it from France. In order to interpret this data, the coding keywords and specific numbers gathered will be further discussed.
42 5. Discussion: Facebook and Twitter as platforms that highlight the Yellow Vests’ differences, while enabling the evolution of their collective identity
This chapter aims to further discuss the data presented in the findings. This will be accomplished through further exploration of the data analysis, while linking it to key theoretical concepts observed in the literature review. Finally, the research questions will be examined from a new perspective.
5.1 Facebook and Twitter: a cross-platform analysis
5.1.1 A different set of results
The findings gathered on Facebook and Twitter were presented in the previous chapter, it is valuable to compare them in order to understand which subjects are being discussed on these two platforms, as well as to determine if the Yellow Vest’s online behaviour varies depending on the social media platform its participants use.
The main similarity seen within the two platforms is the fact that government criticism was the most mentioned topic on Facebook as well as on Twitter. The importance of this topic might be due to the fact that the category encompasses a large amount of posts regarding government criticism, as well as the fact that France’s political climate has been tense in the past few months. With the European elections in May, and new laws being introduced by the government, it is undeniable that the Yellow Vests are discussing the government’s decisions online. The difference between the results gathered on Facebook and Twitter arises when one examines the next most mentioned category. On Twitter, police violence was mentioned by over 25% of the most popular users. This was often perceived through retweets of violent content during protests, where police officers were clearly seen abusing of their power. On Facebook, protest organisation was mentioned by 18% of users. This category is particularly important, as it encompasses posts which give clear instructions on the organisational side of protests. These posts were often written by Eric Drouet who gave his Facebook audience clear details on where and when to meet in order to protest. The high number shown by the protest organisation category can help one understand why Eric Drouet has become a target for the
43 authorities. He was arrested multiple times and for various reasons during the protests. However, what ultimately lead to a trial were the charges accusing him of organising illegal demonstrations (Connexion France). Similarly belonging to this category were other users who shared Facebook events regarding protests in various cities in France. It is valuable to examine the difference in mentions of protest organisation on Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook, protest organisation represents over 18% of the posts analysed, however, it only represents 4% of the Twitter users observed. This gap clearly shows that protest organisation is highly discussed on Facebook, this might be due to the sense of community created by the “La France énervée” page, as well as the closed groups.
Protest attendance was continuously mentioned within the two platforms. It represents overs 16% of Facebook posts analysed, and over 18% of the Twitter users observed. Protest attendance was often identified with images or videos of protests showing crowds of Yellow Vests marching. The high number of protesters all over France was continuously shown on both platforms. On Facebook, users posted photos or Facebook lives of them attending protests. On Twitter, images taken by protesters or by news outlets were often retweeted.
Certain discussion topics were noticed on Facebook, and rarely appeared on Twitter. The Facebook page observed saw many posts being categorised as support, legal matters, or media appearances. These three categories are highly linked to Eric Drouet’s use of the page. He updated other users on his legal troubles, while asking for support in other posts. Moreover, he often shared news articles where he was seen speaking at protests, or on television shows regarding the movement. As these acts are linked to his importance as a figure of the movement, they were not observed on Twitter. Furthermore, Eric Drouet’s name was hardly mentioned by any of the most popular Twitter users, this clearly shows the considerable importance he was given on his Facebook page, but not on other platforms.
The differences between the results obtained on Facebook and Twitter were presented. These disparities can be caused by the users identifying to the platforms, as well as to the content they wish to discuss online. However, another approach will be taken in order to understand if the affordances of these platforms have an impact on the kind of subjects the Yellow Vests discuss online.
44 5.1.2 The platforms and their affordances
In order to understand what Facebook and Twitter enables its users to do, one must understand the concept of affordances. Coined by Gibson, it refers to “the range of functions and constraints that an object provides for, and places upon, structurally situated subjects” (Davis and Chouinard 241). In a more detailed way, it can be described as a process that mediates the “properties of an artifact (features) and what subjects do with the properties of an artifact (outcomes)” (Wright & Parchoma in Davis and Chouinard 242). Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter therefore present certain properties, to which users navigate in order to use the platform. These properties, also described as artifacts, can have various functionalities. Davis and Chouinard claim that artifacts “request, demand, allow, encourage, discourage, and refuse” (242). They can invite the user to engage with the platform, as well as present certain demands to be used in a specific way. Moreover, it can encourage or discourage certain behaviours, while completely refusing orders. Twitter is a platform which refuses communication through long amounts of texts, as it only allows tweets to be 280 characters or under. It encourages the sharing of these short Tweets with the retweet button. In a different manner, Facebook allows its users to create long posts and encourages them to share various feelings about a post, using the reaction features. The interfaces of these platforms therefore have a crucial impact on the ways its users interact with them, they “structure action by making some things more possible than others” (Stanfill 1060). Stanfill furthermore claims that most of these platforms “do not afford community formation and maintenance, producing a norm of fandom as individual enjoyment rather than a communal activity” (1067). This claim can be debated, as on the “La France énervée” page, a norm of fandom was present. Since Eric Drouet created a majority of the posts, the comments were often a place for users to share their thoughts, frustrations and admirations towards him. On the two closed groups “Gilet Jaune” and “Gilets Jaunes” all users were allowed to post. Moreover, as these groups are closed and require approval by an administrator to join, very little sense of hierarchy exited on the page. Users were seen sharing personal troubles, or commenting about their financial situation, making it clear that they were eager to share their opinions with others. It is impossible to qualify specific types of users, as Brügger claims the textual and interactive media environments on Facebook makes certain elements available for its users, moreover “the functions and uses of these elements have facilitated for various types of users” (Brügger 1). He further describes Facebook as an empty structure, it presents certain features such as profile pages or networks of friends. These features encourage users to navigate the platform in a
45 specific way, “while making it difficult for others” (Brügger 3). Twitter’s character limit can be seen as a limitation for users who wish to express themselves in more thorough ways, however, Twitter users can be seen creating “threads” of tweets, allowing them to share information in more than 280 characters. Twitter’s favourite and retweet buttons can be complex to understand, as they “are endowed with different meanings, feelings, imaginings and expectations” (Bucher and Helmond 2). Through the analysis of the most popular Yellow Vest Twitter accounts, it was noted that a majority of users did not created original content, and instead used the retweet feature to share information. This shows that certain users can base their entire online presence by sharing information which aligns with their beliefs. The Twitter analysis revealed that most content retweeted by others were photos of videos of protests. These did not come from specific news sources, but from other Yellow Vests. As opposed to Eric Drouet’s Facebook page, which contained various news articles of him mentioning the movement, Twitter saw the appearance of shared content created and distributed by Yellow Vests. This difference in the way the content is shared, as well as the ways it is distributed can lead to some interrogations regarding the coherence of the movement.
5.2 The platforms and their link to the collectiveness of the movement
As observed through the findings, there are numerous differences in the ways the Yellow Vests share content on Facebook and Twitter. These differences can vary because of the affordances of the platforms, as well as according to the type of users that frequent them. Looking back at the literature previously presented as well as the social media findings, the Yellow Vests can be identified as a social movement. As Diani defines it, they are a network of informal interaction, engaged politically towards a similar goal (Diani 13). Moreover, this notion of social movements can make one wonder about the Yellow Vest’s collective identity. This notion is defined by Melucci as an interactive definition produced by a group, regarding the direction in which their actions will go in (Melucci 70). The Yellow Vests share a sense of unity, more specifically when they use Facebook for protest organisation purposes. They discuss their demands online, while organising protests through the country. This act not only creates a collective identity but can also be assimilated to collective actions. The Yellow Vests have led collective actions by organising protests online, more specifically since social media has taken “the role of established political organisations” in order to share the movement’s grievances (Bennett and Segerberg 742). However, even though the Yellow Vests as a social movement share a collective identity, while leading collective actions, their movement is not
46 entirely linear. Observing Twitter profiles, as well as the closed Facebook groups and public Facebook page has shown some tensions between users. These tensions often arise when political parties are mentioned. A majority of the users were seen critiquing the party “La République en Marche”, the current party of President Macron. However, when discussing the European elections, tensions rose when some claimed to vote for “La France insoumise”, a far- left political party, as opposed to others who mentioned the “Rassemblement National”, Marine Le Pen’s far right party. This argument between Yellow Vests sharing the ideas of opposite parties was observed through the majority of Facebook posts. On Twitter, users clearly discussed which party they identified with, without specifically getting into online arguments with others. This analysis has made it clear that the Yellow vests do not identify with a specific political party, on the opposite, their views are tremendously different; this relates back to the notion of collective identity. Throughout protests the Yellow Vests seem to agree on specific demands, however, when examining their behaviour online it can be noticed that they come from different political backgrounds. This collective identity is therefore created thanks to a similar goal, not from a similar background.
When discussing notions of identity and collectiveness, the concept of hierarchy within the platform is valuable to approach. As observed through the “La France énervée” Facebook page, Eric Drouet is an important figure within a movement which defines itself as leaderless. After he was taken to court for illegal protesting, he described on his page that it is illegal to protest in specific streets or around government buildings. This might obviously benefit his legal situation, but it is interesting to perceive how one Yellow Vest can give guidance to others on locations where to protest. Through sharing news articles regarding his own appearances on media channels, it is evident that Eric Drouet understands his influence within the movement. Nonetheless, he refuses to qualify himself as a leader. After being invited to a government meeting to discuss the Yellow Vest movement, he received death threats attacking him for presenting himself as a leader of the movement. Throughout the data analysis, many comments were found showing tensions towards Eric Drouet as someone who takes leadership initiatives during protests. The Yellow Vest movement shares a collective identity within the facts that they do not claim any leaders of the movement, as well as not sharing similar political beliefs.
The place which social media occupies within these identity tensions is undeniable. The role that protest organisation takes within the Facebook page analysed relates to Milan’s concept of cloud protesting. The Yellow Vests truly replicate this concept, as their demonstrations are
47 enabled by the power of social media platforms and mobile devices (Milan 1). Moreover, bots were briefly mentioned through the Twitter analysis. Even, though these only represent 4.3% of Twitter profiles analysed, it is interesting to note that the Yellow Vest movement is associated with technology. A majority of the bots seen within the most popular users were created to benefit the movement. Certain bots only retweeted content with the hashtag #GiletJaunes, while others counted how many times the word “Gilet Jaunes” was mentioned on Twitter. The movement has been seen using technology through social media to create engagement, but other initiatives have shown how technology oriented the movement is. Initiatives such as “Média Manif” show the importance of technology within the movement. “Média Manif” is an interactive mapping website, made to be used during protests. It enables users to signal on a map where they are located, as well as the location of police forces, potential dangers and police violence. This initiative was taken using open-source software, and makes the privacy of its users of high importance (Média Manif).
The Yellow Vests can be presented as a social movement, which organises collective actions thanks to their collective identity. Their identity remains complex, as they are leaderless and share different political ideas. However, their proficiency in using technology is undeniable, with the creation of bots or citizen-led mapping initiatives, leading the movement to be part of the notion of cloud protesting.
48 6. Conclusion: The Yellow Vest movement, its complexity and sense of collectiveness
This chapter will aim to conclude the thesis. It will do so by presenting a summary of the literature and the results acquired through the research. Moreover, it will explore the research questions and their concise answers. Finally, limitations of the research will be presented, which will lead to the claim that further research is necessary.
6.1 An observation of the literature and results acquired
This research has presented various aspects of the Yellow Vest movement in France. In the introduction, the movement was presented historically. From its beginning in November, to its recent states, the complexity of the movement was noticed. The movement’s multiple demands were observed, as well as the ways they protest. This rose questions on protest legality, as well as police violence. Understanding the movement in its history enabled the observation of its link with social media platforms. Relevant literature was presented, in order to understand the Yellow Vests as a social movement with a collective identity. Moreover, historical accounts of digital activism were presented to understand the history of movements and their link to social media. The importance of technology within the movement is undeniable, it led to the creation of a methodology to further analyse in which ways the Yellow Vests utilize social media platforms. This chapter established different research methods, 250 Facebook posts from Eric Drouet’s “La France énervée” Facebook page were analysed. Furthermore, two closed Facebook groups, “Gilets Jaunes” and “Gilet Jaune”, were studied. Finally, the 250 most popular Twitter profiles regarding the movement were examined. The research methods used aimed to study qualitatively a large number of social media content. The findings presented showed which subjects were the most discussed on both platforms, moreover, it gave detailed examples of impactful posts within these pages. The discussion chapter used these findings in order to compare data between Facebook and Twitter. The research results gathered on both Facebook and Twitter showed that the Yellow Vests communicate in different ways between platforms. The topics they mention vary in their nature and importance. Furthermore, the affordances of both platforms were presented in order to understand the difference of content shown by the research. Finally, the research results were applied to previously studied theories; this led to the understanding of the Yellow Vests as a social movement who conducts collective actions. Moreover, their strong link to technology makes them part of the notion of cloud
49 protesting. Throughout this analysis, the research questions previously established were explored.
6.2 An analysis of the research questions, and their answers
Conducting research on Facebook and Twitter enabled the understanding of the ways in which the Yellow Vests utilise social media platforms. Closed Facebook groups were used as discussion spaces to share personal struggles, political opinions and debates. Their overall climate was not always welcoming, but users were seen discussing topics from government criticism, to personal legal matters. Eric Drouet’s Facebook page presented a large number of content assimilated to protest organisation. He used this platform specifically to facilitate protests, while discussing government reforms and numbers of attendants during protests. Finally, the Twitter analysis presented the most popular users related to the movement. These varied in their nature and opinions on political parties. Twitter showed a majority of accounts retweeting content critiquing the government, as well as showing the magnitude of the movement. This platform was less used for discussions and debates, but it shared various types of information regarding the impact of the movement. Overall, the use of Facebook and Twitter within the Yellow Vest movement is very different, but social media platforms are undeniably a key part of the movement’s identity.
Using the research findings as well as discussing them highlighted tensions and confusion within the Yellow Vests and their political tendencies. Through the hundreds of posts analysed, it was determined that the Yellow Vests do not claim any leaders of the movement, and do not belong to any specific political party. More precisely, social media discussions revealed that certain Yellow Vests identified with far-right parties, as well as far-left political ideologies. This drastic contrast created online tensions but did not seem to impact the movement’s demands and protest organisation skills. Even though the movement is less mentioned by news outlets, the Yellow Vests have surpassed their eighth month of protesting in France.
50 6.3 The Research’s limitations and need for further research
The research methods used within this research enabled the gathering of interesting findings. However, analysing 250 Facebook posts and 250 Twitter profiles seems insufficient to speak for a large part of the movement’s social media presence. Further research would benefit from supplementary analysis of more social media content regarding the Yellow Vests. Moreover, the content analysed belonged to a specific time frame, which started in December 2018 and ended in April 2019. As the movement began in November, this research cannot testify for the social media content created at the commencement of the movement. An analysis specifically focused on the beginning of the movement would be extremely valuable to understand how its popularity spread on social media platforms.
Overall, the Yellow Vest movement presents complex arguments regarding collective and political identities, while discussing issues of cohesion and tensions on online platforms. The Yellow Vests as social media users have shown collective behaviour through protest organisation, as well as debates and incoherence when discussing political ideologies. The movement remains a fascinating research opportunity, and it would benefit from further research regarding the beginning of the movement, as well as its current position.
51 7. Bibliography
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