Acoustic Academic: Sonic Stories from Social Sciences

Starving the Rage Farmers or Actively Fighting Back: How to Audience on Social Media

In this episode of academic ASMR you will get an overview of several studies that allow us to take a new recontextualizing look at a common theme, so far unexplored. We propose the development of a theoretical concept, “audience literacies,” a subset of social media literacies that themselves are a part of digital literacies but also interwoven with media and information literacies. We argue that both being aware of the different audiences of one’s messages and regulating oneself as a member of various audiences entails crucial skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes. In our opinion, people as audiences deserve a longer exploration to understand how messages are being encoded and decoded or when people apply civil inattention and look away, pretending not to listen or ignoring the conversations as a social norm of respect. Moving from more passive modes of participation and “being an audience” (Invisible Audiences) to more active practices of audiencing (Resilient Reactors and Activist Produsers), we hope that understanding these roles enables us to navigate the digital landscape with greater awareness and intentionality. The episode is based on this academic publication: Murumaa-Mengel, M., Klaassen, M. (2025). From Civil Inattention to Digital Activism: Audience Literacies Within the Social Media Literacies Framework [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-96720-7_6#Abs1]. In: Özel, M. (eds) Digital Literacy as a Catalyst for Critical Thinking (pp.113-133). Springer, Cham.

Kui vägistatud laps otsib veebist tuge ja abi: seksuaalvägivallaga seonduvad stereotüübid

"No kuidas sa said üldse lasta tal ennast vägistada? Ta ei olnud ju sinust nii palju suurem ja tugevam, ju sulle endale ikka natuke ka meeldis." Nii vastati ühele lapsele veebifoorumis, kust laps oli läinud toimunud vägistamise järel abi otsima. Selles tekstis annan ülevaate sellest, kuidas lapsed ja noored veebifoorumite vahendusel seksuaalvägivalla ohvriks langemise osas abi ja tuge otsivad ning millised on sellistele postitustele järgnevad vastukajad. Meie uuringu fookus on eelkõige sellel, millist rolli mängivad vägistamismüüdid ja soostereotüübid nii teemaalgatajate kui ka vastajate käsitlustes seksuaalvägivallast, ohvritest ja toimepanijatest. Valitud tekste analüüsides kombineerisime diskursiivpsühholoogilise analüüsi ja kvalitatiivse temaatilise sisuanalüüsi võtteid. Tulemustes kirjeldame näiteks selliseid stereotüüpe nagu tõeline ohver, reaalne vägistamissituatsioon ja tõeline toimepanija. Veebifoorumis osalejate konstrueeritud repertuaarides peegelduvad valusa selgusega ühiskondlikult domineerivad väärarusaamad seksuaalvägivallast. Selle podcasti osa tekst on eelnevalt avaldatud teaduspublikatsioonina: Eelmaa, S. & Murumaa-Mengel, M. (2020). “Kui ongi tõsi, siis ise süüdi!” Seksuaalvägivallaga seonduvad stereotüübid ühe Eesti laste ja noorte veebifoorumi teemaalgatustes ja vastustes [https://www.folklore.ee/tagused/nr76/eelmaa_murumaa.pdf]. Mäetagused, 76, 29−62.

Fans, Followers and Haters: Love-Hate Relationship with Microcelebrities

Scholars and the general public have taken notice of the transformations and tensions in fan (and audience) cultures. Inspired by Crystal Abidin’s conceptual framework of internet celebrity, we will turn our attention to the audiences addressed, invoked and imagined by these microcelebrity practitioners, and this will enable us to outline three main types of young audiences – the “fans,” the “followers” and the “anti-fans” – of microcelebrities. Combining ideas from well-established theories and theoretical concepts (e.g. en/decoding in reception analysis, para-social relationships, structuration theory) and our own findings from different empirical audience research enables us to explore a variety of ways in which young audiences relate and engage with the microcelebrity-generated content that is omnipresent in today’s youth’s routine media repertoire. The episode is based on this academic publication: Murumaa-Mengel, M., & Siibak, A. (2020). From Fans to Followers to Anti-Fans: Young Online Audiences of Microcelebrities. [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351007924-13/fans-followers-anti-fans-maria-murumaa-mengel-andra-siibak] In Reimagining Communication: Meaning (pp. 228-245). Routledge.

Fighting Back on Toxic Social Media: Micro-Interventions as a Tool for Activism

Several studies have shown the effect of information activism and microinterventions, such as I Am Here International, the Elves and #NAFO to combat information disorder and hate online. Nevertheless, microinterventions have yet to be conceptualised in promoting media and information literacy (MIL) and informational resilience. This study positions microinterventions as information activism tools and empirically tests microinterventions in the context of higher education. Using an action research approach at a university MIL training course, we aim to understand what types of information activism are used and how the collective interventions affected the participants' MIL-s. We construct a typology of information activism roles and corresponding study tasks: the Worker Bees (focused on microprotections), the Meerkats (microaffirmations) and Lions (microchallenges). These different types surfaced in each participant over a cycle of exhaustion, disappointment, group support, feedback and encouragement that we dubbed the phoenixing cycle. The episode is based on this academic publication: Klaassen, M., Murumaa-Mengel, M., & Himma, M. (2024). Social media microinterventions: Testing information activism as a media and information literacy tool. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 16(2), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2024-16-2-1 [https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2024-16-2-1]

Shaming Men on Instagram - Five Types of Shamings

The aim of this article is to explore the audience and moderator types on Instagram's misogynist content exposé pages (MCEPs)-where people share and shame screenshots depicting gendered online hate, harassment, and men's sexual entitlement. We have framed our study with concepts like refracted publics, imagined audiences, and shaming as a social practice, and we set out to look for communicative shaming practices beyond the theoretically well-established reintegrative/disintegrative distinction. Analysis of qualitative online interviews with the moderators of MCEPs (n = 6), combined with both qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the posts' captions (n = 100) and comments (n = 1325) helps us understand the mechanisms, types, and aims of online shamings and dive deeper into understanding the different roles people take in these communicative practices. Results of this study present five main types of shamings and the linked moderator and audience types: pedagogic shaming (moderators as Educators, audiences as Instructors), denunciatory shaming (Judges and Angry Mobbers), recreational shaming (Entertainers and Jokesters), participative shaming (Community Builders and Support Squadders) and reflective shaming (Looking Glasses and Mirrors). Theoretical types can be combined and modified in practice, based on the strategies the moderators are using, aims of communication, and specific constellations of audiences. The episode is based on this academic publication: Murumaa-Mengel, M. & Muuli, L.-M. (2021). Misogynist content exposé pages on Instagram: Five types of shamings, moderators and audience members [https://www.participations.org/18-02-05-murumaa-mengel.pdf]. Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, 18(2): 100-123.