Social and semantic network analysis of Facebook pages: the case of Brexit and Bremain leaders
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Social and semantic network analysis of Facebook pages: the case of Brexit and Bremain leaders Sung-Hoon Park 1 & Sung-Won Yoon 2 & Sae Won Chung 3 Received: 7 November 2018 / Revised: 8 August 2019 / Accepted: 27 August 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract This paper aims to probe how leaders of Brexit (Nigel Farage) and Bremain (David Cameron) camps communicated with the UK public via Facebook fan pages. This study employed two different types of data analysis (social network analysis and semantic network analysis) for exploring the structure and the contents of information diffusion process. These analyses yielded the opposite results. For social network analysis, Bremain Camp showed a preponderance regarding the numbers of commentators, their relationships and network distance. Conversely, for the semantic network analysis, the results suggested that Brexit-related framings were salient in both leaders’ Facebook fan pages. In other words, even though these two leaders have different perspectives and opinions to the Brexit, both Facebook fan pages eventually promoted Brexit campaigns to their followers. In addition, this study was able to find out Brexiters strategically approached and effectively persuaded a substantial pool of Bremainers.
Sae Won Chung is the corresponding author.
* Sae Won Chung [email protected] Sung-Hoon Park [email protected] Sung-Won Yoon [email protected]
1
Korea University Division of International Studies and Graduate School of International Studies, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, South Korea
2
Division of Business Administration, The University of Suwon, Hwaseong-si 18323, South Korea
3
KU-KIEP-SBS EU Centre, Korea University Graduate School of International Studies, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, South Korea
S.-H. Park et al.
Introduction On 23 June 2016, the UK citizens voted to leave the European Union. The results of this referendum have shattered the political and politico-economic landscape of both Great Britain and Continental Europe, as well as the entire international community. Britain’s exit from the European Union (hereafter ‘Brexit’) came at a very critical moment, especially for the EU. The European Union had been plagued with some crises since the outbreak of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The Eurozone sovereign debt crisis was only half-resolved and is expected to overshadow the EU’s political and economic fates for the coming two decades or so. The refugee crisis, triggered by the ‘Arab Springs’, has become a significant threat to European security constellations, as well. This Brexit decision has become an additional threat to the sustainability of the entire European Union. Before the referendum was held, there have been a series of ‘rescue’ actions both by the UK government and the EU. For instance, in November 2015, David Cameron wrote a letter to the European Council President Donald Tusk which outlined Britain’s proposals on four critical issues related with EU reform as an attempt to appe
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