The web sphere of #CharlieHebdo: a network and discours analysis of a political controversy on Twitter

Abstract

Our paper applies an innovative method combining network and disours analysis on a big sample of tweets posted at the moment of the attack against Charlie Hebdo. Our study contradict, at least partially, the idea that the attack against Charlie Hebdo produced a unanimous point of view. We notice first that exchanges on Twitter about the events were highly structured by political homophily. Then, if condemnation and outrage seem to be the norm for the vast majority of comments, it also appears that political positioning remains a powerful differentiator when it comes to the kind of discourse used as well as privileged themes and news sources.

Keywords

• Charlie Habdo
• Twitter
• controversy
• web sphere