Study: Exploring mobilization cues in conspiracy-theories endorsing Facebook groups

Study: Exploring mobilization cues in conspiracy-theories endorsing Facebook groups

sketch of people raising their fists (black and white)

Dr. Lena Frischlich explored the prevalence of psychological variables which may serve to motivate normative and non-normative collaborative action. She looked at four German Facebook groups, identifying one as COVID-19-skeptic, the second as far-right, the third as chemtrail conspiracists and the last one as interested in political affairs.

By doing a qualitative content analysis (N=828),a hierarchical cluster analysis and through the examination of popularity cues, Lena Frischlich was able to show that collective action cues were frequent, most posts transported alternative views or absolutist ideologies and more than one third of posts were either mobilizing or wrathful. They entailed multiple collective action cues, including those that are theoretically linked to non-normative action. Furthermore, posts classified as mobilizing and wrathful were more engaging than alternative views and absolutist ideologies. The different groups also behaved differently: the chemtrail and far-right groups disseminated more content with a higher mobilizing potential, and the far-right group in particular was very active in responding to its members.

The full study can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/5182


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