Intimate partner violence (IPV) impacts the lives of millions of individuals, devastating survivors, and damaging families. Many survivors are unsure of how to get help, and many have limited access to resources. In recent years, those affected by IPV have turned online for answers and support, including forums such as Reddit, to anonymously disclose their experiences. This study examined the dialogue online between survivors of violence and those who respond to their posts on Reddit. The aim is to better understand the kinds of conversations and responses that are occurring in online communities discussing IPV. Analysis of the domestic violence subreddit highlighted positive conversations focused on helping survivors as commenters offered support, advise, understanding, education, access to resources and additional information to aid survivors in receiving help.

The aim of this thesis was to deepen our understanding of how audiences represent male and female dark fictional characters (DFCs) by exploring how Harry Potter fans discuss four of these characters on Reddit. Drawing on affective disposition theory as a guiding framework as well as previous investigations of gender representation and online fan cultures, I collected and analyzed 117 posts (containing 9,693 comments) about four DFCs from the Harry Potter franchise. I chose two male DFCs (Lord Voldemort and Severus Snape) and two female ones (Bellatrix Lestrange and Dolores Umbridge) for my investigation. The data were analyzed using a productive hermeneutics approach. Fans’ representation of these characters intersected with the extent which the characters’ fictionality was salient, how they were visualized, the online culture of Reddit, and fans’ presumed identification with these characters. Bellatrix was defined by her portrayal by Helena Bonham Carter in the films and her combination of valuable masculine and feminine traits. Moreover, she was a figure of pure fantasy, which allowed fans to love her depravity. Umbridge and Snape, by contrast, were hated for intruding into the fantasy that Harry Potter offered, reminding fans of bullying and overly controlling teachers. Snape, however, was redeemed by his complexity and embodiment of geek masculinity. Voldemort was valued for his intellect and power but also criticized as a peer failing to rise to his intellectual potential; fans at turns identified with and undercut him through humor. Taken together, the results indicate a need to qualitatively explore how DFCs are received by audiences, as it can add further nuance to our understanding of how morality and gender influence media consumption.

In this thesis I will use a ‘men’s rights’ influencers fanbase as an example of a new generation of people who values toxic and traditional masculinity. I will do so by doing a critical discourse analysis on 1200 comments from the platform Reddit, using Fairclough's three-dimensional model as inspiration. Furthermore, to deepen the analysis I have chosen to analyze the comments in relation to parasocial relationships, hegemonic masculinity as well as the concepts of traditional and toxic masculinity. I found through my analysis that the fanbase views the influencer as a form of ‘beacon of truth’, and made a plethora of external references in regards to the movie 'The Matrix’. Moreover, the fans articulate masculinity in a way where ‘strength’ is prevalent, and is in line with traditional and toxic masculinity - whilst holding the influencer as a form of ideal of this form. In the discussion I draw parallels to how referencing the Matrix as a concept could speak of a mistrust towards the government, and how the countermovement to ‘modern’ masculinity could result in dangerous practices. To conclude, I highlight how there is still more research to be done on the field of alternative influencers and what consequences this ‘countermovement’ may have.

R/Nosleep is a digital publishing platform for horror literature. A unique quirk that defines this platform is the common understanding between its authors and readers that any story published to the platform is to be treated as a recollection of actual events. In other words, the fiction is to be treated as plausible non-fiction, both by those who write the texts and those who comment on them. This collaborative performance is enforced by a series of rules that authors and readers need to abide by. In this thesis I examine what exactly it is that authors and readers on r/Nosleep engage in when they treat the fiction as plausible. To do this I have conducted two analyses. First I have done analysises of three different stories posted to R/Nosleep, where I examine paratextual and narratological elements in each text to find if they either make a claim for authenticity or fictionality. And second I have analyzed the top comments for each of these stories to determine what sort of readings the users of r/Nosleep engage in and whether or not these readings play along with the rules established by the platform and its performance. From my analysises of the literature as well as the reader response I come to the conclusion that the seemingly strict rules enforced by R/Nosleep still leave a lot of wiggle room for authors and readers alike to engage in a rich variety of creative expressions both when it comes to writing and interacting with works of fiction.

The present study examines r/WitchesVsPatriarchy, a subreddit hosted on the popular social media platform Reddit, which centres around the themes of women and witchcraft. This thesis employs a mixed methods approach to investigate various aspects of the subreddit. A critical discourse analysis is conducted in conjunction with a netnographic study. Content that is being analysed consists of a forum thread where users get to describe what witchcraft means to them, an introductory post written by the moderators of the subreddit, as well as content posted to the site by other members. The content that was posted was sorted into five different categories: uplifting content, crafts and marketplace, memes and humour, political content, and magic and rituals. The analysis concludes that the r/WitchesVsPatriarchy community exhibits a distinct feminist undertone, specifically embracing the principles of fourth wave feminism. Furthermore, it also reveals characteristics associated with subcultures.  The role of witchcraft is analysed and what way the users engage with it. Within this context, witchcraft is predominantly perceived as a tool for self-care and empowerment, rather than being strictly associated with religious or magical beliefs. Notably, the majority of users express scepticism regarding the magical aspects of witchcraft. Instead, witchcraft is seen as a tool used for empowerment and even as a symbol for feminism.  Regarding subculture theory, the community can be seen as a part of a larger subculture where members use witchcraft for non-religious reasons. Various forms of aspects relating to subculture theory, such as shared identities, sacred objects, resistance, and marginalization.  The thesis contends that this witchcraft community inherently encompasses a feminist dimension, whereby users harness feminist and political connections with witchcraft to empower both themselves and the broader community. Keywords: modern witchcraft, witchcraft communities, Reddit, fourth wave feminism

This study explores how knowledge and reality is constructed within an online fandom’s communication, with a focus on LGBTQ+ discourse within Taylor Swift’s fans on Reddit. This is done through a qualitative digital ethnographic method and uses LGBTQ+ symbols and parasocial relationships as tools to analyse 75 posts and 850 comments total. The theoretical framework mainly consists of Berger and Luckmann’s (1966) theory on the social construction of reality and Couldry and Hepp’s (2017) reinterpretation of their work that considers the effects of digitalization and how our construction of reality has changed with it. The analysis showed that the group uses symbols to build a shared collection of facts and continuously follows an us-versus-them narrative to construct their community. Their foundational belief that Swift herself is secretly queer is not to be too closely questioned within the group and they often use the version of Swift that outsiders have built up to discuss hypothetical what-ifs. To participate in the community and be seen as “logical” it appears to require that you to some extent correctly consume the media in a way that aligns with pre- existing facts that the group shares. Meaning that the group has unspoken rules that dictate the knowledge hierarchies within it.

Denna uppsats avhandlar queerrepresentation utifrån publikens perspektiv och kommer använda ett queerteoretiskt och receptionsteoretiskt perspektiv för att kunna fastställa en bild av hur queerrepresentation ser ut i animerade tv-serier. Metoden för detta har varit en observationsstudie på webbforumet Reddit och fyra olika animerade tv-serier. Urvalet infattade 21 olika trådar på Reddit som gav en grundläggande bild av åsikter och tankar angående hur representation om queera personer bör se ut. Denna studie har analyserat kommentarer från olika subreddits som valts ut efter de fyra tv-serierna och relevanta sökresultat, sökorden var: queer, representation, cartoon och gay. Resultatet visade en komplex matris av åsikter och uppfattningar kring vad som är uppskattad och godtagbar porträttering samt karaktärernas inverkan på publiken. Kommentarer skrev mycket om en avsaknad av manliga queera karaktärer och en missnöjdhet av hur queerakaraktärer inte blev queer förrän i slutet. Resultatet visade även hur det skapades konflikter mellan sexuella läggningar som skapade diskussioner mellan användare. Denna studie vill uppmana till vidare forskning inom det komplexa ämnet queerrepresentation.

This diploma thesis describes and analyzes the ethical dimension of content marketing practice on social networks. The rapid pace of technological progress, shaping the birth of participatory Web 2.0 and social networks, has led to an ever-increasing gap between the everyday online experience and the discourse of applied ethics. Three main goals of this thesis are met. First, current academical knowledge (and its limits) in the field of marketing and information ethics is described. Secondly, with the help of Luciano Floridi's Information Ethics, a unified ethical framework for assessing specific moral dilemmas on social networks is constructed. Lastly, this framework is verified in an extensive Reddit case study, where each of the six pillars of the constructed ethical framework (which affects fundamental parameters and manifestations indicating unethical activity) are tested on manifestations of unacknowledged marketing activity. At the same time, the existence and emergence of the so-called ethical vacuum are illustrated, indicating that there is a need to update the theoretical approaches of applied ethics for the specifics of social networks and the infosphere in general.

<p>This study uses Incivility Spirals and Uses and Gratifications frameworks to explore how people discuss scientific topics on the social media site Reddit. Specifically, the goals of this project were to develop a new typology of online messages, examine how different factors influence online discourse, and determine whether uses and gratifications vary between Subreddits. The dataset consisted of comments on the top ten posts of 2019 from r/EverythingScience and r/Science. These Subreddits were examined because, although they both focus on science, they differ in terms of group rules and moderator style. Human coders and the text analysis software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count were used to evaluate the comments on a series of dichotomous and continuous variables. These variables were used in a two-step cluster analysis to identify message typologies. Results indicate that there were three types of messages in the dataset: Polite Participation, Emotional Interrogation, and On Topic Information. Further analysis demonstrated that group norms and the first comment in a conversation impact the quality of discourse that takes place. Conversations on r/Science (the more strict Subreddit) that begin with an On Topic Information comment are more likely to be extremely deliberative, while conversation on r/EverythingScience that begin with an Emotional Interrogation comment are more likely to result in incivility spirals. Results also suggest differences in gratifications between Subreddits, with Redditors using r/Science for productive discussion and r/EverythingScience for heated debate. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, along with avenues for future research. </p>

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