Discourse frames of an emergent environmental movement and its impact of social media

Abstract

The emergence of Fridays for Future (FfF) has meant several changes in the traditional discourses on climate change. These changes come together with new communication strategies on social media that have had quite an impact on society and traditional media. These strategies appeal to emotional mobilization by means of the concept of climate emergency. The aim of this paper is the analysis of the communicative dimension of FfF: its discursive frames and its use of social media. A mixed methodology (ethnographic fieldwork and social media analysis –Twitter-) was used. The results reflect three aspects of its discourses that stand out from what is collected in the literature on previous ecological frameworks: the emphasis on climate emergency vs. sustainability, the move from individual ecological behaviours to social system transformation, and, finally, radical egalitarianism. Twitter is used mainly for information of mobilization resorting to frames of systemic change and climate emergency. However, the impact of these messages is lower to the one that ecological denunciation or dissemination messages get. These last kinds of tweets resort more frequently to frames of ecosocial justice, climate change and future at risk.