Exploring the political digital mobilisation strategies used by Social Media Influencers on Twitter and their impact on the collective sensemaking of the public within Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Social media platforms have gained increased attention throughout the world since their emergence early in the last decade. The platforms have been studied from different perspectives: in relation to media theories and the drive behind the appearance and entry of social media, their role, in the methods and benefits of uses, social reforms, and changes that are associated with the end of the monopoly of information and news. Moreover, researchers have looked at the impacts of social media in certain respects, such as socially, politically, scientifically, and in change. Nevertheless, existing research has often focused on the tangible impacts, while limited work has been carried out on exploring the role of influencers. Therefore, it is the aim of this research to explore the role of social media influencers in the digital mobilisation of the public in response to recent political crises in Saudi Arabia. The importance of the study is in exploring the function of influencers, the strategies they use to mobilise users and the impact on collective public sense-making. A conceptual framework built using multi-dimensional perspectives aligning Framing theory, a marketing model focused on influence, and theories linked to cultural dimensions, and collective sense-making is utilised in the study. A qualitative approach (using in-depth semi-structured interviews and the analysis of tweets) is adopted with eleven highly networked social media influencers interviewed, and 1500 tweets and replies analysed. The results of this research point to the existence of a novel influence strategy referred to as social values, as well as the determination of nine indicators of evidence of collective sense-making in the Saudi context. The novel strategy and the evidence of collective sense making are considered as key incremental contributions of this study to knowledge. These findings indicate the influence that social media influencers have in fostering mobilisation and collective sense-making in Saudi Arabia and indicate that there is more to explore regarding the impact of social media influence in non-western contexts.