Few-to-many communication : Public figures' self-promotion on Twitter through 'joint performances' in small networked constellations

The purpose of the study is to examine how members of a Twitter elite act together on a raised platform, thus performing “before” their manifold followers/audiences. A discourse study of Swedish public fi gures’ Twitter activities resulted in the identifi cation of three discourse types: expert sessions, professional “backstage” chatting, and exclusive lifestreaming. Altogether, they demonstrate how nationally recognized politicians, journalists, and PR consultants socialize on Twitter in a top-down manner that works against broader participation. This “elite collaborative” tweeting can be conceptualized as a particular mode of mass communication, namely few-to-many.