The academic journal New Media & Society has published a paper titled "Translocal networked public spheres: Spatial arrangements of metropolitan Twitter", written by Annie Waldherr, Daniela Stoltenberg, Daniel Maier, Alexa Keinert, and Barbara Pfetsch. The paper explores how Twitter users in Berlin connect to those in other parts of the world. The authors found strong transatlantic patterns, but also very territorially structured communities.

More specifically, in the paper, the author theoretically conceptualize and empirically investigate translocal spatial arrangements of networked public spheres on social media. In digital communication networks, actors easily connect with others globally, crossing the borders of cities, nations and languages. However, the spatial notions evoked in public sphere research to date remain largely territorial.

The authors propose a theoretical framework drawing on Löw’s sociology of space, which highlights the relational and translocal nature of spatial arrangements. In a case study of the translocal interaction network of Berlin Twitter users, they demonstrate how this framework can be leveraged empirically using network analysis. Despite the overall network of Berlin’s Twittersphere spanning the whole world, the authors found territorialized as well as deterritorialized translocal communities. This points to the simultaneity of territorial and networked spatial logics in digital public spheres.

The study is part of the collaborative project "Re-Figuration of Spaces".  

Find the full open-access paper here: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231156579

Cite article:
Waldherr, A., Stoltenberg, D., Maier, D., Keinert, A., & Pfetsch, B. (2023). Translocal networked public spheres: Spatial arrangements of metropolitan Twitter. New Media & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231156579