(Non-)Stereotypical representations of older people in Swedish authority-managed social media
Xu, Wenqian LU
(2022)
In Ageing and Society
42(3).
p.719-740
- Abstract
Social media facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts and information about older people and later life through online networks and communities in contemporary society. Social media content about older people has become important for understanding media representations of older people, but it has not been sufficiently studied. Recent studies suggest that older people are predominantly represented as a disempowered, vulnerable and homogeneous group on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Because local authorities in many countries have begun using Facebook to reach out to and interact with citizens, they are seen as a significant producer of media content about older people and later life. The purpose of this study is to... (More)
Social media facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts and information about older people and later life through online networks and communities in contemporary society. Social media content about older people has become important for understanding media representations of older people, but it has not been sufficiently studied. Recent studies suggest that older people are predominantly represented as a disempowered, vulnerable and homogeneous group on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Because local authorities in many countries have begun using Facebook to reach out to and interact with citizens, they are seen as a significant producer of media content about older people and later life. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which Swedish local authorities have visually portrayed older people in their use of Facebook compared with other age groups. This research performed a visual content analysis of 1,000 Facebook posts posted by 33 Swedish local authorities, employing ten analytical aspects to describe and interpret the signs, activities and contexts associated with older people and other age groups (infants, children, adolescents and adults). The study found that the representations of older people on the Facebook pages of local authorities appeared to be not very diverse; specifically, older people (including those in residential care homes) were mainly portrayed as remaining socially engaged and moderately physically capable. This media representation destabilised the prevalent negative stereotypes of older people as being out of touch and dependent; however, it collided with the reality of older individuals with care needs. Additionally, this study argues that older people are represented as inferior to the young in terms of physical and technological competence, based on the connotations of the signs. Given that local authorities have progressively incorporated social media into their daily work, it is expected that this study will contribute to a greater understanding of the ways in which local authorities produce (non-)stereotypical representations of older people on social media.
(Less)
- author
- Xu, Wenqian
LU
- publishing date
- 2022-03-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Facebook, life-stage groups, media portrayal, photographs, stereotypes of older people
- in
- Ageing and Society
- volume
- 42
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 22 pages
- publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85094849530
- ISSN
- 0144-686X
- DOI
- 10.1017/S0144686X20001075
- project
- Ageism in the Media
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Funding Information: This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (grant number 764632). The author would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions. The author would also like to thank Annika Taghizadeh Larsson and Lars-Christer Hydén for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article. This study was accomplished within the context of the Swedish National Graduate School for Competitive Science on Ageing and Health (SWEAH) funded by the Swedish Research Council. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press.
- id
- 48988d35-ae89-4507-8c1c-247e77732cf7
- date added to LUP
- 2022-12-21 09:18:08
- date last changed
- 2023-12-05 23:34:05
@article{48988d35-ae89-4507-8c1c-247e77732cf7,
abstract = {{<p>Social media facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts and information about older people and later life through online networks and communities in contemporary society. Social media content about older people has become important for understanding media representations of older people, but it has not been sufficiently studied. Recent studies suggest that older people are predominantly represented as a disempowered, vulnerable and homogeneous group on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Because local authorities in many countries have begun using Facebook to reach out to and interact with citizens, they are seen as a significant producer of media content about older people and later life. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which Swedish local authorities have visually portrayed older people in their use of Facebook compared with other age groups. This research performed a visual content analysis of 1,000 Facebook posts posted by 33 Swedish local authorities, employing ten analytical aspects to describe and interpret the signs, activities and contexts associated with older people and other age groups (infants, children, adolescents and adults). The study found that the representations of older people on the Facebook pages of local authorities appeared to be not very diverse; specifically, older people (including those in residential care homes) were mainly portrayed as remaining socially engaged and moderately physically capable. This media representation destabilised the prevalent negative stereotypes of older people as being out of touch and dependent; however, it collided with the reality of older individuals with care needs. Additionally, this study argues that older people are represented as inferior to the young in terms of physical and technological competence, based on the connotations of the signs. Given that local authorities have progressively incorporated social media into their daily work, it is expected that this study will contribute to a greater understanding of the ways in which local authorities produce (non-)stereotypical representations of older people on social media.</p>}},
author = {{Xu, Wenqian}},
issn = {{0144-686X}},
keywords = {{Facebook; life-stage groups; media portrayal; photographs; stereotypes of older people}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{03}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{719--740}},
publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}},
series = {{Ageing and Society}},
title = {{(Non-)Stereotypical representations of older people in Swedish authority-managed social media}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X20001075}},
doi = {{10.1017/S0144686X20001075}},
volume = {{42}},
year = {{2022}},
}