The Need for Conceptual Metaphors and Qualitative Analysis to Capture Spontaneous Expressions of Opinion in the EU Twitter Profiles

This paper analyses images and profiles of the EU and its institutions and leaders, communicated through tweets and retweets around the time of three events in 2015: “Europe Day” (8-10 May); G7 Summit (6-8 June); and the EU Summit (24-26 June). Data collected in the three case studies was analysed using exploratory analyses and was complemented by in-depth content analysis in the cases of the Twitter monitoring during G7 and EU Summits. The research applied several conceptual lenses in its analysis, blending the concept of ‘strategic narratives’ with the ‘cascading activation framing theory.’ The Internet together with social media has emerged as a new and effective communication mechanism with its open and non-hierarchical design. It has provided new instruments for the international actors to maximise the process of ‘winning hearts and minds’ globally. Most of the literature on the EU’s communication deficit, apart from a few exceptions, focus on traditional media (such as Meyer, 1999; Van Noije, 2010; De Vreese, 2004). The EU has embraced public communication, in particular through social media as a result of the period of reflection and implementation of the Commission’s plan D (Badouard & Monnoyer-Smith, 2013). Moreover, this has been matched by empirical evidence that ‘hearts and minds’ of citizens are increasingly engaging in response to EU communication and by entering dialogue. This has significant implications for European political communication in terms of theory and practice. Consequently this project is one of the first to address this phenomenon by the re-examination of theoretical arguments regarding the Union’s effectiveness and communication competence in public diplomacy employing social media. The exploratory analysis revealed that almost two thirds of the tweets did not convey a sentiment towards the EU. The in-depth analysis echoed this finding, with most of the analysed tweets/retweets selected through filters also being neutral in connotations about the EU. However, assessing the emotive element in the EU Twitter profiles, using the tool of conceptual metaphors helped to have a closer look into the evaluations and see that some messages that could be seen as neutral in the exploratory analysis, carried evaluation by means of conceptual metaphors. The conceptual metaphors were instrumental in uncovering a more nuanced insight into the images of the EU and revealed some powerful impressions in the political communication. Moreover, the examination of posts during the G7 event revealed a more negative image of the EU and its actors in contrast to the tweets during the EU Summit, which showed a relatively balanced profile of the Union, with an almost even ratio of negative vs. positive metaphorical images. Finally, the observation of the communication and the clustering of messages and their content suggest the need for further examination of a ‘geyser effect’, which describes different peaks of Twitter communication, so-called ‘Twitter traffic’. It revealed that the ‘peaks’ in communication could follow the patterns of the ‘hot topics’, or could be sporadic, or follow the agenda. Importantly, communications could be also strategically released to narrate certain agenda.