Messages Types of Twitter Communication During Terrorist Attacks

The results of content analysis from 7,101 tweets indicated that nearly half of total tweets (48.76%) posted action-related content, while emotion-related content and information-related content represented 29.27% and 22.27% of the total tweets respectively (see Table 3). There were four sub-categories under action-related content (i.e., calling to unite, calling to stop posting sensational pictures or videos, reminder to stay safe, promoting enforcement of anti-terrorism law), The sub-codes for emotion-related and information-related contents were mostly adapted from the

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.006.2018.F05 past study. However, expressing solidarity, which was the sub-category under emotion-related content, and all sub-codes under action-related content were identified after the analysis.

Table 3

Count and Percentage of All Tweet Codes

Code Count Percentage

Action-related 3457 48.46%

Calling to unite 3069 43.02%

Calling to stop posting sensational pictures or videos 209 2.93%

Reminder to stay safe 172 2.41%

Promoting enforcement of anti-terrorism law 7 0.1%

Emotion-related 2088 29.27%

Emotional venting 804 11.27%

Offering prayer 565 7.92%

Expressing sympathy 509 7.14%

Expressing solidarity 210 2.94%

Information-related 1588 22.27%

Posting or sharing news 776 10.88%

Posting personal comments 360 5.05%

Providing status updates 241 3.38%

Posting or sharing crisis photos or videos 211 2.96%

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.006.2018.F05 Action-related Twitter messages

The action-related content yielded four sub-codes and the first one was a calling to unite (43.02%). Many of the citizens encouraged the other Indonesians to show to the terrorists that they were not afraid of the bomb and they wanted all Indonesians to unite in order to save the nation as well as to counter terrorism in Indonesia. For instance: “be cautious and don’t be afraid to unite to counter terrorism that troubles Indonesia #wearenotafraid.” Unity became the dominant topic as two weeks before the event, there was a heated controversy about a governor in Indonesia, named Ahok, which involved racial and religious issues. This case put Indonesia’s tolerance on trial and polarized the public. Therefore, once these bombs exploded, the public wished for all Indonesians to be together in order to face the incident. For example: “All Ahokers and Ahok haters please stop fighting each other. There are terrorists who are our common enemy. We must unite

#WeAreNotAfraid.” Another sub-code under action-related content was a calling to stop posting crisis pictures or videos (2.93%) which encouraged the public not to post or to share any pictures or videos of the fallen victims as a sign of respect for the victims and their families. During the terrorist attacks, there were many pictures or videos displaying the bodies of the victims circulating on social media. By spreading them, the public believed that it helped terrorists to spread fear.

Besides, it was also disrespectful to the victims and family. One of tweets under this sub-code was

“Don’t help terrorist by also spreading the fear and pictures of the victims. They want us to overreact and live in fear.” The third sub-code was a reminder to stay safe (2.41%). The public warned each other to stay safe and be cautious of the surroundings. For instance: “Please stay safe everyone! #WeAreNotAfraid.” Lastly, tweets about promoting the enforcement of the anti-terrorism law (0.1%) were shown, which encouraged the government to enforce the anti-anti-terrorism law in Indonesia. For example: “Anti-terrorism law is urgent. @DPR_RI (The House of

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.006.2018.F05 Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia) should not be off guard if they do not want victims any more. The terrorists are really barbaric. #WeAreNotAfraid #PrayForJakarta.”

Emotion-related Twitter messages

Following the action-related contents, the public also tweeted emotion-related messages, analyzed with four sub-codes (i.e., emotional venting, offering prayer, expressing sympathy, and expressing solidarity). The first sub-code was emotional venting (11.27%). Through Twitter, the public expressed their sadness, shock, anger and some other negative emotions, such as “Do you think it's cool to bomb the world into pieces? Someday you're going to pay. You'll never get away!

A*shole! #WeAreNotAfraid.” The following sub-code was offering prayer (7.92%). The citizens prayed for the fallen victims and the family. Another sub-category containing emotion-related message was expressing sympathy (7.14%) which contained messages expressing condolences to those affected by the terrorist attacks. For example: “My deep condolences to the tragedy in my hometown - my birthplace, Jakarta. #WeAreNotAfraid #PrayForJakarta #PrayforIndonesia”.

Lastly, the sub-code of expressing solidarity (2.94%) was identified under emotion-related content.

Through the tweets, citizens also expressed their support for the president and security forces, such as Indonesia National Police, for their effort in combating terrorism. One of the tweets was “Keep your spirit, Indonesian Police #IndonesiaiIsNotAfraid #WeAreNotAfraid.”

Information-related Twitter messages

Nearly one-fourth of the tweets also contained information-related messages. There were four categories under this code (i.e., posting or sharing news, posting personal comments, providing status updates, posting or sharing crisis photos or videos). The first one was posting or sharing news (10.88%), for instance news articles covering the incident. The following sub-code was posting personal comments (5.05%) which mainly discussed about terrorism and its

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.006.2018.F05 association with religion. Through Twitter, the users would like to inform the public that terrorism had no religion and there was no association between Islam and terrorism. For instance: “Terrorism is NOT ABOUT religion, because there is NO religion that teaches violence #PrayForJakarta

#WeAreNotAfraid.” The users also tweeted status updates (3.38%) or the latest update of the incident. Many of them also posted or shared crisis pictures or videos (2.96%), such as the victims or the situation of the bombing locations (e.g., Figure 6).

Figure 6. Examples of pictures shared on Twitter Prevalent messages on Storm and Post-Storm Phase

Figure 7 illustrates the content posted by Twitter users during storm phase (May 24-26 2017) and post-storm phase (May 27 – June 5 2017). On both phases, the action-related contents dominated the conversation on Twitter. However, the emotion-related contents took bigger portion compared to informational messages on storm phase. During this phase, Twitter users vented their

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.006.2018.F05 anger and sadness to respond the bombing attack, offered prayer to the victims, and expressed condolences to the victims and family. Small portion of the emotional contents also expressed solidarity toward the national police and the government. In contrast, on post-storm phase, there were more information-related contents compared to emotion-related message. On this phase, Twitter users still shared news articles and photos or videos of the event. Many of them also still made comments about the incident, especially about the association of Islam and terrorism.

Furthermore, only small number of messages containing status updates found on this phase.

Figure 7. Prevalent Messages on Storm and Post-Storm Phase

Key Twitter Mobilizers during the KM bombing

The Twitter content analysis also identified 15 Twitter mobilizers during the KM bombing who were the most influential opinion leaders on Twitter to stir Twitter conversations and public opinions during the incident. The Twitter mobilizers were identified by their engagement levels (i.e., numbers of retweets, favorites, and replies). Shown in Table 4, most of key mobilizers were

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.006.2018.F05 the authorities from government institutions or security forces, such as the Ministry of Communication and Information, Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration, Indonesian Air Force, Traffic Management Center Jakarta Metropolitan Police, and so on. Other mobilizers included politicians, writers, Islamic organization and activists, as well as news organizations. 14 out of 15 mobilizers tweeted during the storm period. With regard to the retweet rate only, the 7,101 tweets examined in this study were able to trigger 30,668 retweets, while the 15 mobilizers were able to generate 22,064 retweets (72% of the total retweet).

Tweets with the largest number of retweets was posted by @_TNIAU account (Indonesian Air Force) which generated 4,845 retweets.

Furthermore, the tweets from key mobilizers mostly contained action-related content and informational messages, for example “22:20 the Indonesia National Police is currently handling the explosion at Kampung Melayu bus station, East Jakarta. The traffic is rerouted temporarily

#WeAreNotAfraid” (number of engagement: 680). Among them, only few tweets posted emotional messages, for instance, to express condolence and solidarity, a user tweeted, “Deepest condolence to the deceased police officers and their family. Thank you police officers for your hard work #WeAreNotAfraid” (number of engagement: 1,210). The authorities shown as mobilizers in this case, such as Indonesian Military, Traffic Management Center Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Public Relation of Indonesia National Police, and so on, were prominent entities during a crisis that damaged Indonesia’s security (e.g., terrorist attacks) and were often interviewed by media outlets. Moreover, the politicians identified as mobilizers (i.e., Fahri Hamzah and Tsamara) also often became the spotlight due to their controversial statements. Some entities (e.g., Islamic Youth Organization, Islamic activist) were related to religion as terrorism was often associated with Islam.

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.006.2018.F05 Table 4

Most influential Twitter users during KM Bombing

No Twitter User Total Tweet

Engagement Followers Tweet Period Occupation Categories

1 _TNIAU 7 14055 241,000 24-25 May Indonesian Air

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.006.2018.F05 To conclude, Twitter content analysis suggested action-related contents as the most prominent message during the KM terrorist attack as the public would like to ask the other Indonesians to unite to combat terrorism, stop posting sensational pictures or videos, remind the others to stay safe, and encourage the government to enforce anti-terrorism law in Indonesia in order to prevent another terrorist attack in the future. Moreover, the findings of Twitter mobilizers indicated the authorities, such as the government institutions or security forces, were able to generate higher engagement rate under crisis situation, indicating their ability to drive public attention.

As most key mobilizers present the voices from government institutions/individuals or security forces, they were not the interview target for individual participants who fit criteria of ordinary citizens and thus could not be recruited for the next step of in-depth interview research which aims to explore the perspectives of individuals from different public groups (i.e., incident-related actors, digital participants, journalists). This current study then identified other digital participants who discussed about the KM bombing attack to be recruited for the in-depth interviews as a group of digital participants.