Discovering the Libyan Youth Movement's Identity through Facebook

"This study’s authors used critical discourse analysis to empirically assess the identity of the Libyan Youth Movement [LYM] using 45 images posted on the group's Facebook page during the opening weeks of the Libyan revolution of 2011."

This study used data collected from the LYM's Facebook pages for critical discourse analysis [Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse that views language as a form of social practice and focuses on the ways social and political domination are reproduced in text and talk. - Wikipedia] to discern the identity of political actors and make predictions about the actors' intentions and goals in the context of the 2011 Libyan revolution. Their purpose was to test critical discourse analysis as a predictor. "Any methodological critique of discourse analytic methods, due to the methodology’s inherent nature as subjective qualifier of meaning, must therefore be assessed in retrospect. This study does exactly that by revisiting and weighing their validity and the accuracy of the study’s original findings 16 months after their initial postulation. In choosing this self-critiqued methodology the authors aimed to address the subjectivity critique inherent in the study’s choice of methodology and demonstrate the methodology’s accuracy and potential for providing a relatively robust level of predictive power."

The researchers used the analysis to empirically assess the identity of the LYM using 45 images posted on the group’s Facebook page during the opening weeks of the Libyan revolution in February and March of 2011. The authors were guided by the hypothesis that social media could be used to convey an identity. They did quantitative analyses of images to assess what identity or type of discourse the LYM intended to portray through the postings: pan-Arab, collectivist, victim, pro-kingdom, pride, unity of masses, religious affirmation of the cause, international youth culture, solidarity, and pro-revolution. The analysis included frequency of occurrence, distribution by both date and album of presentation and then a total of accrued points. An analysis of the discourses and sample images are available in the document.

"The authors uncovered multiple discourses which permitted the positing of a group identity as well as predictions of the group's goal and intentions." Pages 12 and 13 list the predictions made from the image analysis and evidence of which predictions were correct. "This study provided ...evidence that discourse analysis of social media (Facebook) can be used to uncover discourses and make accurate predictions about an actor’s identity."