Attributes in Swedish Journalists’ Social Media Profiles

The next speaker in this ICA session is Ulrika Hedman, who shifts our focus to journalistic self-presentation on Twitter, and especially to the extent to which they provide personal and private information in their social media profiles.

The need to provide such personal and private information shows an adoption of social media logics by journalists, shifting away from conventional news media logic. Such social media logics demand that journalists should personalise their activities and portray a more rounded, multifaceted public persona.

Ulrika’s study examined the Twitter profiles of some 2000+ Swedish journalists in 2014 and 2017, and found that 28% identified private attributes in 2014, declining to 22% in 2017. Professional attributes were almost universally present, declining from 92% to 89% during this time. Tabloid journalists were especially likely to remove professional attributes, and private attributes were removed especially by tabloid and local journalists.

This may mean that Swedish journalists are becoming more private, returning to a stronger news media logic. This may be driven by their editors and other superiors, but perhaps also by an increase in public animosity and threats against journalists.