Storm the capitol: Linking offline political speech and online twitter extra-representational participation on QAnon and the January 6 insurrection

• Main Authors: LEE, Claire Seungeun, MERIZALDE, Juan, COLAUTTI, John D., AN, Jisun, KWAK, Haewoon
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: political participation; online political participation; U.S. Capitol attack; insurrection; Twitter; speech; Databases and Information Systems; Social Influence and Political Communication; Social Media
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/7492; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/8495/viewcontent/fsoc_07_876070.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The transfer of power stemming from the 2020 presidential election occurred during an unprecedented period in United States history. Uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing societal tensions, and a fragile economy increased societal polarization, exacerbated by the outgoing president's offline rhetoric. As a result, online groups such as QAnon engaged in extra political participation beyond the traditional platforms. This research explores the link between offline political speech and online extra-representational participation by examining Twitter within the context of the January 6 insurrection. Using a mixed-methods approach of quantitative and qualitative thematic analyses, the study combines offline speech information with Twitter data during key speech addresses leading up to the date of the insurrection; exploring the link between Trump's offline speeches and QAnon's hashtags across a 3-day timeframe. We find that links between online extra-representational participation and offline political speech exist. This research illuminates this phenomenon and offers policy implications for the role of online messaging as a tool of political mobilization.