The Politicization of “Woke”: A Cross-Platform Study between 2012–2022

• In Event: Red-Pill or Woke? Polarization and Online Extremism

Abstract

Recently, there has been a notable trend of individuals sorting themselves firmly into the two political parties in the US. These parties represent not just distinct policy stances, but also a range of social divides, like race and religion. This phenomenon has resulted in the transformation of social identities into political ones over time. A strong racial or religious identity may supersede ideological identification, prompting individuals to engage in political activism on issues related to their social identities. So-called identity politics manifest as “culture wars,” where contentious partisan discussions are rife with the involvement of various identities. Additionally, identity-based issues that began in activism and consciousness-raising contexts can become hijacked and politicized by others in culture wars.
A particularly salient issue in this context is the cultural usage and politicization of the term “woke.” Originating in the Black community, “woke” is tied to the phrase “Stay Woke” (or #StayWoke) signifying a call to remain politically conscious. Over time, the term has gained widespread popularity and visibility across social media, leading to its cultural appropriation and subsequent politicization, effectively diverting its original intent and embedding it in broader partisan discourses.
Our study adopts a comparative approach, exploring the evolution of the term “woke” over a decade (2012-2022) on two pivotal social media platforms: Twitter and YouTube. To our knowledge, no existing research investigates the politicization of a discourse originally centered on a racially marginalized community across multiple social media platforms. We aim to understand the distinctive and collective roles of these platforms in this process.
We anticipate that “woke” discussions on social media have shifted from their original apolitical nature to a more pronounced partisan politicization, primarily steered by influential opinion leaders. We therefore hypothesize:
H1: There was an increase in politicized discussions related to “woke” on both Twitter and YouTube.
H2: Partisan opinion leaders’ participation in “woke” discussions is greater than that of other groups on both platforms.
We also investigate:
RQ1: How has the distribution of topics related to “woke” evolved across different groups on Twitter and YouTube?
Given each platform’s distinct affordances and user base, their roles in politicizing “woke” likely vary. Twitter, known for its influence in social movements and political discussions, facilitates community building through hashtags and follower networks. In contrast, YouTube is a broadcasting platform with a robust algorithm, serving as a platform for activists and partisans as well as entertainment users to reach diverse audiences. Considering these characteristics, we propose:
H3: There were more partisan opinion leaders on Twitter than YouTube during the development of conversations surrounding “woke”.
H4: There were more politicized topics on Twitter than YouTube during the development of conversations surrounding “woke”.
We further argue that platforms are interconnected, facilitated by information sharing via hyperlinks and keywords. The politicization of “woke” is largely driven by political opinion leaders leveraging social media’s reach. Though social media lowers the costs of access to information and fosters community formation, it also exhibits asymmetries in how different political opinion leaders coordinate and disseminate information. Research indicates that conservative opinion leaders are more effective in creating and propagating a like-minded information ecosystem than the liberal counterparts. Therefore, we speculate that conservative leaders are more likely to engage in cross-platform sharing. This leads us to ask:
RQ2: Which user group predominantly shared links from a) YouTube to Twitter and b) Twitter to YouTube to disseminate specific topics?
To address these hypotheses and questions, we analyze two datasets from Twitter (n = 18,378,315 tweets) and YouTube (n = 58,978 videos), spanning 2012-2022, focusing on “woke” related discourses. Employing topic modeling, cluster analysis, and hyperlink analysis, we aim to unravel the unique and combined contributions of each platform to the discourse’s evolution.
Our findings indicate a pronounced politicization of "woke", where each platform exhibits distinct trends in themes and key users. As expected. Twitter’s discourse is predominantly shaped by partisan opinion leaders, evolving into a politicized narrative. In contrast, non-political topics and channels (e.g., entertainment and lifestyle) dominate on YouTube. Consistent with previous studies, we also observe the strategic sharing of right-wing YouTube content on Twitter, reflecting effective cross-platform coordination by conservative groups.

Authors

• Rui Wang, University at Buffalo

• Sara Holland Levin, University of Connecticut

• Junwan Seo, University at Buffalo

• Yi Yin Leong, University at Buffalo

• Emma Bennett, University at Buffalo

• Dongdong Yang, University of Connecticut

• Zhuohui Yang

• Matthew Chen

• Yini Zhang

• Jiyoun Suk, University of Connecticut