From 'Me Too' to #MeToo: Uncovering the Power of Hashtags

Abstract

This case study analyzed the communications patterns and behaviours that emerged on Twitter within the first twenty-four hours of Alyssa Milano’s call to action on Twitter that launched the #MeToo movement. It examined the form, elements, topics of discussion, and tone employed by Twitter users in participating in the hashtag-driven conversation. The research showed that the majority of #MeToo activity on Twitter was in the form of retweets, and the content comprised mainly of text-only messages that shared stories of sexual violence. This research showed that there was a collective desire to create an understanding of the issue of sexual harassment and sexual violence from multiple perspectives. This collective desire coupled with strong alignment between the hashtag’s semantics and its metanarrative contributed to the hashtag being frequently retweeted. The frequent retweeting of #MeToo had a great mobilizing capacity as its metanarrative moved across geographic, demographic and virtual boundaries. The significance of this research is in its ability to inform how hashtags can mobilize widespread support that influences social action.