Spotlight Tweets: A Lens for Exploring Attention Dynamics within Online Sensemaking During Crisis Events

Abstract

In this article, we introduce the concept of a spotlight social media post —a post that receives an unexpected burst of attention—and explore how such posts reveal salient aspects of online collective sensemaking and attention dynamics during a crisis event. Specifically, we examine the online conversation surrounding a false missile alert in Hawaii in January 2018. Through a mixed-methods analysis and visualizations, our research uncovers mechanisms that lead to rapid attention gains, such as spotlighting —when a user with existing influence confers attention by sharing others’ content with their audience. We highlight how spotlight social media posts (specifically spotlight tweets ) are distinct from other heavily shared content and that they offer insight into previously overlooked patterns in information exchange. We additionally reveal that attention dynamics may alter the social position of spotlight post authors immediately afterward (and possibly in the long term). We argue that spotlight social media posts offer a productive window for understanding online collective sensemaking, and we discuss how this can inform social media platform design and serve as a basis of future research.