Limantha fandom activism on Twitter: media competence analysis about social issues discussions

Abstract

This paper intends to discuss the relationship between media competence and fan culture, focusing on content creation shared on Twitter by fans of the Limantha ship, from the Brazilian telenovela Young Hearts (Malhação: Viva a Diferença). In order to reflect on how telenovela social issues were explored in the content shared on Twitter, we adopted Ferrés and Piscitelli’s concept of media competence. We concluded that, in addition to deepening themes dealt within the plot, fans expanded and resignified discussions based on correlations with personal reports.