Emoji and Religion in the Twitter Discourses on the Notre Dame Cathedral Fire

What is it about?

When Notre Dame Cathedral burned, there was a lot of parallel discussion on Twitter. Our paper examines this Twitter debate at the time of the fire and in the days that followed. It focuses on two questions: What role do religious interpretations play in this debate and how were emoji used to express emotions? To this end, computational methods were used to reveal shifts in meaning over time. The results show clearly definable thematic clusters of the debate, which interpret Notre Dame Cathedral in very different ways - for example, as a tourist, historical or religious site. The analyses also show that emoji were initially used to express sadness and sympathy, while later critical attitudes and conspiracy thinking increasingly shaped the discussion.

Featured Image

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Regarding the case of Notre Dame Cathedral, the essay can show the different cultural and social interpretations that can be attached to individual sites. Moreover, it offers a methodological innovation in religious studies research on new media. By examining emoji and big data, it illustrates new questions and ways of researching Twitter data.

Perspectives