#(Re)tweetingforfuture: How Greta Thunberg leads the climate crisis conversation on Twitter

In the discussions and reports about the climate crisis, the appearance of the name Greta Thunberg is inevitable. The 16-year-old Swedish climate activist first started her Skolstrejk för Klimatet (school strike for the climate) in August 2018 at the Swedish parliament in Stockholm and has been striking every Friday since, gathering a global following of fellow Friday-strikers. demands the Swedish government and other world leaders to face and believe scientific facts, act upon the climate crisis, and shut down the biggest emitters of CO2 are a major part of her personal climate crisis narrative. In disseminating this narrative she uses the social medium Twitter, besides other digital platforms, and hashtags such as #climatestrike and #fridaysforfuture to include and connect large amounts of similar-minded people and institutions to construct a climate activist movement with a united voice and unified objective.

 long-term data collection of Thunberg’s actions on Twitter to determine the climate change discourse presented by the activist, this article aims to pinpoint how Greta Thunberg uses the affordances of tweeting to frame the climate crisis and to construct a global action-based conversation.

Data collection

Collected through digital ethnography, the data used for analysis in this article includes the majority of the actions and interactions on Greta Thunberg’s Twitter account, thus encompassing direct tweets, comments, likes and retweets as well as mentions, retweets and likes by other Twitter-users of Thunberg’s content. The first data-set covers a timespan from the 30th of August to the 22nd of September, and the second set of data encompasses the 23rd and 24th of September, respectively the day of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York and the day after this suTweeting 101

As a twitter user, Thunberg engages with the multitude of the social medium’s affordances. The real-time micro-blogging platform enables users to directly send 280-character messages out to their followers and the rest of the world through tweets that have multiml properties and can simultaneously include text, images, hyperlinks and videos. Tweeting only 1-2 times a day on average, and primarily sharing climate-related content, Thunberg mainly relies on retweets, the posting of a tweet that has already been published, to further her discourse (Burghardt, 2015). Through such retweets Thunberg, for example, joins a conversation, adds her followers into  conversation with the initial tweeter, publicly agrees with or validates others, or amplifies or spreads tweets to new audiences (Bucher & Helmond, 2018).

 third type of tweet is retweets with comments, which are more interactive as they allow the retweeter to add comments or additional information to the initial tweet before re-posting it onto their own timeline. The initial tweet can then provide clarity, can be a conversation-starter, or is the basis for quoted content from other channels without origin-tweets (Bucher & Helmond, 2018; Boyd, Golder & Lotan, 2010). Within an analytical frame both types of retweeting, as well as the direct action of liking a tweet, are forms of intertextuality as content is borrowed and re-used, although in the case of Thunberg the intertextuality is rather explicit as all the content she shares exists in the climate discourse context.

Such intertextual links are created through recontextualization, which is the process of mobilizing semiotic resources that are ''socially significant and culturally valuable to the immediate participants and groups involved'', such as textual forms and patterns and cultural discourses, which intertwine and make up the language of social media (Leppänen et al., 2013, p. 3). Recontextualization is part of the ''re-use of language and textual material as resources in meaning making'', which involves entextualization, the process of integrating and modifying out-of-context discourse material so that it fits in a new context (Leppänen et al., 2013, p. 7). In the case of Thunberg then, she incorporates and relocates the cultural element of others' tweets in the context of her own time-line and discourse, giving them new meanings in the process.

The Twitter-actions of users replying to, commenting on or tagging Thunberg in their own tweets are not broadly included in this analysis as they appeared in volume. Thus, this article will discuss a selection of the data that best represents Thunberg’s discourse, and therefore only includes data that has been produced, retweeted or liked by Greta Thunberg herself.

Climate crisis á la Thunberg

Thunberg frames the changing climate and the effects caused by it as a serious issue that has been impacting humanity and will fatally affect current and especially younger generations in the near future. The climate change discourse expressed on her Twitter is persistent in the sense that the activist maintains a consistent and strong viewpoint towards the issue throughout all novel and shared content.

In this, she frequently presents tweets that emphasize the urgency of the problem, re-using phrases such as ''Climate crisis is greatest ever threat to human rights the United Nation warns'' (@GretaThunberg), or ''The climate and ecological crisis is a global crisis – the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced'' (@NBCNews), which is a quote from one of the speeches she gave whilst in New Yorkfor. Thunberg’s retweet of a message by climate change group 350 dot org uses similar language: ''the impacts of the climate change are very real for the young people of the Pacific'', additionally identifying 'the young people’ as being currently and most heavily affected. Even more explicit is a shared quote of her UN Climate Summit speech ''We are in the beginning of a mass extinction''. In presenting the issue, Thunberg thus mainly retweets content from other tweeters, even though they may be quoting . With this, she potentially engages in so-called 'ego retweeting' as she is retweeting messages that refer to herself, which could be seen either as narcissistic or as appreciative of those who share Thunberg's discourse (Merry, 2014).

Twitter - Fair Usage

#UniteBehindTheScience

''Don’t listen to me. Listen to the science'' is one of Thunberg's expressions that clearly illustrates her belief in the actuality and realness of climate change, and that the climate change discourse she promotes is based on scientifically proven facts and figures that go beyond her own personal opinions. Occasionally referring to users who share scientific data and evidence on Twitter, released by significant institutions such as the UN’s independent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Committee on Climate Change UK, she points to science as the primary source that provides proof as to why change is necessary.

Commenting on the tweets that include scientific data, Thunberg expresses how it is alarming that humans are behind on acknowledging and accepting the long-term existing science and how such data should be shared publicly to get people out of the climate-denial bubble. In this, recontextualization occurs for example in an interaction with user @rgatess, who appears to identiy himself as a 'science advocate'. Thunberg specifically frames his original tweet, which includes a graph on atmospheric methane, by highlighting the point that the figures in question do not make the headlines and thus adding a further layer to the message with twhat can be seen as a plea to make such figures more visible in the media.

Further emphasizing the value she attaches to science and her dislike of climate-deniers she retweeted a quote from herself saying ''I don’t want to meet with people who don’t accept the science'' (@NPR), attempting to make the climate change discussion more reliant on science and facts.

Sharing such data indicates a trust in science which Thunberg herself consequently gets endorsed for, for example by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an American politician the pro-climate Green New Deal. Ocasio-Cortez commented in support of Thunberg, saying ''The truth is on your side'' (@AOC), a message which consequentially expanded the extent of the conversation as the politically flavoured tweet is publicly shared with  followers. Although not discussing science often, Thunberg uses #Unitebehindthescience to emphasize how science is the truth that those who support her should believe in. The use of such a hashtag and keyword labels tweets and gives them a tag to be categorized and findable on the web, thus making scientific facts more accessible (Boyd, Golder & Lotan, 2010). Additionally, hashtags include the affordance of becoming part of a specific Twitter conversation with others who adopt the same keyword in their expressions, and of providing increased visibility to the ideas promoted through the use of the hashtag.

Image 3: Tweet by @AOC - Image 4: Tweet by @GretaThunberg quoting Greta Thunberg and using #UniteBehindTheScience Twitter - Fair Usage

Image 5: Tweet by @GretaThunberg sharing data by @rgatess - Image 6: @GretaThunberg sharing data by @theCCCuk Twitter- Fair Usage

The culprits: authorities and adults

A vital part of Thunberg’s frame are the culprits, the ones guilty of being part of the cause of climate change. Mainly relying on retweets, Thunberg endorses content directed to or mentioning various parties and their current objectives that are part of the problem. For example, ''Adults [should] help fix the problems older generations have created'' (@HollyWildChild), ''Students are demanding climate change from the authorities'' (@Fridays4FutureP), ''If only [the big banks] were this enthusiastic about divesting from the fossil fuel companies causing the climate crisis'' (@350Australia), ''Today’s leaders are making decisions for our environment that our kids will have to live with'' (@NYCMayor) and ''The people who profit off of fossil fuel [are] mad'' (@AlexandriaV2005).

Image 7: Tweet by @HollyWildChild - Image 8: Tweet by @NYCMayor Twitter - Fair Usage

Furthermore, the few culprit-identifying tweets that come directly from Thunberg generally include quotes from her personal speeches, which are extracts stating the most crucial point, such as the one to the American Congress in which she said ''Don’t invite us here to tell us how inspiring we are without doing anything about it. It doesn’t lead to anything.'' and ''you’re not trying hard enough, sorry’', or her vigorously shared words directed to the world leaders present at the UN Climate summit: ''all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth'' (@CNN). On that same day she, and 15 other youth activists, ''filed a legal complaint against 5 nations [who] are the largest emitters that have ratified the convention'' (@GretaThunberg), identifying Brazil, France, Argentina, Germany and Turkey as the world’s biggest global greenhouse-gas and carbon emitters.

Image 9: Quote from Greta's speech by @CNN - Image 10: Tweet by @GretaThunberg Twitter - Fair Usage

#climatestrike: A collaborative attempt at saving the future

Scanning Thunberg’s timeline for solutions to the climate crisis resulted in a few individual suggestions, namely to ''make conscious decisions for the environment'' (@UN_Women), ''changing your habits […] reducing your waste and your meat consumption'' (@FffMauritius) and ''Natural climate solutions'' (@GretaThunberg) as suggested by Thunberg in collaboration with fellow climate activist and The Guardian journalist George Monbiot.

However, the main action point according to Thunberg, quoting her response to The Daily Show, is ''I think what we should do as individuals is to use the power of democracy to make our voices heard and to make sure the people in power actually cannot continue to ignore us.'' Being an example for others to follow in this narrative of individuals against the climate crisis, that is in itself a smaller act within the larger climate crisis conversation, Thunberg demonstrates effectively how she performs this action point through the climate. As with the strikes Thunberg battles the previously mentioned culprits to demand instant change in their methods, she suggests that ultimately the solution lies beyond the individual but simultaneously shows that individuals can have an impact by using their voice in acts of activism.

Image 11: @GretaThunberg retweeting with comment on @TheDailyShow Twitter - Fair Usage

Every Friday Thunberg’s followers can expect a similar strike-tweet, each including a combination of text and image, the text saying ''School strike week [X]'' and disclosing the location Thunberg is then striking at. Whereas the text is very brief and informative, the images are more persuasive as each visual consistently shows Thunberg in a central position either holding or sitting behind the recognisable Skolstrejk för Klimatet sign that she has been using since her very first strike. In these images, she is surrounded by fellow youth strikers who physically joined her and present pro-climate signs in line with Thunberg’s, their visibility in the photos confirming them being a part of Thunberg’s movement and narrative. Thunberg's almost identical climate-strike tweets are visual proof of her activism and express her personal mission to keep speaking up as long as no actual change is enforced, stating in week 55’s strike-tweet ''I will still demonstrate every Friday wherever I am''.

Further vital multi-purpose elements that are consistently used in the strike-tweets are the hashtags #schoolstrike4climate, which refers to the youth skipping school in order to strike, #climatestrike and #fridaysforfuture. These hashtags identify the topic of the tweets and group them to increase their visibility, especially to those who would normally not see such content on their timeline. But perhaps most important is the ability of hashtags to create communities, as those who join Thunberg in striking from any location also join the Twitter-conversation when they tag their tweets with these hashtags.

Image 12: tweet by @GretaThunberg - Image 13: Tweet by @GretaThunberg

Image 14: Tweet by @GretaThunberg - Image 15: Enlargement of strike-photo

Some strike-tweeters even post tweets that are highly similar to Thunberg’s, not only by using the hashtags, but also including comparable photos in which the Skolstrejk för Klimatet signs look identical to hers but in a different language, the consecutive week and the location the tweeter is striking at. Thunberg broadly uses the visibility-through-hashtags-affordance, as on the strike-days a large part of her  are retweets  other global strikers, with which she shows her followers and other Twitter-users the movement and conversation she has unified whilst also sharing the spotlight with these other strikers.  initial tweeters, who made themselves part of Thunberg’s narrative are recognised and further included in the bigger conversation by Thunberg, who directly copies their activism onto her own timeline via retweets.

Image 16: Retweet by Thunberg of strike-tweet by @MakichyanA - Image 17: Retweet by Thunberg of strike-tweet by @RobinJullian

These type of climate-strike retweets include a heavy notion of calling to social action, encouraging others to join the conversation or set up a strike for the climate themselves. The call-to-action-retweet is most successful when the retweeter has a large network and fills gaps between different communities (Merry, 2014; Boyd, Golder & Lotan, 2010). Thunberg fulfils this role, as she is a connection between the science, new people, strikers, generations, politics and media and with 2,9 million followers she is in a position to share such content.

'We' need 'you'

As more and more youths have joined the school strikes for the climate, as they share similar interests and intentions with Thunberg, they have become densely connected nodes within the Twitter network (Murthy, 2013). Heavily referring to that group as ‘we’ and combining this word  call other groups to action, Thunberg tweets and retweets specific content with the intention to persuade others to join their strikes, be part of their activism and speak up ''to disrupt the system''. Phrases such as ''We need to stand together and support each other and take action'' (@UN) and ''We don’t want you to applaud us or to tell us we’re going to save the world, we want you to strike with us'' (@FffMauritius) appear frequently in anticipation of the climate strikes.

In this specific context, ‘you’ generally refers to adults in pleads such as ''We can’t do it alone […] we need the adults to join us'' (@GretaThunberg) and ''We really really […] really need adults to join us in striking'' (@saoi4climate). These tweets ask for the physical support of adults as Thunberg implies older generations tend to think ngyouths will fix the climate crisis without grownups putting in any effort. A more direct and personal approach in using words to call to action is Thunberg stating ''Activism works. So act. See you in the streets!'', with which she addresses every individual.

So, besides using actions to call others to action, in this case through retweets, Thunberg opts for specific language to persuade others to join her in her climate activism.

'We' versus 'you'

In a different yet related context ‘we’, Thunberg and youths, is used to indicate how they are a united ‘us’- group who are opposing the ‘them’-group, as clarified by a paraphrase of Thunberg’s Climate Summit speech: ''Activist @GretaThunberg tells world leaders […] young people will never forgive them if they fail to act'' (@BBCWorld).

‘Them’ are the culprits as identified previously, also often referred to with the phrase ‘you’ as in ''We know you can hear us, when will you listen?'' (@saoi4climate). In her trending UN Summit speech Thunberg used similar references in ''The eyes of all future generations are upon you'' (@BBCWorld) and ''Right here, right now is where we draw the line […] Change is coming, whether you like it or not''. Perhaps the clearest example of the word ‘you’ in this frame is Thunberg’s blaming of the world leaders saying ''How dare you'', with which she blames them for having ''stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words''. Illustrating the affordance of Twitter to capture real-time expressions from all users, the phrase soon surged in popularity and became a trending topic under the hashtag #howdareyou.

Twitter - Fair Usage

Continuing the conversation

As becomes clear from the above analysis, Thunberg uses the affordances of direct tweets and especially retweets to use data and expressions from fellow Twitter-users to support the construction of her narrative, which determinedly and consistently frames climate change as a serious crisis for which specific authorities carry responsibil. These users are generally well-known global organisations or individuals with certain credibilities, such as Unicef and the United Nations, but most importantly they share information and views that are in line with Thunberg’s frame and her belief in science and solutions. By retweeting the content of these users Thunberg shows appreciation and adds these institutions into her narrative, that is supported by personal tweets quoting from her own spoken words, and consequently the larger climate crisis conversation.

The affordances of (re)tweets are also used by Thunberg in showing the world her personal activism in the form of climate strikes as well as the efforts of global strikers following in her footsteps as they share common strike-related hashtags such as #climatestrike. Retweeting their strike-tweets also shows appreciation by Thunberg and is an indication of how many people agree with her views and have been included in the conversation. The activist also uses retweets in combination with specific wording to point out specific groups and generations to call them to action, to join the young people in their strikes for the climate. Ultimately, with every tweet or retweet, Thunberg expands and impacts the size of the climate activist movement and the global conversation about the climate crisis.

This analysis focussed on a limited amount of elements within Greta Thunberg’s Twitter actions and emphasizes how everything on her timeline exists in the tiny and easily re-usable context of a tweet. It revealed how she copies tweets without changing their meaning, as the content shared by the activist is in line with and supports the specific discourse she has adopted within the climate crisis context. But, there are of course many more examples to be found and many more topics and perspectives to be explored. For example, revealing the ways that indirect actions affect Thunberg, that is, the way other users, perhaps climate-deniers, use her name in their tweets and how they interpret her narrative. Also, more data and details are to be found beyond Twitter, within the hyperlinks and videos that are shared by Thunberg and by others within the climate activist movement.

References

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Bucher, T., & Helmond, A. (2018). The Affordances of Social Media Platforms. In J. Burgess, A. Marwick, & T. Poell (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Social Media (pp. 233–253). Sage Publications.

Burghardt, M. (2015). Introduction to Tools and Methods for the Analysis of Twitter Data. 10plus1 Journal: Living Linguistic, 74–91.

Diggit Magazine. (2019). Intertextuality. Wiki.

Diggit Magazine. (2019). Digital ethnography. Wiki.

Leppänen, S., Kytölä, S., Jousmäki, H., Peuronen, S. & Westinen, E. (2013). Entextualization and resemiotization as resources for (dis)identification in social media. Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies, 57.

Merry, M.K. (2014). Broadcast Versus Interaction: Environmental Groups’ Use of Twitter. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 11(3), 329-344.

Murthy, D. (2013). Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age. Wiley.